16 OCTOBER 2020
ROEDEAN CELEBRATES
BLACK HISTORY MONTH
As many of you will be aware, October is Black History Month in the UK. Roedean is celebrating next week with a programme of interactive events and exhibitions that will enable you all to learn more about the rich histories and cultures that constitute Black History. Just as there is no such thing as ‘White History’, we look forward to a time when ‘Black History’ becomes simply ‘History’, and it is justly considered a part of our shared understanding of the past. This is a perspective that Roedean’s History Department is taking steps towards, and you will also hear more about the work other departments are doing to review and renew the curriculum. This event will give you a chance to hear from a variety of inspiring speakers, addressing the topic of Black History through the lens of their own experiences in locations from London to Jamaica. We hope you enjoy the chance to meet some new historical figures, and to recognise them as part of the collective story of humanity. Ms Helen Boobis Assistant Head: Co-Curricular and Scholarships
Speakers Precious Adams 1 Rosemary Campbell-Stephens MBE 2 The Very Reverend Rose Hudson-Wilkin MBE 3 Dorothy Koomson 4 Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu 5 Natalie Nzeyimana (OR) 6 Kelechi Okafor 7 Phyll Opoku-Gyimah 8 Noo Saro-Wiwa (OR) 9 Professor Shirley Thompson OBE 10
October has been designated a specific time to celebrate the rich heritage of black people who have contributed to British History. Black History Month was coordinated in 1987 by the Greater London Council, led by Akyaaba Addai-Sebo, and 33 years later it has gained national recognition across the whole of Britain. Addai-Sebo would, undoubtedly, have taken his inspiration from the wellestablished US Black History Month, founded in 1927 by Carter G Woodson, an African-American Harvard historian. It was originally one week in February to mark the births of Lincoln and the emancipated abolitionist, Fredrick Douglass. Both the UK and US Black History Months share a common aim, which is to illuminate the contributions and achievements of black people whom traditional histories have made invisible. The month challenges stereotypes, whilst sharing the incredible stories of our ancestors, to create a bridge that dissolves difference and enables understanding. Personally, I remember my first discovery of the incredible black individuals who have contributed to British History. It was actually through learning about Florence Nightingale in primary school, because she had become the first historical woman to be pictured on a ten pound note. Mary Seacole, a black woman, was mentioned as an aside, although she had also nursed soldiers during the Crimean War. I remember having to find out more in the public library, and I remember being shocked that she had not been mentioned at school. When Black History Month came along, although it felt strange to see someone like me on a poster in the classroom, I was glad that everyone got to hear about brilliant Black British men and women, like Mary Seacole. Nowadays, you can see Mary in London every day, as she is the first black woman to have a memorial statue. We are slowly becoming better informed about the historical achievements and impact of black men and women in Britain, and the countries that were once a part of its empire, and this is the aim of Roedean’s Black History Month Celebration. Ms Susan Woodbridge Director of Drama
Precious Adams is one of few worldclass black ballerinas. She is a 25-year-old ballet dancer, currently a Junior Soloist with the English National Ballet. She has trained with some of the best teachers and at some of the best ballet schools in the world, including 3 years in Moscow, Russia and, previously, in Monte Carlo, Monaco and Toronto, Canada. Precious Adams has won several awards, including two prizes at the Prix de Lausanne in 2014 (arguably the most prestigious ballet competition in the world). Her other awards and achievements include best contemporary dancer, National Young Arts Foundation prize winner, and Best Emerging dancer by the Critics Circle in 2018. Precious was also on the Elle list and the Evening Standard Progress 100 list for most influential people in the arts in 2017 and 2018. Precious has spoken on several panels about diversity, following your life passion and making a career doing what you love including giving a speech at the Bank of England in 2017. Precious prides herself on making a career living her dream by performing all over the world with the English National Ballet as well as guesting on some of the most prestigious stages in the world. In doing so, she has become a humble and positive public figure and role model for the diversification of the arts. Precious has always had a passion for authentic self expression and personal development through the optimisation of the mind-body connection through movement. She lives to inspire and be inspired, empower and be empowered.
PRECIOUS ADAMS
Empower and be Empowered
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Rosemary Campbell-Stephens MBE is a teacher by profession. She received her education and professional training in England. Aged 19, she joined an African Caribbean Self-Help organisation while training to teach and went on to run a supplementary school for ten years in Birmingham while building her career in education in the West Midlands and London. Some of the highlights of her career include: being a reluctant OFSTED Inspector, but a brilliant Local Authority Adviser in London, as well as an adviser for the Department of Education (DFE), being Deputy Head of an outstanding secondary school and Headteacher of one of the most challenging schools in the country, and becoming Lead Associate for the National College for Teaching and Leadership and Director for the National College for Educational Leadership in Jamaica. Rosemary is now a semi-retired programme developer, trainer, coach, speaker, author and aspiring DJ.
History: Unedited, 2020 Edition
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ROSEMARY CAMPBELL-STEPHENS Rosemary is most proud of a groundbreaking leadership programme that she designed and led for the Institute of Education, University College London (UCL) from 2003-2011. The one-year programme, entitled Investing in Diversity, developed Black and other Global majority leaders for London schools. Subsequently, Investing in Diversity was extended in various
guises across England and, in 2009 the programme became international in its reincarnation, Leading for Equity, at the Institute of Education, University of Toronto, Canada. Rosemary is a Visiting Fellow at UCL based on this work. In 2015, the Queen awarded Rosemary Campbell-Stephens an MBE for over 35 years’ service to education in England.
The Very Reverend Rose HudsonWilkin MBE was born and grew up in Montego Bay, Jamaica; she was ordained deacon in 1991 and ordained to the priesthood in 1994. For sixteen and a half years, she served as a priest in Hackney. In 2007, she was appointed as a Chaplain to Her Majesty the Queen, and, in 2010, she became the first female appointed to the position of the 79th Chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons. She has been suffragan Bishop of Dover since 2019 and is the first black woman to become a Church of England bishop. She has previously served as a member of the General Synod of the Church of England and
also as one of the Panel of Chairs of the Synod. She has twice represented the Church of England at the World Council of Churches (in Zimbabwe & Brazil); she served as its priest representative on the Anglican Consultative Council for nine years. As a Selection Secretary for the Church of England, she has helped to select men and women seeking to test their vocation to the ministry. She does numerous preaching and speaking engagements nationally and some religious broadcasting; she is often called upon for interviews by the media. She was recently made Fellow in Public Theology at Virginia Theological Seminary, USA.
VERY REVD ROSE HUDSON-WILKIN
3 My Story is Your Story Compassion in our Shared Common Humanity
A Story of Black History DOROTHY KOOMSON
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Dorothy Koomson is an award-winning, global bestselling author whose novels include the Sunday Times bestsellers The Friend, That Girl from Nowhere, The Ice Cream Girls, The Woman He Loved Before, The Chocolate Run and My Best Friend’s Girl. Her books have been translated into more than 30 languages with sales that exceed 2 million copies in the UK alone. Dorothy’s books are powerful, thoughtprovoking and compelling ‘emotional thrillers’ where moral dilemmas are central and where the complex emotions of family and friendships are explored. Her third book, My Best Friend’s Girl, was selected for the Richard & Judy Summer Reads of 2006, and her novels The Ice Cream Girls and The Rose Petal Beach were both short-listed for the British Book Awards in 2010 and 2013, respectively. A TV adaptation loosely based on The Ice Cream Girls was first shown on ITV1 in 2013. Dorothy was a 2018 Quick Reads author with The Beach Wedding which was also selected as a World Book Night give-away title in the same year, with The Ice Cream Girls a 2019 World Book Night title. Passionate about the importance of reading and literacy, Dorothy is a regular speaker in libraries and at festivals and supports the work of the National Literacy Trust, an independent charity that transforms lives through literacy and Little Green Pig, a Brighton and Hove based charity that offers free writing workshops for young people in need. Dorothy lives in Brighton (well, Hove, actually) and the city is an everpresent character in her novels.
DR SHOLA MOS-SHOGBAMIMU Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu, PhD MBA LLM MA LLB IAQ, is a dual qualified New York Attorney and Solicitor of England & Wales. She is the Co-Chair of the American Bar Association Africa Committee and editor-in-chief of the Women in Leadership publication she founded. An activist, Dr Shola is one of the organisers of the hugely successful annual Women’s March in London.
Black History and Its Impact on Today: an Interview
She is deeply passionate about diversity, socio-legal values and mentoring people to be visionary and achieving their goals, and has recently been nominated for Diversity Champion Award: Charity Sector in the Excellence in Diversity Awards 2017. She is also a Women4Africa Awards 2017 finalist; shortlisted for Author of the Year and Career Woman of the Year. Her areas of specialism and interests include: writing, law, public speaking, journalism & women rights, leadership, diversity, gender equality, female empowerment, corporate governance, international relations and diplomacy, law & society, politics, business and entrepreneurship, and education.
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6 The Longest School Corridor in Europe: Roedean’s Black History
Natalie Nzeyimana (OR) is an artificial intelligence ethics and policy advisor. Natalie studied Philosophy and Politics at the University of Manchester and at the Oxford Internet Institute. She writes about privacy and data rights for Prospect Magazine, has consulted on AI projects for Harvard and MIT’s AI Fund, presented research to the Data and Society Institute in New York and been invited to present at NeurIPS (the annual conference on Machine Learning and Computational Neuroscience). Natalie lives in London.
NATALIE NZEYIMANA
Kelechi Okafor studied at the BRIT School of performing arts, specialising in Musical Theatre and English Literature. Kelechi went on to university to gain a 2:1 BA in Drama and Theatre Studies with Law. Kelechi has built a career as a formidable personal trainer, dance innovator, pole dance teacher, and successful dance studio owner. In 2018, Kelechi won Fitness Queen of the Year at the Precious Lifestyle Awards, followed by two Screen Nation awards in 2019 for Best Podcast and Best Social Media Personality.
KELECHI OKAFOR
The Sankofa Effect: Going Back to Go Forward
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Kelechi has been partnering with many prestigious organisations and individuals both in the United Kingdom and internationally, and is known for speaking at events on important global and local topical issues. Credible, engaging, and inspirational, Kelechi can discuss even the most sensitive topics with her audience in a way that is truthful, entertaining, but also educational. Kelechi has multifaceted knowledge in equality, anti-racism, and diversity, ‘cancel culture’ and other contemporary topics, and offers a high-energy, thought-provoking and motivational approach that encourages people to adopt and consider new concepts and attitudes. Kelechi is well known across social media with over 56k Instagram followers, 750k podcast downloads and 79k Twitter followers including many verified and celebrity re-tweeters and fans.
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Phyll Opoku-Gyimah is the nucleus of the award-winning celebration and protest that is UK Black Pride. Widely known as Lady Phyll – partly due to her decision to reject an MBE in the New Year’s Honours’ list to protest Britain’s role in formulating anti-LGBTQ penal codes across its empire – she is also the executive director of Kaleidoscope Trust, an organisation working towards the liberation of LGBTQ people around the world; a community builder and organiser; an Albert Kennedy Trust patron, and a public speaker focusing on race, gender, sexuality and class. She’s regularly called upon to advise nascent LGBTQ organisations around the world to help leaders create cogent organising strategies, establish robust partnership networks and work effectively in service of the LGBTQ community.
PHYLL OPOKUGYIMAH
Celebrating Black Pride through Education, the Arts, and Culture
9 NOO SARO-WIWA Noo Saro-Wiwa (OR) is the author of Looking for Transwonderland: Travels in Nigeria (published by Granta). In 2012, it was selected as BBC Radio 4’s Book of the Week and named The Sunday Times Travel Book of the Year. Four years later, it was awarded the Albatros Travel Literature Prize in Italy. Noo writes book reviews, travel and opinion articles for The Times Literary Supplement, City AM and Prospect magazine, among others. In 2018 Condé Nast Traveler magazine named her as ‘One of the World’s 30 Most Influential Women Travellers’.
You Can’t Take the Black out of Union Jack
Storytelling with the Power of Music in the 21st Century PROFESSOR SHIRLEY THOMPSON
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A visionary artist and cultural activist, Professor Shirley Thompson OBE is the first woman in Europe to have composed and conducted a symphony within the last 40 years. New Nation Rising, A 21st Century Symphony, performed and recorded by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, is an epic musical story celebrating London’s thousand-year history, and one in which the RPO is accompanied by two choirs, solo singers, a rapper, and dhol drummers, a total of nearly 200 performers. This extraordinary work was originally commissioned to celebrate Her Majesty the Queen’s Golden Jubilee in 2002, and the concept was latterly assumed as a framework for the 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony. She has also composed extensively for TV/film, theatre, dance and opera production, always driven by the belief in the transformative power of music to effect social, cultural, and political change. She was honoured with an OBE for Services to Music after years innovating the classical music forms and attracting new audiences to classical music/opera with her sound that represents a progressive Britain.
Roedean’s Festival Celebrating Roedean Celebrates Inspiring Women BLACK HISTORY MONTH International Women’s 16 October 2020 Day 8 March 2020 #BlackHistoryMonth #EachforEqual #BHM2020 #IWD2020 #RoedeanBHM2020
