The BASA Alternative Curriculum
We wish to retain the following key
statements and concepts from the 2008 curriculum:
History ... encourages mutual
understanding of the historic origins of our ethnic and cultural diversity, and
helps pupils become confident and questioning individuals.
…Understanding the diverse
experiences and ideas, beliefs and attitudes of
men, women and
children in past societies and how these have shaped the world
....
Pupils should explore cultural, ethnic
and religious diversity and racial equality. Diversity exists within and
between groups due to cultural, ethnic, regional, linguistic, social, economic,
technological, political and religious differences
….All pupils should be taught
aspects of history, including ... the impact through time of the movement and
settlement of diverse peoples to, from and within the British Isles
… All pupils should be taught
aspects of history, including ... the impact through time of the movement and
settlement of diverse peoples to, from and within the British Isles.
…. the development of trade,
colonisation, industrialisation and technology, the British Empire and its
impact on different people in Britain and overseas, pre-colonial civilisations,
the nature and effects of the slave trade, and resistance and
decolonisation.
….Explore the
ways in which the past has helped shape identities,
shared cultures, values and attitudes today
And, expanding on this section of the current
curriculum:
the
development of trade, colonisation, industrialisation and technology,
the
British Empire and its impact on different people in Britain and
overseas,
pre-colonial civilisations, the nature and effects of the slave
trade,
and resistance and decolonisation[1]
Pupils should be taught about:
1. Ancient Egypt and other great African
civilizations: e.g. Kingdom of Ghana, est. c.400; Kingdom of Kanem-Bornu
(modern-day Chad) est. c.784; Zimbabwe est. c. 1100; Kongo, est. c.1350, etc.
2. Africans in Roman Britain
-
The numerous Maurorum Aurelianorum (c.100-c.400), Hadrian’s wall;
-
Emperor Septimus Severus
(145 – 211), Quintus
Lollius Urbicus and other African-born Romans.
3. Medieval images of Africa: Mandeville’s Travels, Maps, etc.
4. Africans in Early Modern Britain
i)
Africans at the Scottish court
of James IV, 1501-1513.
ii)
Africans in Tudor England
iii)
African characters in early
modern literature
5. The Imperial project: colonization and
empire.
-Exploration, early trading and first
colonies under Elizabeth I and James I
6. The Slave Trade
7. Africans in 18th Century
Britain: Olaudah Equiano, Ignatius Sancho,
Phillis Wheatley, Ottobah Cugoano, Ukawsaw Gronniosaw, William Ansah
Sessarakoo, Francis Barber.
8. Slavery and the Law- to include the
Somerset case, Joseph Knight vs. Wedderburn, the Zong.
9. Abolition: the struggle
10. Resistance
i)
Small-scale daily resistance
ii)
Haitian Revolution
iii)
Maroons
11. The rise of pseudo-“scientific” racism
12. Africans in 19th century
Britain
William Cuffay
Robert Wedderburn
William Davidson
Mary Seacole
Ira Aldride
Samuel Coleridge Taylor
13. Africans in 20th century
Britain
Pan-Africanism and the ‘Black’ press
Henry Sylvester Williams, Dusé Mohammed
Ali, John Archer
1919 ‘Race riots’
Key organisations: League of Coloured
Peoples, WASU, International African Service Bureau, Pan-African Federation
Key Figures: Harold Moody, Ladipo Solanke,
George Padmore
-African servicemen and women in the World
Wars
-The Windrush generation
14. The Civil Rights Movement in the UK;
The Campaign for Racial Equality, ‘Black Power’
Sources:
D. Dabydeen, J. Gilmore, and C. Jones,
eds.,The Oxford Companion to Black
British History (Oxford, 2005).
P. Fryer, Staying power: the history of black people in Britain (1984).
Guardian
black history timeline: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/interactive/2008/oct/13/black-history-month-timeline
Black History 4 Schools website [http://www.blackhistory4schools.com]
Black Presence: Asian and Black History
in Britain, 1500-1850 The National Archives,
Exhibitions and Learning Online
[http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/pathways/blackhistory/]
2008 National Currciculum: https://www.education.gov.uk/schools/teachingandlearning/curriculum/secondary/b00199545/history
[1] The development of
trade, colonisation, industrialisation and technology, the British Empire: This
includes studying how the development of trade, colonisation, industrialisation
and technology affected the UK. There should be a focus on the British Empire
and its effect both on Britain and on the regions it colonised, as well as its
legacy in the contemporary world (eg in Africa, the Middle East and India).
Recognition should also be given to the cultures, beliefs and achievements of
some of the societies prior to European colonisation, such as the West African kingdoms.
The study of the slave trade should include resistance, the abolition of
slavery and the work of people such as Olaudah Equiano and William Wilberforce.
Links could be made to emancipation, segregation and the twentieth century
civil rights movement in the USA. https://media.education.gov.uk/assets/files/pdf/h/history%202007%20programme%20of%20study%20for%20key%20stage%203.pdf -p.116.