Finding
out about Black History Month events around the country is still a very
haphazard experience. Even the www.blackhistorymonth.org.uk
website has little on it, as well as being a very slow site to navigate
through. The following list highlights of events on history rather than arts
and culture and other issues. Full
programmes can be seen as follows:
Cambridgeshire
County Council: www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/leisure/libraries/news/black-hist-month-12.htm.
Lambeth:
Manchester
Black Feminists: http://blackfeministsmanchester.wordpress.com/2012/09/12/explore-black-history-with-8-lions-and-an-umbrella-a-conversation.
Reading:
www.reading.gov.uk/events/details/57.
Sutton
(London): www.suttonrec.org.uk/projects/black-history-month-2010.
Sutton
Coalfield: www.educationgroup.co.uk/workshops/black-history-month.
Wandsworth:
In October. An
Indian Album – Cecil Beaton’s images of pre-Independence and Partition
“India”.
Photo exhibition from The National Archives. Southfields Library, 300 Wimbledon
Park, Road, London, SW19. (020) 8871 6388.
In October. Memories from the Islands. Photo exhibition from
The National Archives. Community curated exhibition by Caribbean elders
featuring their choice of photographs and accompanying memory narrative of the Caribbean
from the 1960s. Wandsworth Town Library, 11 Garratt Lane, London, SW18. (020) 8871 5588.
In October. Call Mr Robeson performances
by Tayo Aluko:
October 6: Capstone Theatre,
Liverpool
October 13: Otley Courthouse SOLD OUT
October 15-18: Sheffield and Rotherham Schools. Details tbc
October 19: Rotherham College of Arts & Technology
October 22: Hawth Theatre, Crawley
October 23: Merlin Theatre, Frome
October 24: Arlington Arts Centre, Newbury
October 25: Ashcroft Arts Centre, Fareham
October 26: Forest Arts Centre, New Milton
October 13: Otley Courthouse SOLD OUT
October 15-18: Sheffield and Rotherham Schools. Details tbc
October 19: Rotherham College of Arts & Technology
October 22: Hawth Theatre, Crawley
October 23: Merlin Theatre, Frome
October 24: Arlington Arts Centre, Newbury
October 25: Ashcroft Arts Centre, Fareham
October 26: Forest Arts Centre, New Milton
Monday 1 –
Sunday 14 October. Containing Multitudes. Exhibition of the letters of Sarah
Hicks Williams, an American northerner in the slave-holding south. The letters
are drawn from her papers, courtesy of the
Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Special Collections Library at
the University of North Carolina. The event is funded by the School of American
Studies at the University of East Anglia. The exhibition also includes a daily
lecture as part of Black History Month and the chance to join an open
discussion in Cafe Conversation sessions. Cafe conversations will take place in
Cafe Bar Marzano at The Forum and begin 15
minutes after the public lecture ends. Tea and coffee is provided. 2
Millennium Plain, Norwich, Norfolk NR2 1TF
1 October. 2.30pm. SC-T in
A Celebration and Education of Contributions made by Black People in England
from Enslaved to Pioneers. Features Queen Liliuohalani, SC-T, Mary Seacole,
Lewis Lattimer. Original Artwork by
pupils of Abbott Primary School and artist Rosetta Jallo, and authentic
clothing exhibitions, music and Caribbean food. Mustard Tree, 110 Oldham Rd,
Ancots, Manchester, M4. Tel Graham: 07401 820424.
Thursday 4
October. 1pm. The Black Presence in Norfolk from 1589 to 1883. Richard
Maguire. This lecture seeks to explore established assumptions about rural
spaces and communities by looking at the history of the black community in Norfolk from 1589 to 1883. Fusion, 2
Millennium Plain, Norwich, Norfolk NR2 1TF
Thursday 4
October. 4.30 pm. The Zong:
Slavery, Evil Deeds, and Re-thinking the Past: A basis for discussion. Talk by Professor
James Walvin, Emeritus Professor of History, University of York. Wilberforce
Institute for the study of Slavery and Emancipation (WISE), Oriel Chambers, 27
High Street, HULL, HU1. r.j.hanley@2011.hull.ac.uk..
Thursday 4
October. 5-7pm. ‘The Black Atlantic and the TransPacific: Literature and
Mobility’.
Talk by Michelle Keown. Edinburgh University Students Association Ethnic Minority
Action Group. Appleton Tower, Lecture Theatre 1, Edinburgh University. www.eusa.ed.ac.uk/events/7856/1775.
Thursday 4
October. 5.15pm.
Memories of Empire: A Roundtable on Bill Schwarz's 'The White Man's
World'. Jon Lawrence (Cambridge), Jeremy Krikler (Essex), Camilla Schofield at
UEA, with a response from Bill Schwarz (Queen Mary). Imperial & World
History Seminar, IHR, Senate House, Malet St/Russell Square, London, WC1.
Thursday 4
October. 7-8pm. Black in the British Frame. Stephen Bourne will talk about his new black
British history books Esther Bruce - A Black London Seamstress and The
Motherland Calls - Britain's Black Servicemen and Women, 1939-45. Camberwell
Library, 17-21 Camberwell Church Street, London, SE5. Free.
Friday 5 October. 6.30 – 8.30.
Death of a
Musical Genius: Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Remembered. At The
Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), Cromwell Road, London SW7. £9, £6 concessions. Book online or call 020
7942 2211. With the agreement of the V&A I will be selling Jeff’s
mini-book.
Friday 5
October. 7.15pm. Walter Tull, Officer and
Footballer. Presented by the Barbados and Friends Association
(Reading). Kennet Room, Civic Centre, Reading.
Friday 5 October. 7 – 9.15pm. The
legacy of Dr Martin Luther King. National Union
of Journalists Claudia Jones Memorial Lecture. The Lecture is taking place in Newcastle for the first time and
celebrates the 45th anniversary of Dr Martin Luther King receiving
an honorary doctorate at Newcastle University. This year’s lecture departs from
the usual single speaker format to feature voices from the worlds of
journalism, academia and politics who will all bring different perspectives to
the theme. Speakers: Prof Brian Ward,
Jim Boumelha Int Fed Journalists), Chi Onwurah (MP), Dr Connie St Louis (Association
of British Science Writers), Dr Gerald L. Durley (US civil rights activist),
Alex Pascall (African Caribbean Commuinicator) and Lionel Morrison (S. Arican
exile in Britain from 1960. King's Hall, Armstrong Building,
Newcastle University. Further details from David.baines@ncl.ac.uk or 0191) 222
8569. www.ncl.ac.uk/events/public-lectures/item.php?claudia-jones.
Saturday
6 – Sunday 14 October. Bengal History Week. Brick Lane
Circle is organising its third annual history week programme, designed to help
generate and expand interest in learning Bengal's history and introduce
historians and scholars to new audiences in non-academic settings
For details see: www.bricklanecircle.org.
For details see: www.bricklanecircle.org.
Saturday 6
October. 12noon - 4.30pm. Black History Month Multicultural Day. The National
Museum Of The Royal Navy (Portsmouth Historic Dockyard). (Victory Gallery) FREE
event, all ages welcome. The National Museum of the Royal Navy at Portsmouth
Historic Dockyard is inviting visitors to join them to celebrate black history
and discover more about the Royal Navy's links to different countries around
the world. www.aboutmyarea.co.uk/Hampshire/Portsmouth/PO6/Whats-on-in-Portsmouth/Exhibitions-and-Open-Days/231056-Black-History-Month-Multicultural-Day-at-The-National-Museum-Of-The-Royal-Navy-(Portsmouth-Historic-Dockyard).
Saturday 6
October. 1-2.30pm. ‘They Gave the Crowd Plenty
Fun’. Talk
by Colin Babb, Content Producer at BBC World Service, writer, journalist and
photographer, Colin Babb will talk about his book which explores the links
between Caribbean cricket, migration, identity and presence, and the challenges
cricket has faced in Britain as a prime source of pride for the Caribbean
diaspora, from the start of mass immigration to Britain from the Caribbean in
the 1950s. The book also combines historical and sociological perspectives with
traces of humour and focuses on pivotal events and personalities. Free –
booking essential (020) 8871 6388.
Saturday 6
October. 1-2.30pm. The Motherland Calls. Illustrated talk by Stephen Bourne
about his new book The Motherland Calls which pays tribute to the black
servicemen and women who volunteered to support Britain during the Second World
War. Imperial War Museum (London) Lambeth Road. London, SE1. Free.
Tuesday 9 October.
7pm. Africans in Britain 1500-1640. Talk by
Miranda Kaufman. In 1597, ‘Edward Swarthye, alias negro’, porter to Sir Edward
Wynter in Gloucestershire, testified before a
London court that he had whipped another servant, John Guye. Through the
prism of this man’s life, Dr Kaufmann, who has discovered evidence of over 350
Africans in Britain between 1500 1640, will discuss how Africans came to Tudor
England, what work they did and what
their legal status was. Minet Library, 52 Knatchbull Road, SE5. 020 7926 6073.
Tuesday
9 October. 8pm. SC-T on Radio and Television. A rare opportunity to hear
BBC broadcasts of two programmes about SC-T: Great Lives and Hidden
History. Some lantern slides will be shown. There will also be a
performance of some of SC-T‟s
Twenty-Four Negro Melodies op. 59 for solo piano. The Braithwaite Hall
(Croydon Town Hall), Katharine Street. Tickets: £8 from 020 8657 7909 or at the
door.
Wednesday
10 October. 7.30pm. Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. Talk by Sean Creighton. Herne
Hill Society. Herne Hill United Church Hall, near top of Red Post Hill at
junction of Herne Hill and Denmark Hill.
Saturday 13
October. 1-2.30pm. Mother Country. Stephen Bourne will give an
illustrated talk about Britain's black community on the Home Front during the
Second World War. Imperial War Museum (London), Lambeth Road. London, SE1. Free.
Monday 15 October.
10.30am-4.30pm. Empire, Plants and
People Discussion Day. A platform for
discussion at the Garden Museum. With the Plant Seekers exhibition as a
backdrop, we would like to begin a discussion around the links between gardens,
gardening and colonial histories and their legacy today. Speakers include:
Dr
Melanie Horton – who will share her research on the British Empire Marketing
Board posters of the 1930s and the representation of the colonies as ‘market
gardens.’
Dr
Patrick Eyres, is editor-publisher of the New Arcadian Journal, which
engages with the cultural politics of landscape gardens. The 50th edition
(2011) explores the significance of ‘The Blackamoor’ statue in 18th-century
British gardens. Dr Eyres will present his research on the symbolism of the
statues.
Judy
Ling Wong, UK President of Black Environment Network, with an international
reputation as the pioneer in the field of ethnic participation in the built and
natural environment. Judy will discuss the lasting impact of colonial histories,
how they are represented in horticultural language and emotive discourse today
and how this plays out in terms of participation.
Tickets
£50, Museum Friends £40, Full-time students £20
Click here to book a place online.
Tuesday 16
October. 12pm. Songs of Freedom. Film and
Q&A. Classic film, staring actor, athlete, singer and civil rights activist,
Paul Robeson. Robeson plays Zinga, a black dockworker in England with a great
baritone singing voice. By chance, he is informed that an ancestral medallion
that he wears is proof of his lineage to African kings, and is reunited with
his people. £3.50.
Ritzy
Cinema, Brixton Oval, Coldharbour Lane, SW2.
Tuesday 16
October.
5.30pm. Embodying Race in Colonial Spanish America. Rebecca Earle (Warwick). Latin American
History Seminar, IHR, Senate House, Malet St/Russell Square, London, WC1.
Wednesday 17
October. 2pm. Frederick
Douglass and Manchester: a 'liberating sojourn'.Talk by Natalie Zacek. Working Class Movement Library, 51 The Crescent, Salford, M5. www.wcml.org.uk/wcml/en/events/black-history-month-talk--frederick-douglass-and-manchester-a-liberating-sojourn.
Wednesday 17
October. 6.30-8.30pm. “Life according to Maas Roy’. Talk by Yvonne
Archer, co-author and daughter, introduces this Black History Month event
in
the year of Jamaica’s 50th anniversary of independence. Stanley ‘Maas Roy’
Archer left Jamaica in 1954 for England to get rich quick. After a ‘full life’
in London and National Service in Cyprus he returned to
Jeffrey
Town, St Mary where he founded the Jeffrey Town Farmers’ Association which has gone
on to create a community radio station and a local literacy project. Battersea
Library, 265 Lavender Hill, London, SW11.
Free
– booking essential (020) 8871 7466.
Friday 19
October. 2pm. Croydon as Coleridge-Taylor would have known it. Talk by
Chris Bennett (Borough Archivist). Coulsdon Library, Brighton Road, Coulsdon,
CR5. Free activities during Croydon
Black History Month. Free but need to book tickets: 0208 726 6900; libraries@croydon.gov.uk.
Saturday 20 October.
Noon-4pm. London art in
the age of jazz. African & Asian portraits & artists in London between
the wars. Equiano
Centre project. Part of the Bloomsbury Festival and supported by a UCL Beacon
Bursary. Camden Local Studies and Archives Centre, Holborn Library, 32-38 Theobalds Road, London. WC1X 8PA. Free.
Saturday 20
October. 2.30pm. Croydon as Coleridge-Taylor would have known it. Talk by Chris
Bennett (Borough Archivist). Central Library, Croydon Clocktower, Katharine
Street, Croydon, CR9. To book tickets
see 19 October.
Monday 22
October. 5.15pm. Locations of Global
History: Manufacturing Diversity in 18th and 21st. Maxine Berg (Warwick). Imperial & World History Seminar. IHR, Senate
House, Malet St/Russell Square, London, WC1.
Monday 22
October. 6.30-8pm. Indians East and
Indians West: Asians in the early post-Columbian Atlantic World. Talk by Cliff
Pereira. Much is known about the history of Africans and Europeans in the
Americas. Relatively little is known about Asians in early Post-Columbian
America (after 1492). Cliff Pereira set out to research this hidden history of
contact between Asians and others in the Atlantic and Northeast Brazil between
the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. His findings provide fascinating results,
discussed in this illustrated talk. Tooting Library. 75 Mitcham Road, SW17. Free
– booking essential (020) 8871 7175.
Monday 22
October. 7pm. The Value of Multiculture. Claudia Jones Memorial Lecture by
Professor Paul Gilroy. National Union of Journalists, Black History Month
celebration. Thomson Reuters, Canary Wharf, London, E14. All welcome. Registrations for this
lecture should be send to lenac@nuj.org.uk.
Tuesday 23
October. Indian Ornithology, British Botany and Allan Octavian Hume (1829-1912): the
Scientific Legacy of a Founder of the Indian National Congress. One day event at Natural History Museum,
Cromwell Road, London, SW7. For details see www.history.ac.uk/events/event/4366.
Wednesday 24
October. 6.30-8pm. John Archer and the Black Atlantic. Talk by Sean Creighton. Through his support for Pan Africanist black
rights, John Archer, Battersea’s Mayor (1913-14), had many contacts around the Black
Atlantic world of Africa, the West Indies and the United States. Sean
Creighton, a historian of Wandsworth and of British Black History, will give an
illustrated talk
about
these links. Putney Library, 5/7 Disraeli Road,
SW15.
Free – booking essential (020) 8871 7090
Thursday 25
October. 9am-4pm. Entrepreneurial Legacies of the Notting Hill Carnival: A one day
symposium. Despite attracting an audience of over 2 million and being dubbed
Europe’s largest street party, the Notting Hill Carnival, like other Caribbean
carnivals staged throughout the world, has been plagued by financial
difficulties and a steady stream of criticism in the media arising from
festival organizers’ alleged lack of entrepreneurial and organizational skills.
This type of discourse is also replicated within academic literature.
This symposium challenges the current consensus discourse both in popular media and within academia which suggests that the cultural entrepreneurs behind the Notting Hill Carnival, whilst being individuals of great creativity, lack entrepreneurial ability. It seeks to engage a range of cultural entrepreneurs including sound systems, steel bands, calypso singers, costume designers and event organizers to paint a picture of an innovative, highly sophisticated group of entrepreneurs who despite access to limited resources has managed to create a complex cultural production system.
Contact: Please email Nicole Ferdinand at Nicole.Ferdinand@kcl.ac.uk to book your place and to receive updates on the symposium. Location: King' s College London. See www.kcl.ac.uk/artshums/depts/cmci/eventrecords/carnival.aspx for more.
This symposium challenges the current consensus discourse both in popular media and within academia which suggests that the cultural entrepreneurs behind the Notting Hill Carnival, whilst being individuals of great creativity, lack entrepreneurial ability. It seeks to engage a range of cultural entrepreneurs including sound systems, steel bands, calypso singers, costume designers and event organizers to paint a picture of an innovative, highly sophisticated group of entrepreneurs who despite access to limited resources has managed to create a complex cultural production system.
Contact: Please email Nicole Ferdinand at Nicole.Ferdinand@kcl.ac.uk to book your place and to receive updates on the symposium. Location: King' s College London. See www.kcl.ac.uk/artshums/depts/cmci/eventrecords/carnival.aspx for more.
Saturday 27
October.
From Africa to the White House: A journey of Resistance, Triumph and
Spirituals. Tayo Aluko (of Call Mr
Robeson) presents a musically illustrated talk with him singing exploring African pre-slavery history,
Africans' resistance to white domination over the centuries, and their eventual
triumph (symbolically at least) with the election and inauguration of Barack
Obama to the Presidency of the United States. Also features "Reshape
While Damp" by Naomi Paul. Crossroads Women's Centre,
London.
Monday 29
October. 5.15pm.
'The Eye of History': the India Office Records, the Hakluyt Society, and the
fantasy of the all-seeing imperial archive. Peter Mitchell (Queen Mary, University of London).
Colonial / Postcolonial New Researchers' Workshop in
Imperial & World History Seminar, IHR, Senate House, Malet St/Russell
Square, London, WC1.
Monday 29
October 6.30-8.30pm. A Pan-African Embassy: The WASU and Self-Government. Talk by Dr
Hakim Adi. This year marks the 70th anniversary of the
call
for self-government for Britain’s West African colonies made from the heart of London
by the members of the West African Students’
Union (WASU). To mark this anniversary Dr Hakim Adi will talk about
the
significance of the WASU, explain the importance of the WASU Project and show excerpts
from his new documentary, which contains interviews with former WASU members
and other West Africans who were
in
Britain in the 1930s and 1940s. Free – booking essential (020) 8871 7466
Wednesday 31
October. 5.15pm.
How To Make Friends and Corrupt People: The Confederate Infiltration of
Parliament during the American Civil War, 1861-1865. Dr Amanda Foreman. 9th History of Parliament
Lecture at Portcullis House, Westminster. Entry by invitation only. For an
invitation please contact pseaward@histparl.ac.uk’
Wednesday 31
October 6.30-8.30pm. Samuel Coleridge-Taylor: life and legacy. Kwaku, a
music industry and history consultant, will give an audio-visual
died
100 years ago, with an opportunity to hear some of his music. Putney Library,
5/7 Disraeli Road, London, SW15. Free - booking essential. (020) 8871 7090.
Tuesday
30 October. 6-9pm. Harrow
African/Black History Month event
marking the 25th anniversary of the introduction Black History Month in Britain
and Labour Party’s Black Section’s
success with the election of 4 African and Asian MPs in 1987. Panel: Ansel Wong (London Strategic Policy
Unit officer who helped introduce BHM), Marc
Wadsworth and Roger McKenzie
(Black Sections executives who helped with the election of the first 3 African
British MPs). Chair: Kwaku (Akoben
Awards & TAOBQ (The African Or Black Question) co-ordinator). Presented by
WHEAT MST in association with Akoben Awards. There will be books on
sale. Free. wheatsmst@gmail.com, www.25yearson.eventbrite.com
Harrow Civic Centre, Station Road, Harrow, HA1 2XY
Harrow Civic Centre, Station Road, Harrow, HA1 2XY
Wednesday 31 October 31. 2.30-4pm. Remembering Samuel
Coleridge-Taylor Streatham Library, Streatham High Rd. This is primarily for Lambeth
schools. Led by Kwaku. (Note 2)
Wednesday 31 October. 6.30-8.30pm. Remembering Samuel
Coleridge-Taylor. Talk by Kwaku. Putney
Library, 5-7 Disraeli Road, SW15 2DR. 020 8871 7090. (Note 1)