Following the success of our previous events in London, Liverpool, and Bristol, we would like to invite you to the sixth of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies’ What’s Happening  in Black British History Workshops (WHBBH6) at The Institute for Black Atlantic Research, University of Central Lancashire, on Thursday 16th March 2017.

The Keynote Speaker will be Professor Gretchen Gerzina (University of Massachusetts, Amherst), author of Black England: Life Before Emancipation (1995) and presenter of the recent BBC Radio 4 series, Britain’s Black Past.

The aim of the series is to foster a creative dialogue between researchers, educationalists (mainstream and supplementary), artists and writers, archivists and curators, and policy makers. It seeks to identify and promote innovative new research into the history of people of African origin or descent in the UK, and facilitate discussion of the latest developments in the dissemination of Black British history in a wide variety of settings including the media, the classroom and lecture hall, and museums and galleries, thus providing an opportunity to share good practice.

We welcome proposals for papers and presentations on a wide variety of themes relating to the history of people of African origin or descent in the UK. For WHBBH6, we would be particularly interested to receive papers which explore the local histories of the Black people in Britain outside London; are related to the histories of World War One and World War Two; or reflect the artistic and cultural focus of the Institute for Black Atlantic Research.
We would be delighted to hear from researchers, educationalists, archivists and curators or others interested in offering a presentation, lasting for 15-20 minutes. Please submit a title and a brief description of your presentation either in writing (in which case, of no more than 300 words) or in some other form (for example a clip or podcast) to Dr. Miranda Kaufmann at miranda.kaufmann@sas.ac.uk by 31st January 2017.

In addition, we would be happy to consider proposals for a complete panel. The panel should have a coherent unifying theme, and the proposal should include the abstracts of three related presentations and the names and affiliations of the presenters. We would also be interested in providing A-level students, undergraduates or graduate students with an opportunity to give presentations on projects relating to Black British History.

The day will run from 11am to 6.00pm, followed by a Reception. There will be a registration fee of £20 (£10 for students/unwaged) to cover the costs of lunch and refreshments. A limited number of travel bursaries will be available to independent speakers on application. Requests to register should be sent to Olga Jimenez at olga.jimenez@sas.ac.uk.

Download WHBBH6 CFP

Really looking forward to the fifth in our series of Black British History workshops!

It will be held on Thursday 27th October 2016, from 10.00-7.15 in the Wolfson Room,  at the Institute of Historical Research, Senate House.

Our keynote speaker will be Kehinde Andrews, a lead member of the team delivering the UK's first BA course in Black Studies at Birmingham City University. 

We've got some great panels too. The first Beyond Mary Prince: Black Women in Dialogue will be delivered by students from  the MA course in Black British Writing at Goldsmiths, University of London. Then we've got Recovering and Engaging the Public with Black British Histories- where we'll hear from those who are finding histories to bring to the public, in exhibitions at the Black Cultural Archives and Epping Forest, and in novels and interactive presentations for young people. The third session, Identity and Involvement in Doing Justice to Black British History in Schools will be brought to us by a group of teachers involved with the excellent Justice2History project, who some of you might remember from WHBBH1. 

It's going to be great. You can read the full agenda below, and Register here.

Hope to see you there!


WHBBH5 Agenda

Thursday 27th October

Wolfson Room, Institute of Historical Research, Senate House.

10.00- 10.30 Registration: tea & coffee

10.30-11.00 Keynote address: Professor Kehinde Andrews (Birmingham City University)

11.00-12.30 Session One: Beyond Mary Prince: Black Women in Dialogue
Chair: Deirdre Osborne (Reader in English Literature and Drama, Goldsmiths, University of London)
Kareena Chin (MA Student, Goldsmiths), Mary Prince, Censorship and Publication
Heather Marks (MA Student, Goldsmiths), Women and Windrush
Heather Goodman (MA Student, Goldsmiths), Millennial Voices Janet Sebastian
Vanessa Igho (MA Students, Goldsmiths) The MA in Black British Writing: From Fiction to Fact

12.30-1.15 Lunch

1.15-3.00 Session Two: Recovering and Engaging the Public with Black British Histories
Chair: Professor Philip Murphy (Director of the Institute of Commonwealth )
Munira Mohamed (Learning Manager, Black Cultural Archives) and Monique Baptiste-Brown (Communications and Marketing Manager,Black Cultural Archives), Reclaiming heritage: Black Cultural Archives’ methodology for curating living heritage and evaluating the recent co-curated exhibition, Rastafari in Motion
Kate Morrison (Writer & Visiting Scholar, Book, Text and Place 1500 – 1750 Research Centre, Bath Spa University) ‘Go back & fetch what you forgot': building a fictional character from the archives
Grace Quansah (Director, WAPPY: Writing, Acting & Publishing Project for Youngsters)Empowering Young Voices to Explore Heritage
Sophie Lillington (Museum & Heritage Manager, Epping Forest, City of London Corporation),Down in the Forest: a first foray into Black History

3.00-3.30 Tea/coffee

3.30-5.00 Session Three: Identity and Involvement in Doing Justice to Black British History in Schools
Chairs: Abdul Mohamud and Robin Whitburn (Justice2History)
Sharon Aninakwa, (Head of History at the Convent of Jesus and Mary Language College, Harlesden) Black Women in History and the School
Thabo Stuck (History teacher, The BRIT School for performing arts, Croydon). Becoming a ‘Choreographer’: challenges to doing justice to history
André Burton (PGCE student, Institute of Education, UCL) The importance of Black British History and the struggle for education in 21st century London

5. 15-6.15 Final Thoughts and Conclusions Panel 
Chair: Dr Miranda Kaufmann (Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Commonwealth Studies)

6.15-7.15 Reception
​
Registration is now open Register here

Following the success of our previous events in London, Liverpool, and Bristol, we would like to invite you to the fifth of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies’ Black British History Workshops (WHBBH5) at Senate House, London, on Thursday 27 October 2016.
Keynote Speaker
For What’s Happening in Black British History? V we are delighted to have associate professor of sociology at Birmingham University Kehinde Andrews as our key note speaker, he is the course convenor of the very first undergraduate honours course in Black Studies at a British university
New Research and Panel Sessions
The aim of the series is to foster a creative dialogue between researchers (academic and independent), educationalists (mainstream and supplementary), artists and writers, archivists and curators, and policy makers. It seeks to identify and promote innovative new research into the history of people of African origin or descent in the UK, and facilitate discussion of the latest developments in the dissemination of Black British history in a wide variety of settings including the media, the classroom and lecture hall, and museums and galleries, thus providing an opportunity to share good practice.
We welcome proposals for papers and presentations on a wide variety of themes relating to the history of people of African origin or descent in the UK. These might cover subjects such as new approaches to teaching Black British History; the silencing/exclusion of Black British voices; the history of political/community activism; Black people in cultural and sporting history of Britain; and issues around gender including the role of women and members of the LGBT communities.
The workshop will be divided into three panels, followed by a round-table discussion. Each panel will consist of three presentations lasting for 15-20 minutes.
In addition, we would be happy to consider proposals for a complete panel. The panel should have a coherent unifying theme, and the proposal should include the abstracts of three related presentations and the names and affiliations of the presenters. We would also be interested in providing A-level students, undergraduates or graduate students with an opportunity to give presentations on projects relating to Black British History.
Deadline
We would be delighted to hear from researchers, educationalists, archivists and curators or others interested in offering a presentation. Please submit a title and a brief description of your presentation either in writing (in which case, of no more than 300 words) or in some other form (for example a clip or podcast) with an indication of which panel you envisage contributing to, to Dr. Miranda Kaufmann at miranda.kaufmann@sas.ac.uk by 15th July 2016.
The day will run from 11am to 6.00pm, followed by a Reception. There will be a registration fee of £20 (£10 for students/unwaged) to cover the costs of lunch and refreshments. A limited number of travel bursaries will be available to independent speakers on application. Requests to register should be sent to Olga Jimenez at olga.jimenez@sas.ac.uk.

Now that we've got the agenda confirmed, I'm looking forward to What's Happening in Black British History? IV (#WHBBH4) all the more!

It's going to be at Watershed, Bristol on Thursday 7th April. A whole day talking about Black British History! We've got sessions on:
1. Engaging with Archives: from the personal to the political, resistance and healing. 
 
2. Women in Black British History: artists, abolitionists and Black Power activists.

3.Local Black British Histories: exploring the Black British Histories of the South West, from Bristol and Bath, to Devon, Dorset and South Wales. 

You can read the full programme on the Black British History website here, or below. 

I really hope you want to join us! If you do, please register for your place online here. Tickets are £20/ £10 concessions.

Hope to see you next month! 

Plenty is happening in Black British History- according to the Mail on Sunday, the OCR GCSE course ‘Migration To Britain c. 1000 to c. 2010’ which we heralded at WHBBH3 has been condemned as ‘pro-immigration propaganda’. The #RhodesMustFall campaign in Oxford is provoking widespread debate about Britain’s colonial legacy, as well as the significance of our public monuments; and a new BBC Two History series ‘A Black History of Britain’, presented by David Olusoga, is planning to erect over twenty specially designed ‘BBC Black History plaques’ to record and celebrate people and events that are pivotal to this history.
 
Following the success of our previous events in London and Liverpool, we would like to invite you to the fourth of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies’ Black British History Workshops at Watershed, Bristol, on Thursday 7th April 2016. The Bristol workshop will be co-sponsored by the University of the West of England (UWE) and the Institute of Commonwealth Studies.
 
The aim of the series is to foster a creative dialogue between researchers, educationalists (mainstream and supplementary), artists and writers, archivists and curators, and policy makers. It seeks to identify and promote innovative new research into the history of people of African origin or descent in the UK, and facilitate discussion of the latest developments in the dissemination of Black British history in a wide variety of settings including the media, the classroom and lecture hall, and museums and galleries, thus providing an opportunity to share good practice.

​At this fourth workshop, we would like to open the floor to presentations on any aspect of Black British History. As we will be in Bristol, local and regional or family histories from Bristol and the South-West would also be welcome.
 
The workshop will be divided into three panels, followed by a round-table discussion. Each panel will consist of three presentations lasting for 15-20 minutes.

We would be delighted to hear from researchers, educationalists, artists, writers, archivists and curators or others interested in offering a presentation. Please submit a title and a brief description of your presentation either in writing (in which case, of no more than 300 words) or in some other form (for example a clip or podcast) to Dr. Miranda Kaufmann at miranda.kaufmann@sas.ac.uk by 26th February 2016.
 
In addition, we would be happy to consider proposals for a complete panel. The panel should have a coherent unifying theme, and the proposal should include the abstracts of three related presentations and the names and affiliations of the presenters. We would also be interested in providing A-level students, undergraduates or graduate students with an opportunity to give presentations on projects relating to Black British History.
 
The day will run from 11am to 6.00pm, followed by a Reception. There will be a registration fee of £20 (£10 for students/unwaged) to cover the costs of lunch and refreshments. A limited number of travel bursaries will be available to independent speakers on application. Requests to register should be sent to olga.jimenez@sas.ac.uk.

If you only go to one event this Black History Month, make it #WHBBH3! We've got an great line-up of engaging, informed speakers who will spend the day discussing how to challenge the conventional narratives, the practicalities of teaching Black British History, and giving us some new perspectives on the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Then, our expert panel will provide an opportunity to reflect on the day's discussions, before we finish off the day with a Drinks Reception. 

Just to whet your appetite a little more, here's a preview of what's in store:

We're delighted that pioneering activist and publisher Eric Huntley has agreed to deliver our keynote speech! The contribution he and his late wife Jessica have made to Black British culture is currently being celebrated in an acclaimed exhibition at the Guildhall Art Gallery, London - No Colour Bar: Black British Art in Action 1960-1990.

We'll begin by challenging some conventional narratives. What stories do we tell our children about the past? Novelist Catherine Johnson will talk about how her fiction tells the greater truth that black people 'have always been here'. Ryan Hanley will take us beyond Equiano to explore the work of some of his lesser-known contemporaries. Then David Killingray will make some suggestions as to how the latest research can inform a new narrative of Black British History. 

A new GCSE course on migration will provide fresh opportunities for Teaching Black British History. Martin Spafford, who helped develop the course, will report on what's on offer. Then we'll hear from Dema Wonga, of Narrative Eye and Abdul Mohamud & Robin Whitburn of Justice2History about their experiences of bringing Black British History into the classroom, and the importance of an inclusive curriculum. 

Discover some new perspectives on the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries! Jeffrey Green will chronicle and critique the lives of some Victorian Africans: a servant, an aristocrat, and a murderer.  Jan Marsh of the National Portrait Gallery will provide a visual perspective on Black British History, and comment on the ways museums and galleries have sought to present it. Advolly Richmond will explore the botanical legacy of  Anglo-African missionary Thomas Birch Freeman.

Speakers Abdul Mohamud and Martin Spafford will be joined on the final panel by historian Sean Creighton, Paul Reid, Director of the Black Cultural Archives, and, well, me. I'm sure we'll have a lot to talk about.

If you like the sound of all that, then book your place now!

​The full programme and event details are available on the Institute of Commonwealth Studies website. 

Hope to see you there!

The third ‘What’s Happening in Black British History?' workshop (#WHBBH3) is scheduled to take place in Senate House, University of London, on Thursday, 29 October 2015. See below for the Call for Papers, or click here to download a PDF version.

Following the success of our two previous events in London and Liverpool, we would like to invite you to the third of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies’ Black British History Workshops at Senate House, London, on Thursday 29 October 2015.

The aim of the series is to foster a creative dialogue between researchers, educationalists (mainstream and supplementary), archivists and curators, and policy makers. It seeks to identify and promote innovative new research into the history of people of African origin or descent in the UK.

Researchers and archivists will provide an introduction to the ever-growing body of resources available.

We will also discuss the latest developments in the dissemination of Black British history in a wide variety of settings including the media, the classroom and lecture hall, and museums and galleries, thus providing an opportunity to share good practice.

In our third workshop we would like to explore the following themes: What kinds of new approaches to teaching Black British History might help to foster a greater interest in the field?  

   - Do current teaching approaches focus excessively on the promotion of Black British heroes/role models from history?

   - Has enough attention been paid to gender in Black British History, including the role of women and members of the LGBTQ communities?

   - To what extent does Black British History need to take into account the conscious or unconscious exclusion of people of African origin or descent from the historical record?

The workshop will be divided into three panels, followed by a round-table discussion. Each panel will consist of three presentations lasting for 15-20 minutes.

We would be delighted to hear from researchers, educationalists, archivists and curators or others interested in offering a presentation. Please submit a title and a brief description of your presentation either in writing (in which case, of no more than 300 words) or in some other form (for example a clip or podcast) with an indication of which panel you envisage contributing to, to Dr. Miranda Kaufmann at mirandackaufmann@gmail.com by 31 August 2015.

The day will run from 11am to 6.00pm, followed by a Reception.

There will be a registration fee of £20 (£5 for students/unwaged) to cover the costs of lunch and refreshments. Registration will be open on Tuesday 1st of September.

Back in 2013, I was compelled to blog when Tim Bevan, producer of the 1998 film Elizabeth, told Juliet Gardiner on Radio 4 that if a black actor had been cast “in our Elizabeth movie, you wouldn't have been able to prove that, at all.” As regular readers will know, there is indeed proof. Records survive from 1574 and 1575 showing the Queen ordering clothes for a 'lytle Blackamoore' from her tailor. Further to this, a painting known as Elizabeth I at Kenilworth shows her being entertained by a small troupe of black musicians. 

But despite evidence of some 200 Africans living in Tudor England, from Hull to Truro, we do not find it represented in popular presentations of the period, such as Elizabeth, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, The Tudors, The Other Boleyn Girl, Wolf Hall, to name but a few.

Strangely enough, a better representation comes from an unexpected source: a 2007 episode of Doctor Who!
The Shakespeare Code starred David Tennant as the Doctor, and Freema Agyeman as his companion Martha Jones. Agyeman is half Iranian and half Ghanaian, and this meant the writer, Gareth Roberts, had to consider how this would play out when she time travels to Elizabethan England. When Martha realises she has just arrived in London in 1599, she has the following exchange with the Doctor:

MARTHA
Oh, but hold on. Am I all right?  I’m not gonna get carted off as a slave, am I? 

THE DOCTOR
Why would they do that? 

MARTHA
Not exactly white, in case you haven’t noticed. 

THE DOCTOR
I’m not even human. Just walk about like you own the place.  Works for me. Besides, you’d be surprised. Elizabethan England, not so different from your time. 

At this point, two African women walk past them. In a few moments, this scene makes two important points:

1) There was a black presence in Elizabethan London 
2) The Africans in Elizabethan London were not treated as slaves

These are two points I try to convey in my work. Africans can be found in the parish registers, tax returns, court records and letters of Elizabethan London. There was no law of slavery in England. Furthermore, Africans were paid wages, baptised, married, allowed to testify in court: all indicators of freedom. In 1587, Portuguese physician Hector Nunes admitted to the Court of Requests that he had: ‘no remedie…by the course of the Common Law of this realme... to compell’ an 'Ethiopian' who 'utterly refuseth to tarry and serve' him 'to serve him duringe his life.'

Far from being carted off as a slave, Martha finds herself being courted by Shakespeare himself. 

When Shakespeare first meets Martha, he asks the Doctor 'who is your delicious blackamoor lady?' Martha is not impressed with being referred to as a 'blackamoor'.  'Oops.' says Shakespeare, 'Isn’t that a word we use nowadays?' 'Blackamoor' was in fact the most common word used to describe Africans in Tudor England. About 40% of the references I found used the word. Martha is no more impressed by the other alternatives Shakespeare posits: 'An Ethiop girl? A swarth? A Queen of Afric...' This nicely dramatises the fact that the Elizabethans would not have considered such terms offensive in the way we might now. 

This being Doctor Who, our heroes must then save the world from some aliens disguised as witches. But in the closing moments, the script makes another interesting reference. Shakespeare bids farewell to Martha: 'Martha, let me say goodbye to you in a new verse. A sonnet for my Dark Lady. Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate...' The quote is from Sonnet 18, rather than one of the Dark Lady sonnets (127-154), but the suggestion is nonetheless raised that Shakespeare was inspired to write these poems by an African woman. This has been the subject of much scholarly debate-while some insist the lady merely had dark hair, others suggest that the sonnets should be renamed the “Black woman sonnets”. The idea that the Dark Lady was of African origin also makes a cameo appearance in Zadie Smith's White Teeth (2000). In Chapter 11: The Miseducation of Irie Jones, Irie asks her teacher Mrs. Roody if the “dark lady” is “black”. Mrs Rooney replies:

          No dear, she's dark. She's not black in the modern sense. There weren't any… well, Afro-Carri-bee-yans in                   England at that time, dear. That's a more modern phenomenon, as I'm sure you know. But this was the 1600s.           I mean I can't be sure, but it does seem terribly unlikely, unless she was a slave of some kind, and he's unlikely           to have written a series of sonnets to a lord and then a slave, is he? 

A miseducation indeed! As the Doctor could have told Irie's teacher, 'you’d be surprised. Elizabethan England, not so different from your time.' 



You can watch The Shakespeare Code online here. 

The next "What's Happening in Black British History?" event will soon be upon us, so now's the time to buy your seat for what looks to be an ever bigger, better, and more fruitful event than WHBBH1!

What’s Happening in Black British History? II will take place on Thursday, 19th February at the Leggate Hall, University of Liverpool. The workshop agenda is available to download here. An extended version including abstracts for each talk is available here.

Like the WHBBH1 event hosted in London in October 2014, presentations at WHBBH2 will cover a wide range of topics - from Sport to Culture, WW1 soldiers to West End sound systems - so there’s sure to be something for everyone.

You can book online here - EarlyBird tickets are priced from £5 

I for one am counting down the days...

Hope to see you there, it's going to be great!

Happy New Year to all my readers! 

2014 was a great year for Black British History: I'm sure 2015 will be even better.

You can help make this happen, by getting involved in the second What’s Happening in Black British History? event, #WHBBH2, which will be held at the University of Liverpool, on Thursday 19th February 2015.

We're particularly looking for presentation ideas on one of the following themes (but don't hesitate to blow us out of the water with something different but brilliant!):

• Gender, particularly histories of Black British women and the LGBT community

• Education, with a particular emphasis on how to improve the coverage of black British history in schools, colleges and universities. Presentations from those actively involved in creating teaching resources would be particularly welcome

• Sport, as a microcosm of the broader politics of race and the construction of black identities

• Creative and Cultural Interpretations of Black British History, considering how these histories can be communicated in Art, Literature & Music

• Emancipation, examining the agency of Black people in challenging physical and mental slavery and oppression.

• Local History, and specifically the history of Liverpool. 

The full Call for Papers can be downloaded here. 

The deadline for submissions is 10th January: that is, this Saturday! 

All we need is 300 words or a blog or video explaining what you want to say. 

Please also feel free to circulate the CFP to others who might want to get involved.

Here's Philip, Michael and I explaining why we're doing this at the beginning of the first #WHBBH: