Black History Month Programme 2022

FOREWORD

Canford is an inclusive community. We are proud of the heritage of all our pupils. Black History Month offers us an opportunity to pick up conversations with the community surrounding race.

Learning about Black History is vital to our understanding of race in Britain today. An understanding of the history of Black people within the UK makes sure that pupils value the contributions of Black Britons, as well as understanding why many of the problems we see today still exist.

Black History Month aims to address inequality in our curriculum. Whilst many argue that a month is not enough, we hope that at Canford raising awareness in October leads to year-long conversation about racial equality.

The Black History Month programme details activities that are happening at a whole school level and within classrooms during October.

RICHARD REDWOOD Assistant Head Personal Development

ONYINYE UDOKPORO

JEMMA ROYE

GEORGE OBOLO

JEFFREY BOAKYE

ONYINYE UDOKPORO

13th October – Talk to Fourth and Fifth Form

Onyinye is especially passionate about education and has worked in that sector for 10 years. She works and lives in London and enjoys the liveliness of the City.

She is an entrepreneur, educator, public speaker, and pioneer of social mobility. After setting up her own tuition business aged 12, in 2018 she founded Enrich Learning, an online education platform and private tuition service. In 2020, she founded The Process, a platform where you can learn how to strengthen and grow your business online.

In 2018, Onyinye was made the inaugural King’s College London Student of the Year; she completed her undergraduate degree in Religion, Politics and Society BA (Hons) in July 2019. She is now completing a master’s program in Education, Policy and Society MA at King’s College London, she joined the London Deloitte Risk Advisory team in February 2021.

JEMMA ROYE

7th October – 4.30pm, Fourth and Fifth Form - Assembly Hall

10th October – 5.00pm, Shells - Assembly Hall

10th October – 5.30pm, Sixth Form - Assembly Hall

11th October – Whole School Assembly

Jemma will be speaking to all Canford pupils about the lived experiences of pupils at Canford and how we can continue to build a strong anti-racist community.

Jemma is the founder of ‘Let’s Start A Conversation’ which equips schools and young people to start and continue powerful conversations on diversity, inclusion and representation. It provides a safe and educated space to explore important topics not mandatory on the curriculum but essential for life outside of it. ‘Let’s Start A Conversation’ provides a platform for young people to ask questions and explore the complex issues surrounding race, identity and diversity.

GEORGE OBOLO

Thursday 13th October, Fourth and Fifth Form pupils

George will be speaking to us about how we can reverse some of the current employment trends.

George Obolo is an award-winning social entrepreneur, leader, builder, creative, public speaker and polymath. He is a 21 year-old medical student at The University of Manchester.

George Obolo likes solving problems. He is an award-winning polymath who enjoys using his skill sets to make the world a brighter place. Some of his most significant projects include cofounding The Black Excellence Network and his work with Department for Education, UCAS, McKinsey & Co and MediaCom.

JEFFREY BOAKYE

Friday 7th October – 3.20-4.20pm, Fifth Form pupils

Jeffrey will be joining Enrichment sessions for the Fifth Form through Teams to discuss his personal journey and the history around racial language.

Jeffrey Boakye is an author, broadcaster, educator and occasional journalist with a particular interest in issues surrounding education, race, masculinity and popular culture.

Originally from Brixton in London, Jeffrey has taught English to 11- to 18-year-olds since 2007. Jeffrey is also the author of several books, co-host on BBC Radio 4, an occasional journalist and provides CPD sessions at schools and talks for companies.

BLACK HISTORY MONTH DEBATE

‘This House Supports the Celebration of Black History Month.’

7th October - 5.15-6.00pm, John o’Gaunt’s

BLACK HISTORY MONTH MEAL

11th October

Menu selected by our EDI Pupil Leaders to celebrate the heritage of pupils at Canford.

TALK: “THE GREAT WEST INDIES CRICKET TEAM IN 1984” BY RICHARD WILSON

Wednesday 12th October - 4.30-5.30pm, Dassler

Year Groups: All welcome

Format: Video clips from matches in 1984, presentation, facts and figures, memorabilia and books, Q & A and recommended reading

IN LESSONS

IN LESSONS ...

ENGLISH:

We will be marking BHM in Fourth Form where we are celebrating the diverse range of poetry on the IGCSE syllabus by student led performances and presentations. We will also be welcoming Carinya Sharples for National Poetry Day, an Anglo-Guyanese writer and teacher of Anglo-Guyanese heritage. Lower and Upper Sixth, who are studying American Literature, will be taught about Black American history and how it weaves into American Literature. This will be ongoing throughout the year.

MODERN FOREIGN LANGUAGES:

We are teaching the topic of ‘Immigration and Multicultural societies’ to the Sixth Form.

PE:

We will be considering under-represented groups in sport and will focus on ethnicity and sport. We will discuss discrimination, stereotyping, prejudice, barriers to participation and possible solutions.

BUSINESS AND ECONOMICS:

With the Fourths, we will be profiling the entrepreneur, Steven Bartlett. In the Lower Sixth we will conduct an investigation into the macro-economic performance of countries such as Botswana. We will also consider financing in countries such as Nigeria. In the Upper Sixth we will research into the economist Arthur Lewis and discuss how Sharon White, director of John Lewis, is reshaping and developing the business.

MATHS:

In Shell lessons teachers will consider the work of black mathematician, Benjamin Banneker.

CLASSICS:

With Shells (and other Latin classes) we will look at the diversity of Rome in 64AD. We will discuss the diversity of the Empire in general, including some recent burials excavated in London which have identified people from Africa, Syria and Egypt. With Lower Sixth classes, we will study the Aethiopian prince Memnon who fought Achilleus during the myth cycle. In the Upper Sixth we will study the warrior Queen Amenishaketo from Kush (modern Sudan and the Sahel) and the threat she posed to Augustus’ domination of Egypt and the Nubian Pharonic dynasty. A Black Classicists exhibition will be staged in the library here during November, which tells the lesser-known stories of the many black classicists and their considerable contribution to the subject.

PHILOSOPHY:

Shells will consider the portrayal of Jesus- ‘Who is God?’ With the Fourths we will consider ‘The Philosophers you need to know about’ and William Wilberforce and the slave trade.

BIOLOGY:

In the Lower School we will study Henrietta Lacks, the ‘owner’ of the HeLa cell line, cells taken originally without her consent or that of her family. We will also look at the story of John Edmonstone, a former enslaved person who taught Darwin how to do taxidermy. With Sixth Form we will consider ‘the lack of biological evidence supporting the concept of race’. Making reference to ‘How to argue with a racist’ by Adam Rutherford, examining the complicated legacy of Charles Darwin.

PHYSICS:

To dovetail with our study of orbits, we intend to walk and talk through one of the problems solved by Katherine Johnson and team (dramatised in the film hidden figures) to help put the first American into orbit around the earth.

DRAMA:

We will incorporate themes relating to BHM into our Shell teaching as we introduce them to explorative drama strategies. We will continue with our teaching of Noughts and Crosses at GCSE. We will look at recordings of ‘Small Island’ and ‘The Mysteries’ as we prepare for the Live Evaluation unit at A Level and GCSE. Film Screening of ‘Moonlighting’ on Wednesday 12th October - 7.00-9.00pm, Egdon. Fifth And Sixth Form Pupils Welcome followed by short discussion held by the drama pupil leaders.

HISTORY:

In lessons, pupils will be exploring the parallels of their current topic in History through the lens of Black History, discovering what was happening ‘Meanwhile, Elsewhere in Black History’.

GEOGRAPHY:

Pupils will be responding to common narratives about Africa and considering the role colonisation has played in wealth inequality.

LESSONS

WATCH & READ

EXTENDED READING:

All books are available from Canford School Library

NON-FICTION

• Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Boy by Emmanuel Acho (Macmillan, 2021)

• Slay in Your Lane: The Black Girl Bible by Yomi Adegoke (Fourth Estate, 2018)

• Natives by Akala (Two Roads, 2018)

• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou (Random House, 1969)

• Black, Listed by Jeffery Boakye (Dialogue Books, 2019)

• I Heard What You Said by Jeffrey Boakye (Picador, 2022)

• Musical Truth: A Musical History of Modern Black Britain in 25 Songs by Jeffery Boakye (Faber, 2021)

• Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates (Text Publishing, 2015)

• Don’t Touch my Hair by Emma Dabiri (Penguin, 2020)

• What White People Can Do Next by Emma Dabiri (Penguin, 2021)

• Hope in a Ballet Shoe by Elaine DePrince and Michaela DePrince (Faber and Faber, 2015)

• Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave by Frederick Douglass (Penguin, 1982)

• Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People about Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge (Bloomsbury, 2017)

• The Mixed Race Experience: Reflections and Revelations on Multiracial Identity by Natalie Evans (Vintage, 2022)

• I Will Not Be Erased by gal-dem (Walker Books, 2019)

• The Truths We Hold: An American Journey by Kamala Harris (Vintage, 2020)

• What is Race? Who are Racists? Why does Skin Colour Matter? and Other Big Questions by Claire Heuchan & Nikesh Shukla (Wayland, 2018)

• Why We Kneel, How We Rise by Michael Holding (Simon & Schuster, 2021)

• Everyone Versus Racism: A Letter to Change the World by Patrick Hutchinson (Harper Collins, 2021)

• This Book is Anti-Racist by Tiffany Jewell (Frances Lincoln, 2020)

• Brown Girl Like Me by Jaspreet Kaur (Bluebird, 2022)

• How to Raise and Antiracist by Ibram X Kendi (Vintage, 2021)

• The Autobiography of Malcom X with the assistance of Alex Haley (Penguin, 1968)

• The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr. Edited by Clayborne Carson (Abacus, 2000)

• African Artists: From 1882 to Now by Rebecca Morrill and Simon Hunegs (Phaidon Press, 2021)

• Song in a Weary Throat: Memoir of an American Pilgrimage by Pauli Murray (Liveright, 2018)

• 12 Years a Slave by Solomon Northup (Deby and Miller,1853)

• Black and British: A Forgotten History by David Olusoga (Macmillan, 2016)

• Black and British: A Short Essential History by David Olusoga (Macmillan, 2020)

• A Promised Land by Barack Obama (Viking, 2020)

• Dreams From My Father by Barack Obama (Canongate Books, 2007)

• Becoming by Michelle Obama (Viking, 2018)

• Becoming: Adapted for Younger Readers by Michelle Obama (Puffin, 2021)

• Me and White Supremacy: How You Can Fight Racism and Change the World Today by Layla Saad (Quercus, 2022)

• Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly (William Collins, 2017)

• Rise Up: The Merky Story So Far by Stormzy (Merky, 2019)

• Representation Matters: Becoming an Anti-Racist Educator by Aisha Thomas (Bloomsbury, 2022)

• Black History Matters: The Story of Black History, from African Kingdoms to Black Lives Matter by Robin Walker (Franklin Watts, 2019)

• The Life and Rhymes of Benjamin Zephaniah: The Autobiography (Simon & Schuster, 2018)

• Timelines from Black History: Leaders, Legends and Legacies (Dorling Kindersley, 2020)

•

FICTION

A Change Is Gonna Come by various authors (Stripes, 2017)

• The Dark Lady by Akala (Hodder, 2022)

• Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo (Hot Key, 2020)

• The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo (Electric Monkey, 2018) (E-book available from Canford Digital Library)

• Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (Heinemann Educational, 1971)

• Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi (Macmillan, 2018)

• Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Fourth Estate, 2013)

• Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Harper Perennial, 2007)

• Bloodshot Monochrome by Patience Agbabi (Canongate Books, 2008) (Poetry)

• Rebound by Kwame Alexander (Andersen Press, 2018) (E-book available from Canford Digital Library)

• And Still I Rise by Maya Angelou (Virago Press, 1986) (Poetry The Black Flamingo by Dean Atta (Hatchett Children’s Group, 2020)

• Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron (Bloomsbury, 2020)

• Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman (Doubleday, 2001) (Audiobook available from Canford Digital Library)

• Unheard Voices collected by Malorie Blackman (Corgi, 2007)

• Black Panther: A Nation Under Our Feet by Ta-Nehisi Coates (Marvel, 2016)

• Blonde Roots by Bernadine Evaristo (Hamish Hamilton, 2009)

• Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo (Hamish Hamilton, 2019)

• The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna (Usborne, 2021)

• Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi (Penguin, 2017)

• Roots by Alex Haley (Vintage, 1981)

• Indigo Donut by Patrice Lawrence (Hodder Children’s Books, 2017)

• Orangeboy by Patrice Lawrence (Hodder Children’s Books, 2016)

• Splinters of Sunshine by Patrice Lawrence (Hatchett, 2021)

• Small Island by Andrea Levy (Review, 2004)

• Augustown by Kei Miller (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2016)

• Beloved by Toni Morrison (Chatto & Windus, 1987)

• Black Girl/White Girl by Joyce Carol Oates (Harper Collins, 2007)

• Look Both Ways: A Tale Told in Ten Blocks by Jason Reynolds (Knights Of, 2019)

• The Boy in the Black Suit by Jason Reynolds (Faber & Faber, 2019)

• Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes (Orion Children’s Books, 2018)

• White Teeth by Zadie Smith (Penguin, 2001)

• Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D Taylor (Dial, 1976)

• Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas (Walker Books, 2021). Other Angie Thomas books: The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas (Walker Books, 2017), On the Come Up by Angie Thomas (Walker Books, 2019)

• The Color Purple by Alice Walker (The Women’s Press, 1983)

• Love is a Revolution by Renée Watson (Bloomsbury, 2021)

• Cane Warriors by Alex Wheatle (Andersen Press, 2020)

• The Humiliations of Welton Blake by Alex Wheatle (Barrington Stoke, 2021)

• Kemosha of the Caribbean by Alex Wheatle (Andersen Press, 2022)

• Liccle Bit by Alex Wheatle (Atom, 2015). Other Alex Wheatle books: Crongton Knights (Atom, 2016), Straight Outta Crongton (Atom, 2017), Kerb-Stain Boys (Barrington Stoke, 2018)

• Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds (Faber & Faber, 2018) (E-book available from Canford Digital Library)

• The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead (Fleet, 2016)

• Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon (Corgi, 2015)

• Refugee Boy by Benjamin Zephaniah (Bloomsbury, 2001) (E-book available from Canford Digital Library). Other novels and poetry are also available in the library.

• Windrush Child by Benjamin Zephaniah (Scholastic, 2020)

• Punching the Air by Ibi Zoboi with Yusef Salaam (Harper Collins, 2020)