October is Black History Month - an annual celebration and commemoration of moments in history, achievements and contributions that Black people have made. Black History Month was first brought to the UK in the 1980s and was initially introduced to the country by a member of the Greater London Council, Akyaaba Addai Sebo. Since 1987, Black History Month has been celebrated annually in the UK, to eradicate discrimination and encourage racial equality. (Source: Evening Standard)
The Black History Month UK magazine has a new updated Black History Month Resource Pack for 2022. Reflecting the diversity of schools across the country, they have chosen to use a range of lesson plan formats to mirror this difference, and to provide more schools with an opportunity of an immediate point of familiarity, which will enable some schools to teach these lessons without further modification.
This creative and innovative pack is of exceptional quality, and they pay tribute to the hard work and dedication of the Black community who have strived to make Britain what it is today.
LGfL Resources
Black History Month gives students the opportunities to look at significant figures throughout history.
The ReadingZone Bookclub is offering schools the opportunity to join "Researching and Writing Historical Fiction (Black History Month)" on Friday 30th September, 2pm - 2.45pm; for Years 5&6. Author Sufiya Ahmed introduces her thrilling and empowering WWII adventure, Rosie Raja: Churchill's Spy, about the French resistance and their British allies, with a determined, Muslim heroine.
To sign up for this free events, and for more details, email info@readingzone.com
Catherine Johnson focussed on Black History at a ReadingZone Live Author event in 2021. Catherine spoke about the importance of including real situations and places in her books and how she tackles the topics of racism and tolerance. She also explored the importance of children reading books with a historical narrative and the challenges writers face with regards to the research they must undertake in order to ensure the historical references are correct. She talked about her novels Freedom and Race to the North; discussed how the real events these books are based on, have helped shape Black History in Britain.
Race to the Frozen North link on ReadingZone
Below are two video clips taken from this event; Catherine answers "How do you manage the issue of racism and tolerance in your writing?" and "How do you write about the past when attitudes to race were very different?".
Jamia Wilson is another one of the many authors to feature on ReadingZone Live; she has been a powerful force in the social justice movement for nearly a decade, in the videos below she talks about her commitment to inspiring young people and highlighting the achievements of figureheads, leaders and pioneers aswell as cultural trailblazers and sporting heroes. As well as being a thought leader, an activist, a feminist, a mediamaker, she is also a storyteller, her book Young, Gifted and Black features fifty-two icons of colour from the past and present.
The books celebrates the inspirational achievements from figureheads, leaders and pioneers such as Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson Mandela and Rosa Parks, to cultural trailblazers and sporting heroes, including Stevie Wonder, Oprah Winfrey and Serena Williams. Strong, courageous, talented and diverse, these extraordinary men and women's achievements will inspire a new generation to chase their dream ... whatever it may be.
The book and these clips would be perfect to use during Black History month!
Pupils could then create digital factfiles, posters or animations detailing the inspirational achievements from these people either in Busy Things or the Just2easy Toolsuite. (Note the hyperlinks take you to the LGfL log in pages). There are some ready-made templates for Nelson Mandela, Katherine Johnson, and others in the Just2easy library area (as shown below)
Other Resources
The Life of Nelson Mandela - from CultureStreet.org this resource and the lesson plans focus on the life of Nelson Mandela using the work of South African comic book company Umlando Wezithombe. This resource can be used by KS1 and KS2 students.
The Life of Mary Seacole from the BBC School Radio, is a series of three short video episodes, that tell her life story. Mary begins her story with her journey from Jamaica to London - and then onward to the Crimea during the Crimean War and her meeting with the journalist William Howard Russell. After the war ends, Mary tells of her time back in London, impoverished and apparently forgotten by the British public.
There are also activities related to the videos on the site.
The BBC have also put together a range of inspiring resources for both primary and secondary schools, around black history, heritage, culture and achievements. There are also a range of teacher notes and the content is suitable for KS2 through to GCSE. The resources include videos, assemblies and lesson plans.
Walter Tull - was a professional football and was the first British-born black army officer and the first black officer to lead white British troops into battle. The video below tells his story and is perfect for KS2 and KS3 pupils looking at WW1 and the impact that Walter had:
As well as researching significant figures, this month provides pupils the chance to reflect on tolerance and inclusivity in society, Developing British Values from LGfL - looks at this topic and provides short video clips for discussion in class.
Into film have created a list of films for Black History Month, the list aims to highlight the tremendous range and diversity of black filmmaking talent in front of and behind the camera. It also looks to celebrate black culture more generally and draw attention to its rich, and often painful history. Film is a hugely powerful medium to elicit empathy and understanding, but also to provoke debate. Lots of history is covered within the list, alongside films also celebrating the vibrancy and style of much black music and culture, demonstrating tremendously exciting work from younger artists. There are films featured for all ages.
Black History 4 Schools contains a wide range of links to useful resources (including fact sheets and ppts) all separated into historic sections:
- Black Presence in Tudor Times
- Transatlantic Slave Trade and Abolition of Slavery
- Black Presence in the 18th and 19th Century
- Black Presence in the 20th Century
- South Africa
BBC Bitesize look at six key events in black history which you may have not heard of, as highlighted by Prof Kehinde Andrews, who teaches Black Studies at Birmingham City School of Social Sciences.
Stonewall has developed a set of lesson plans and supporting resources to offer educators some guidance on having an LGBT inclusive Black History Month. They include a range of differentiated activities and presentations to help address learners understanding of fair and unfair as well as information about famous black figures. These resources break down some of the issues in to more simple understandable language that may be more accessible to some learners.
What will you be doing for Black History month? Please share your work with us via our Twitter and Facebook page #BlackHistoryMonth
Blogpost edited from the previous one on this theme posted in 2021.