Black History Month and The Power of

L L ARTS City’s pride in its Black heritage

Home to the oldest Black British boxing, lost childhoods and community in Europe, about the black soldiers at the battle Liverpool is celebrating of Waterloo. During half term, the Black History Month with museum will be encouraging children free events at the city’s museums. to take part in musical events as part Throughout the month of October of their ‘Celebrating Sound’ theme. there will be talks, workshops and Every Wednesday the education performances at the International team will be on hand throughout the Slavery Museum, Martin Luther museums to talk about the collections King Jr Building and the Museum of and objects on display. Liverpool. October also sees Anti-Slavery Day Black History Month has been marked on October 18. The day was marked annually in the United Kingcreated by a UK Act of Parliament dom every October since 1987. The to raise awareness of modern slavery aim is to use the month as a chance and to inspire people to eliminate it “These subjects should be obligatory modern slavery and to inspire people to remember important events and today. aspects of world and British history, to eliminate it.” people from the black community. The day will be celebrated at the but we are not there quite yet, so The Museum of Liverpool is showIt puts focus onto the history of the International Slavery Museum with in the meantime, let’s get behind casing the contribution the Black African diaspora, which saw the a Hands of Change event. People October Black History Month events community have made to the city historic movement of people from are encouraged to bring their own nationwide.” through a history trail. Visitors can Africa to the Americas, Europe, Asia artwork to place on big hands in the He said: “I wonder how many people explore the museum’s collection of and the Middle East. In particular, museum. know that Black boxers were banned artifacts and displays whilst being the descendants of the Africans who Dr Richard Benjamin, Head of the from becoming British boxing aware of the contribution Liverpool were enslaved and taken to America International Slavery Museum, said: champions until as recently as 1947, has played to Black history. in the Atlantic slave trade. “The International Slavery Museum or about the contribution of Black Find out more at www.liverpoolmuThe International Slavery Museum not only covers transatlantic slavery soldiers at Waterloo? seums.org.uk is putting on a range of events for all and modern forms of slavery and “Anti-Slavery day also falls at this ages. Talks will be given throughout enslavement but African and Black ime - a time to raise awareness of By Mia O’Hare the month including presentations on history more generally too. ‘Everyone should have the same chances’ 10 R ace and learning came under the spotlight in an online discussion to talk about the importance of education and the significance that it has in changing race relations within the UK. The event was created and organised by Urban Circle, an independent youth arts organisation, in just three months after a survey found that education was important to the tackling of racism. It was hosted by their Youth Justice Minister Andrew Ogun and Umulkhayr Mohamed. The first speaker, Dr. Foluke Adebisi, a Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of Bristol, began firstly by reading a self published poem titled ‘Time and Place’ in which she begins by referencing the death of George Floyd and speaking on injustice. Adebisi, talks mainly about the importance of decolonising the educational system and explores the relationship between race and power structures. “The most decolonisation efforts that are going on in UK higher education fall short of actual decolonisation, sometimes they are in direct opposition with decolonisation because they are driven by colonial logics.” she said. The second speaker was Abu-Bakr Madden Al-Shabazz, historian and comparative Sociologist who has led the Black History Studies at Cardiff University for nine years and is now Black History officer for Race Council Cymru. He gave a brief overview of black British history and where racial probBy Lauren Hughes lems stem from, saying: “Don’t be surprised when you see the amount of black children that are failing in our British Schools.” “The educational system needs to change in order for white society, Welsh and British Society, to acknowledge and to realise and recognise that we are people of substance, we are people who created Empires and Civilisations, and we created university systems and college systems, way before Europeans did.” He continued: “Every pupil should have the same chances; teachers should have the same expectations for every student.” The third and final speaker, Rapper, Activists and Author of the 2018 memoir NATIVES, Akala, began talking about his own personal experience with the educational system, briefly touching on subjects mentioned in his book. “GCSE entry should be based solely on SAT scores. There should be external blind monitoring of the way children are assessed in the classroom. University placements should not be related to predicted grades, they should be based solely on how you score in your final A level grades, because what happens is private schools massively overestimate, state schools massively underestimate. The whole system is rigged in favour of mediocre posh kids”. The event is just one of many within Black History Month bringing awareness to the lives and experiences of black people, whilst also offering food for thought on how the British education system is teaching children of different ethnicities, race and class backgrounds and bringing to attention the structural discrepancies that need to change.