FOR INFORMATION ONLY
Please see attached letter from Marsha de Cordova MP for Battersea.
'Look How Far We've Come: Disrupting African British Histories?' book by Kwaku published in November 2018 by BTWSC/African Histories Revisited
'A Wider African History In Britain' article by Awula Serwah & Kwaku published in October 2018 New African magazine
BTWSC/AHR related events @ www.AfricanHistoryPlus.eventbrite.com
Commemorating African Jubilee Year 1987-88 @ 30 Monday Nov. 26, 6.15-8.45pm @ City Hall
#HostileEnvironment? Look To Africa! Saturday Nov. 3, 12:30-4:30pm @ Unite HQ, Holborn
Harrow African History Season events listed @ www.HarrowBHM.eventbrite.com
Pan-Africanism Made Simple Monday Nov. 5, 6.30-8.30pm @ Harrow Civic Centre
Harrow African History Season 2018/19 Launch Friday Oct. 26, 6.30-8.30pm @ Harrow Mencap
@ www.BBM.eventbrite.com
Britain & Reggae: A 50 Year History Thursday Oct.11, 6-7.30pm @ Hackney
For more than 30 years, events in October have celebrated ‘Black History Month’. Some of these activities have fallen very short of helping people to understand and appreciate the history and heritage of African people but BHM continues to teach, especially black youth, about their heritage.
Now, Wandsworth Council in the south-west of London is said to have changed the name to ‘Diversity Month’, and will educate local people about all cultures, ethnicities and backgrounds in the borough. Perhaps, the Council’s next move will be to abolish the ‘phrase’ and the activities of ‘Windrush’.
The people who established BHM in the UK did so at a time when the history of black Britons were publicly undermined. Local Councils failed to promote it, either in schools or in the community. BHM has survived three decades and Wandsworth Council sees no need to call it Black History Month. If they have funded the activities in the borough over the years and now want to share the funds with other ethnic groups, they should in details explain this to its constituency. After 2010, most councils stopped funding BHM events, but the celebrations have still continued and will continue because local people will get together to do so.
Wandsworth councillors perhaps don’t know or want to know that in the 19th century when missionaries set up educational facilities in the Caribbean, the history of Africa was not taught, and if mentioned, it was denigrated. The people were often told Africans did not contribute to modernity, and love for Africa was not expressed. African-Caribbean missionaries were sent to Africa to evangelise. To this day, many people in the Caribbean do not identify with Africa. See Professor Eric Williams’ British Historians and the West Indies (1 Oct 1996).
Many Caribbean migrants who arrived in the UK before and after June 1948, didn’t know much of their own history and could not pass-on knowledge to their children. Saturday schools and youth club educational activities have helped. BHM has certainly contributed to a better appreciation to the history and heritage.
Wandsworth Council will have a harder time destroying ‘Windrush’ as it is now taught at Key Stage 4 in British high schools. After more than 22 years, Windrush Foundation, the first organisation of its kind, has worked indefatigably to preserve the stories of the men and women who volunteered to fight for Britain against Hitler and who returned and contributed to the rebuilding of this country after WWII.
Arthur
From: The Black and Asian Studies Association <[log in to unmask]> on behalf of Amma Poku <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: 03 October 2018 11:05
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Does it matter if Black History Month is rebranded ‘Diversity Month’? | Maurice Mcleod and others | Opinion | The GuardianGood morningPlease see the article below. I live and work in the London borough of Wandsworth that is one of the local authorities that has rebranded Black History Month. In my borough it is now Diversity Month.Interestingly, the boroughs library service has an extensive (though dwindling) collection of books by and about Africans from Britain, the Caribbean, America and of course Africa. It's probably one of the better public library collections.My desire is for more people to make use of it.Best wishesAmmahttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/oct/03/councils-rebranding-black-history-month-london-diversity
Wandsworth council in London is the latest to turn BHM into a broader multicultural event. Maurice Mcleod, Linda Bellos and Chanté Joseph discuss this decision
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