Additional Black History Month Events

To 13 December. Mondays to Friday. 1pm to 5pm. Black Bloomsbury Exhibition

This exhibition charts the black presence in an area better known for its literary history, revealing the role played by black artists and models in the changing artistic, social, and political scenes of the interwar period and beyond. Little known is that Gandhi, the Jamaican activist and writer C. L. R. James, Jamaican feminist Una Marson, and Indian activist Mulk Raj Anand all had connections to Bloomsbury. The exhibition focuses on the Slade School of Fine Art at UCL to uncover the forgotten histories of artists and models by featuring the student work of Ivy Mackusick, Ann Tooth, Leia Leigh and JHM Innes. Curated by Caz Bressey and Gemma Romaine of the Equiano Centre. www.ucl.ac.uk/museums/uclart/whats-on.

To Sunday 9 February 2014. 10am-17.45.  Afro Supa Hero

A snapshot of a childhood and journey to adulthood, shown through a personal collection of pop cultural heroes and heroines of the African diaspora. Jon Daniel’s action figures, comic books and games offer an insight into the experience of a boy of African Caribbean heritage growing up in 1960s and 1970s Britain, in search of his identity. Born in East Sheen in southwest London and as the child of Caribbean parents, Jon Daniel found his positive black role models in the West Indian culture of his family and the African-American culture of the US. In his late twenties, Jon began collecting primarily 1970s action figures, feeling that they most strongly embodied the era of his childhood. In the display Meteor Man, Mr T and Lieutenant Uhura stand alongside real-life icons Muhammad Ali, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela. Also on show are games, and comics including Black Lightning, The Falcon and Lobo, one of a two-issue series featuring the first leading African American character in the genre.

www.museumofchildhood.org.uk/whats-on/exhibitions-and-displays/afro-supa-hero?utm_campaign=2055847&utm_content=1168454444&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Emailvision.

Tuesday 8 October. 2pm. Researching untold histories

Kathy Chater will discuss the history of Black people in England and Wales during the period of the British slave trade, c. 1660-1807 and the use of original documents in her wider writing. The National Archives, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, TW9. www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/events/researching-untold-histories.htm. 

Wednesday 9 October. 5.30-7.30pm. Filming the history of the Jamaican Maroons

Harcourt Fuller, the Education Outreach Director for the award-winning documentary Akwantu: The Journey will screen extracts from the film, discussing its making and the complex history, contemporary legacies and challenges of Jamaica's maroon communities. Institute of the Americas, 51 Gordon Square, London, WC1. www.ucl.ac.uk/americas/ia-events/akwantu-the-journey.  

Thursday 10 October. 2-3pm. Ignorant negroes/tyrannical masters: William Hardin Burnley and Caribbean slavery

William Hardin Burnley, the biggest slave owner in Trinidad, did everything in his power to prevent the emancipation of Africans in the colony. When slavery ended, he was convinced that only Africans who had tyrannical masters would benefit from emancipation. This lecture by Selwyn R. Cudjoe examines Burnley's participation in slavery, his attempts to prevent Africans from being emancipated, his subterfuge to keep them enslaved under another guise called apprenticeship and his energetic efforts to recruit workers from outside of Trinidad to undercut the gains that former slaves had made in the post-apprenticeship period. The National Archives, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, TW9. www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/events/ignorant-negroes-tyrannical-masters-william-hardin-burnley-and-caribbean-slavery.htm.  

Thursday 10 October. 6.15pm. Africans in Britain

Talk by Hakim Adi. Ealing Central Library, Ealing Broadway Centre, London, W5.  Tel: 020 8825 9278.

Thursday 10 October. 6.30pm. Robert Wedderburn (1762-1835): Scottish-Jamaican radical preacher and revolutionary  

Michael Morris (Dept. English, Glasgow Univ) will chair a discussion of the Glasgow University Caribbean History Discussion Group. African Caribbean Centre, 66 Osborne Street, Merchant City, Glasgow, G1. www.blackhistorymonth.org.uk/glasgow-black-history-mont2/4569080038.

Monday 14 October. 5pm. The Image & Reality of Black Africans in Renaissance England

Talk by Miranda Kaufmann and Michael Ohajuru. London South Bank University, 103 Borough Rd, London, SE1. http://irbare2013.weebly.com. 
- Dr. Robin Whitburn and Abdullahi Mohamud discussing their ongoing work and new book on teaching Black history in schools Doing History Justice
- Tony Warner, Director of Black History Walks
- Patricia Lamour, Equality and education specialist and Co-Founder of GEEDA (Gender Education and Education Development for Africa)
- Kandace Chimbiri, author of Black History books for children
- Lela Kogbara Assistant Chief Executive at Islington Council (Strategy & Community Partnerships)
- Martin Spafford, Head of History at George Mitchell School in Waltham Forest, Fellow of the Schools History Project and member of panel that wrote the KS3 History Curriculum that Michael Gove is about to remove.

Wednesday 16 October. 7pm. Africans in Britain - A Hidden History? 

Talk by Hakim Adi. Mitre Lecture Theatre, Bishop Otter Campus, Univ. Chichester, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 6PE.

Monday 21 October. 7pm. John Blanke’s world: the image and reality of Black Africans in Renaissance England

Miranda Kaufman and Michael Ohajuru explore the world of John Blanke, Hnery VIII’s black trumpeter. They discuss how Black Africans were portrayed in the art of the period and the contrasting realities of life for over 350 Africans in Renaissance England. National Trust,  Sutton House, 2 and 4 Homerton High Street, Hackney, E9. http://irbare2013.weebly.com.

Tuesday 29 October. 7pm. History of Caribbean Enterprise

Presentation by Dr Christopher Johnson, and talk by Patrick Reid on the 21-year history of his Croydon-based social enterprise PJ Community Services and the impact it has had on society. Parchmore Place, 1-6 The Mews, 92a Parchmore Road, Thornton Heath, CR7. The event is free, but you do need to book in advance by emailing Claudine Reid or calling her on 020 8239 6911. http://insidecroydon.com/2013/10/01/pjs-enterprising-look-at-black-history-month-oct-29.  Read more about the Reids and PJCS at www.patreid.co.uk/the-team.html.

Tuesday 29 October. 5.15pm. The Advent of Blackness: the Caribbean and the birth of racial modernity

The annual Walter Rodney lecture by Silvio Torres-Saillant of Syracuse University, whohas written widely on Caribbean literature and thought. RO. 03/4, Ramphal Building, Library Road, University of Warwick, Coventry.  www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/ccs/walter_rodney_lecture_2013.pdf.   

Thursday 31 October. 7pm. Public Launch Pan-Africanism and Communism - The Communist International, Africa and the Diaspora, 1919-1939 by Hakim Adi.

School of Oriental and African Studies, Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London, WC1.

Book details available at www.amazon.co.uk/Pan-Africanism-Communism-Hakim-Adi/dp/1592219160/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1378667120&sr=1-1. Its £28.99 but for one night only will be £20 at the launch.

Friday, 1 November. 2pm. Conference: Black History’s future - bringing diversity to education and celebration

Closing event for Islington Black History Month. How do we reach a place where people’s histories are not marginalised, so there will be no need for Black History Month, or other special events that seek to promote equality? What is the future of the role of equality events such as Black History Month? and how do we ensure that diversity is integrated in mainstream education and celebrations all year round? This conference seeks to bring together experts, educators, statutory representatives and the wider community to move forward and ensure that mainstream education and celebrations are fairly representative of the diverse communities that contribute to our history and the society. Followed by networking and refreshments. Speakers and panellists include: 

Voluntary Action  Islington. Booking is essential - register your place here: https://blackhistorysfuture.eventbrite.co.uk. For further information, visit www.everyvoice.org.uk/bhm  or e-mail info@everyvoice.org.uk.

Friday 8 November. 2.30pm. Africans in Urban Britain, 1500-1640
Talk by Miranda Kaufmann. University of Leicester, Centre for Urban History, Marc Fitch House, 3-5 Salisbury Road, Leicester, LE1. www.mirandakaufmann.com/index.html.