‘Black History is more than a month’
This October let us focus on awareness, empowerment and celebration of Black History and Heritage. There are countless individuals and organisations that work around the year to uplift communities, educate and highlight crucial members of our universal history. This is a list of archives, organisations and businesses that are dedicated to educate the public about Black History and Experience.
Save them in your bookmarks, share them with your friends or visit a site this weekend with your family and neighbours. Education is the way forward, so let's go ahead together.
Check out these five platforms that offer education and conversation around Black History and Experience twelve months of the year in London and on the internet:
1. A Real Sisterhood: Netil radio Podcast hosted by Charlotte Owusu-Allen
If you’re less of the going out type, or just a fan of podcasts, let me direct you to this wonderful team and series hosted on local Netil Radio. Accessible online via their website, A Real Sisterhood interviews and celebrates individuals journeys as an opportunity to educate and spread understanding and support. In Charlotte’s words, A real Sisterhood is meant “To be a safe space where real discussion is had about topics that matter to our global community. Discussed in a fair and balanced forum, We work from a mind body and soul point of view focusing on all aspects of humanity (Music, Mental Health, Spiritual Health,
Wellness Coaching and current affairs to climate control and beyond) in order to project the message on a holistic scale. We are a world wide radio talk show with the hope of expansion and creativity.
Our musicians and poets are unsigned artists and we showcase them on every show.” Catch their next episode on every 1st and 3rd Monday of the month from 9am to 11pm on Netil Radio.
Listen to all the past episodes here.
2. Black Cultural Archives:
This organisation was established in the 1980s following a deficit of positive representation of black culture (read more). This expanded into a cultural archive center, which offers a space for the Black community, especially young members to come and learn about their culture and heritage in a positive and empowering light. Situated in Windrush Square, Brixton, the new Black Heritage Center has been opened since 2014. The center is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 am to 6 pm, their library and archive room is accessible by appointment Wednesday through Friday, 10 am to 4 pm. The Black Cultural Archives is dedicated to education, with learning programs, events and exhibitions. There are a multitude of ways to educate yourself further on the UK’s Black Heritage. Visit their website today, or pay a visit on your next day off to discover their variety of activities and learning opportunities.
3. Black History Walks
This is an exceptional organisation that has been hosting local walking tours of London highlighting 3,500 years of black history in the UK. There are twelve interactive tours that occur monthly, sign up is easy and accessible. Whether it be for you as an individual, for your class, your family, your friends, Black History Walks are a unique learning experience. A book Black History Walks in London Volume 1 has come out if you would rather do it on your own time, but we highly recommend joining the walking tours. Visit their website to book a tour today, visit to browse their resources, talks and events, and to find a larger variety of learning opportunities.
4. 100 Great Black Britons
This campaign was founded and run by Patrick Vernon OBE and Dr Angelina Osborne to honour the remarkable achievements of 100 Black British individuals throughout history. A book has recently come out with a foreword by David Olusoga which you can order here. I find this resource to be very useful if you’re looking for a quick read you can come back to. As 100 individuals are highlighted you can take your time going through the archive or decide to read up on one or two Black Historical individual at a time. For families or groups it can be interesting to have occasional readings, each week or month discovering a new historical person. Make sure to visit this site and bookmark it for your breakfast read, evening in the living room, or on the bus lecture.
5. Blackpresence.co.uk
This website founded by Phil over 20 years ago has been a platform dedicated to British Black History. Realizing the lack of black representation in british textbooks, Phil started this platform in hopes to educate and offer substantial information about Black British History. His goal is to change History education in schools to be more inclusive and realistic about the racial diversity of British History prior to the 1950s. Highlighting Black Politicians, Civil Rights Campaigners and Sports Personalities, this website features individuals that tend to be overlooked in British History. I highly recommend paying this website a visit to expand your knowledge of Black British History. It is fascinating learning about these stories, so grab a cup of tea, and have a look.
I hope these links are useful for you and your community, here are a few more to stay tuned in to more events and organisations:
Written by Mona Neilson, Illustration by Kemra Joseph