Check out our list of non-fiction books to read and enjoy during this year's Global Black History Month 2024. You can purchases any of the books listed in our IBHM Heritage shop on our IBHM Heritage shop, which helps support IBHM-UK website and independent bookshops. Girl, Woman, Other by Bernadette Evaristo The perfect companion to our Sharing Journeys campaign for this year’s Black History Month UK and our book of the month! Tracking the lives and loves of 12 characters, most of them Black British women, through generations and social classes, Girl, Woman, Other weaves a distinctive, illuminating tapestry of modern British life. Bridging the gap between short story and novel, each character has their own chapter. Within the chapters, their lives sometimes overlap but their choices could not be more different. They include Amma, a lesbian socialist playwright, Windrush wife and mother Winsome, and mixed raced Hattie who finds love with an African American soldier in 1940s England. A Black Boy in Eton by Dillibe Onyeama Dillibe was the second black boy to study at Eton - joining in 1965 - and the first to complete his education there. Written at just 21, this is a deeply personal, revelatory account of the racism he endured during his time as a student at the prestigious institution. He tells in vivid detail of his own background as the son of a Nigerian judge at the International Court of Justice at The Hague, of his arrival at the school, of the curriculum, of his reception by other boys (and masters), and of his punishments. He tells, too, of the cruel racial prejudice and his reactions to it, and of the alienation and stereotyping he faced at such a young age. A title in the Black Britain: Writing Back series - selected by Booker Prize-winning author Bernardine Evaristo, this series rediscovers and celebrates pioneering books depicting black Britain that remap the nation. The Fortune Men by Nadifa Mohamed Nadifa Mohamed’s third novel reimagines the real-life story of the Somali seaman who was wrongfully executed for murder in Wales. Mahmood Mattan is a fixture in Cardiff's Tiger Bay, 1952, which bustles with Somali and Caribbean sailors, Maltese businessmen and Jewish families. He is a father, chancer, and some-time petty thief. He is many things, in fact, but he is not a murderer. So when a shopkeeper is brutally killed and all eyes fall on him, Mahmood isn't too worried. It is true that he has been getting into trouble more often since his Welsh wife Laura left him. But Mahmood is secure in his innocence in a country where, he thinks, justice is served. It is only in the run-up to the trial, as the prospect of freedom dwindles, that it will dawn on Mahmood that he is in a terrifying fight for his life - against conspiracy, prejudice and the inhumanity of the state. And, under the shadow of the hangman's noose, he begins to realise that the truth may not be enough to save him. It takes Blood and Guts by Skin with Lucy O’Brien Pioneering singer and frontwoman of rock bank Skunk Anansie tells us how she fought poverty and prejudice to become one of the most influential women in British rock. 'It's been a very difficult thing being a lead singer of a rock band looking like me and it still is. I have to say it's been a fight and it will always be a fight. That fight drives you and makes you want to work harder... It's not supposed to be easy, particularly if you're a woman, you're black or you are gay like me. You've got to keep moving forward, keep striving for everything you want to be.' Born to Jamaican parents, Skin grew up in Brixton in the 1970s. Her career as an artist began in the '90s, when Skunk Anansie was formed in the sweat-drenched backrooms of London's pubs. Since then she has headlined Glastonbury and toured the world, both as the lead singer of Skunk Anansie and as a solo artist. Her success has been ground-breaking in every way, which has come at a personal cost. She has always been vocal about social and cultural issues, and was championing LGBTQ+ rights at a time when few artists were out and gay. A Visible Man by Edward Enninful I set out to bring the 'othered' to the table. We're here to inspire and give people something to dream about as well as a sense of the possible here and now. A Visible Man traces an astonishing journey into one of the world's most exclusive industries. Edward Enninful candidly shares how as a Black, gay, working-class refugee, he found in fashion not only a home, but the freedom to share with people the world as he saw it. Written with style, grace and heart, this is the story of a visionary who changed not only an industry, but how we understand beauty. When Edward Enninful became the first Black editor-in-chief of British Vogue, few at the heights of the elitist world of fashion wanted to confront how it failed to represent the world we live in. But Edward, a champion of inclusion throughout his life, rapidly changed that. Now, whether it's putting first responders, octogenarians or civil rights activists on the cover of Vogue, or championing designers and photographers of colour, Edward Enninful has cemented his status as one of the world's most important change-makers. And he's just getting started. Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams Published on a wave of critical acclaim – and breathless enthusiasm from our booksellers – Candice Carty-Williams’ luminous debut is a joy-filled, painfully funny coming-of-age story set in modern Britain. Fabulous but flawed, defiant but vulnerable, Queenie Jenkins is one of the great fictional creations of the twenty-first century, and her story is, by turns, hilariously funny, dramatic and movingly tender. Caught between the Jamaican British family who don’t seem to understand her, a job that’s not all it promised and a man she just can’t get over, Queenie’s life seems to be steadily spiralling out of control. Desperately trying to navigate her way through a hot mess of shifting cultures and toxic relationships and emerge with a shred of dignity, her missteps and misadventures will provoke howls of laughter and tears of pity – frequently on the same page. Tackling issues as diverse as mental health, race, class and consent with a light yet sure touch, Queenie is refreshingly candid, delightfully compassionate and bracingly real. The perfect fable for a frenetic and confusing time, Carty-Williams’ stellar novel is undoubtedly one of the year’s most exciting debuts and announces its author as a fresh and vibrant new voice in British literature. Honey & Spice by Bolu Babalola In this heart-warming romantic comedy, the sharp-tongued (and secretly soft-hearted) Kiki Banjo is an expert in relationship-evasion, and likes to keep her feelings close to her chest. As the host of the popular student radio show, Brown Sugar, it is her mission to make sure the women who make up the Afro-Caribbean Society at Whitewell University also do not fall into the mess of 'situationships', players and heartbreak. But when Kiki meets the distressingly handsome and charming newcomer Malakai Korede - who she has publicly denounced as 'The Wasteman of Whitewell' - her defences are weakened and her heart is compromised. A clash embroils them in a fake relationship to salvage both their reputations and save their futures, and soon she finds herself in danger of falling for the very man she warned her girls about. The Day I Fell Off My Island by Yvonne Bailey-Smith The debut novel of Yvonne Bailey-Smith, mother to the award-winning and acclaimed writer, Zadie Smith, tells the story of a young girl who travels to England to be reunited with her family after the death of her grandmother. The Day I Fell Off My Island tells the story of Erna Mullings, a teenage Jamaican girl uprooted from her island following the sudden death of her beloved grandmother. When Erna is sent to England to be reunited with her siblings, she dreads leaving behind her elderly grandfather, and the only life she has ever known. A new future unfolds, in a strange country and with a mother she barely knows. The next decade will be a complex journey of estrangement and arrival, new beginnings, and the uncovering of long-buried secrets. The Confessions of Frannie Langton by Sara Collins Sara Collins’ The Confessions of Frannie Langton takes place in 1826 London, and tells the story of Frannie, a maid to the wealthy Mr. and Mrs. Benham — and the prime suspect for their murder. Collins writes from Frannie’s point of view, centering the protagonist in her own story as she is put on trial for the murders. Tracing Frannie’s life from a Jamaican plantation to Georgian London, this ambitious novel introduces a bold new voice to the period novel genre. Nice Racism: How Progressive White People Perpetuate Racial Harm by Robin Diangelo Racism is not a simple matter of good people versus bad. In White Fragility, Robin DiAngelo explained how racism is a system into which all white people are socialized. She also made a provocative claim: that white progressives cause the most daily harm to people of colour. In Nice Racism, her follow-up work, she explains how they do so. Drawing on her background as a sociologist and over twenty-five years working as an antiracist educator, she moves the conversation forward. Writing directly to white people as a white person, DiAngelo identifies many common racial patterns and breaks down how well-intentioned white people unknowingly perpetuate racial harm. These patterns include rushing to prove that we are 'not racist'; downplaying white advantage; romanticizing Black, Indigenous and other peoples of colour; pretending white segregation 'just happens'; expecting BIPOC people to teach us about racism; carefulness; and shame. She challenges the ideology of Individualism and explains why it is OK to generalize about white people, and demonstrates how white people who experience other oppressions still benefit from systemic racism. Writing candidly about her own missteps and struggles, she models a path forward, encouraging white readers to continually face their complicity and embrace courage, lifelong commitment and accountability. You can purchases any of the books listed in our IBHM Heritage shop on Bookshop.org, which helps support IBHM-UK website and independent bookshops. Disclosure: If you buy books linked to our site, we may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookshops.

Check out our list of books to read and enjoy during this year's Black History Month UK that includes fiction and non-fiction titles. You can purchases any of the books listed in our IBHM Heritage shop on our IBHM Heritage shop, which helps support IBHM-UK website and independent bookshops. Britons Through Negro Spectacles by Augustus B.C. Merriman-Labour Our book of the month and the perfect companion to this year’s Black History Month UK theme of ‘Before Windrush,’ Part of the Black Britain, Writing Back Complete Collection curated by Booker Prize-winning author Bernardine Evaristo. Merriman-Labour book was originally published in 1909. It’s a riotous, witty travelogue documenting the authors’ experience in Britain in the early 1900s, from an African perspective. In his book, Augustus narrates a day spent accompanying a newly arrived African friend around London. Part travelogue, part reverse ethnology, and part spoof of books by ill-informed ‘Africa experts.’ He slyly subverts the colonial gaze usually place on Africa, and introduces readers to the citizens, culture and customs of Britain with a mischievous glint in his eye. His jokes at the expense of the British attracted condemnation, and the book’s commercial failure push Augustus into bankruptcy. This incredible work of social commentary feels a century ahead of it time, and provides unique insights into the intersection between empire, race and community at this important moment in history. That Reminds Me by David Owusu The debut novel of David Owusu and the first novel to be published by Stormzy’s publishing imprint, Merky Books, tells the story of K, a boy born to Ghanian parents in London. Baby K is place in foster care and grows up relatively happily, he thinks in the countryside. When K is eleven, he returns to his birth family, and to a very different context of working-class British Ghanaian life in 1990s Tottenham. Slowly he finds friends. Eventually, he finds love. He learns how to navigate the city. But as he grows, he begins to realise that he needs more than the city can provide. He is a man made of pieces. Pieces that are slowly breaking apart. That Reminds Me is the story of one young man, from birth to adulthood, told in fragments of memory. It explores questions of identity, belonging, addiction, sexuality, violence, family and religion. It is a deeply moving and completely original work of literature from one of the brightest British writers of today. Keisha the Sket by Jade LB In 2005, a 13-year-old with no internet wrote a series of stories about life in London’s ends that ended up going viral – then, she disappeared. Now in print for the first time, Keisha the Sket tells the story of sharp, feisty and ambitious girl who been labelled ‘top sket’ but she’s making it work. When childhood crush and long-time admirer, Ricardo, finally wins her over, Keisha has it all: power, a love life and the chance for stability. But trauma comes knocking and with it a whirlwind of choices that will define what kind of a woman she truly wants to be. Complete with essays from esteemed contemporary writers Candice Carty-Williams, Caleb Femi and others, this is the complete and defining edition with edits and additional content from the author, perfect for readers - existing and new - to read and fall in love with over and over again. The Terrible by Yrsa Daley-Ward Yrsa Daley-Ward’s book, The Terrible (subtitled as a ‘storyteller’s memoir’) does not run across the pages like a traditional work of creative nonfiction. She has devised a form that combines first and third person, poetry and prose, upside-down printing, and streams-of-consciousness about sexuality and physicality that sometimes make for difficult reading. Essentially, this is the story of Yrsa, the child of a Jamaican mother and Nigerian father who grows up in a northern English market town with her beloved brother, Little Roo. Early on, she realises that her body is dangerous, and she and Roo are shipped off to live with their Seventh Day Adventist grandparents – something to do with a blue nightdress, and Marcia’s latest boyfriend. The power of sex, and the fear of it, are palpable. The Terrible is a coming-of-age story that follows Yrsa from childhood to the loss of her mother, her love of her brother, her coming out, and her recognition of the ways trauma has caused her to zoom in and out of presence. For those who’ve experienced PTSD, the splits of narrative into poetry make intuitive sense. They enact the experience of being fragmented by something larger than yourself. Of occupying the world as an Other. That Moment When: Life Stories from Way Back Then by Mo Gilligan You might know Mo as the critically acclaimed stand-up comedian, BAFTA-winning presenter, Masked Singer judge and social media mega star. But do you know the moments that really made him? Opening up on the turning points, the good times, the challenges and the lessons learned, this is Mo as you've never seen him before. Journeying through childhood memories in South London, Mo reminisces about school days and old-school raving, and takes us behind the scenes of his first comedy gigs, the creation of the original Geezer, selling out national tours and becoming one of TV's most in-demand stars. Share the moment that Mo decided he wanted to be a comedian, the moment he went viral, the moment he realised he was famous (and how to deal with it), the moment his Netflix special dropped, the moment he won his BAFTA and the moments he still has to come. In among the laugh-out-loud observations, life lessons and candid storytelling, there lies the bigger influences in Mo's life - the unsung heroes of the Black British comedy scene, the power of community and the feel-good legacy he wants to create. The Fraud by Zadie Smith Renowned writer Zadie Smith latest work is her first historical novel and is loosely based around the famous Tichborne Trial of the early 19th century. It’s an interweaving tale of Scottish housekeeper Mrs Eliza Touchet, a once famous novelist William Ainsworth, and star witness Andrew Bogle. Mrs Touchet is a woman of many interests: literature, justice, abolitionism, class, her cousin, his wives, this life and the next. But she is also sceptical. She suspects her cousin of having no talent; his successful friend, Mr Charles Dickens, of being a bully and a moralist; and England of being a land of facades, in which nothing is quite what it seems. Andrew Bogle meanwhile grew up enslaved on the Hope Plantation, Jamaica. He knows every lump of sugar comes at a human cost. That the rich deceive the poor. And that people are more easily manipulated than they realise. When Bogle finds himself in London, star witness in a celebrated case of imposture, he knows his future depends on telling the right story. The 'Tichborne Trial' captivates Mrs Touchet and all of England. Is Sir Roger Tichborne really who he says he is? Or is he a fraud? Mrs Touchet is a woman of the world. Mr Bogle is no fool. But in a world of hypocrisy and self-deception, deciding what is real proves a complicated task. Settlers: Journeys Through the Food, Faith and Culture of Black African London by Jimi Famurewa Daniel Kaluuya and Skepta; John Boyega and Little Simz; Edward Enninful and Bukayo Saka - everywhere you look, across the fields of sport, business, fashion, the arts and beyond, there are the descendants of Black African families that were governed by many of the same immutable, shared traditions. In his book Jimi Famurewa, a British-Nigerian journalist, journeys into the hidden yet vibrant world of African London. Seeking to understand the ties that bind Black African Londoners together and link them with their home countries, he visits their places of worship, roams around markets and restaurants, attends a traditional Nigerian engagement ceremony, shadows them on their morning journeys to far-flung grammar schools and listens to stories from shopkeepers and activists, artists and politicians. But this isn't just the story of energetic, ambitious Londoners. Jimi also uncovers a darker side, of racial discrimination between White and Black communities and, between Black Africans and Afro-Caribbeans. He investigates the troublesome practice of 'farming' in which young Black Nigerians were sent to live with White British foster parents, examines historic interaction with the police, and reveals the friction between traditional Black African customs and the stresses of modern life in diaspora. This is a vivid new portrait of London, and of modern Britain. Just Sayin’ by Malorie Blackman Malorie Blackman OBE is one of Britain's best loved and most widely-read writers. For over thirty years, her books have helped to shape British culture, and inspired generations of younger readers and writers. The Noughts and Crosses series, started in 2000, sparked a new and necessary conversation about race and identity in the UK, and are already undisputed classics of twenty-first-century children's literature. She is also a writer whose own life has been shaped by books, from her childhood in south London, the daughter of parents who moved to Britain from Barbados as part of the Windrush Generation, and who experienced a childhood that was both wonderful and marred by the everyday racism and bigotry of the era. She was told she could not apply to study her first love, literature, at university, in spite of her academic potential, but found a way to books and to a life in writing against a number of obstacles. This book is an account of that journey, from a childhood surrounded by words, to the 83 rejection letters she received in response to sending out her first project, to the children's laureateship. It explores the books who have made her who she is, and the background to some the most beloved and powerful children's stories of today. It is an illuminating, inspiring and empowering account of the power of words to change lives, and the extraordinary life story of one of the world's greatest writers. Wahala: Three friends, three ‘perfect’ lives. Here Comes Trouble by Nikki May Ronke, Simi and Boo are three mixed-race friends living in London. They have the gift of two cultures, Nigerian and English, though they don't all choose to see it that way. Everyday racism has never held them back, but now in their 30s, they question their future. Ronke wants a husband (he must be Nigerian); Boo enjoys (correction: endures) stay-at-home motherhood; while Simi, full of fashion career dreams, rolls her eyes as her boss refers to her 'urban vibe' yet again. When Isobel, a lethally glamorous friend from their past, arrives in town, she is determined to fix their futures for them. Cracks in their friendship begin to appear, and it is soon obvious Isobel is not sorting but wrecking. When she is driven to a terrible act, the women are forced to reckon with a crime in their past that may just have repeated itself. This is Not America: Why Black Lives in Britain Matter by Tomiwa Owolade Across the West, racial injustice has become a matter of urgency. Terms like 'critical race theory' and 'intersectionality' are everywhere and, in the rush to get it right, Britain has followed the lead of the world's dominant political power: America. But what if we've been looking in the wrong place? In This is Not America, Tomiwa Owolade argues that too much of the debate around racism in Britain is viewed through the prism of American ideas that don't reflect the history, challenges and achievements of black communities at home. Humane, empirical and passionate, this book promises to start a new conversation around race and, vitally, shed light on black British life today. You can purchases any of the books listed in our IBHM Heritage shop on IBHM Heritage shop, which helps support IBHM-UK website and independent bookshops. Disclosure: If you buy books linked to our site, we may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookshops.

Check out our list of non-fiction books to read and enjoy during this year's Global Black History Month 2024. You can purchases any of the books listed in our IBHM Heritage shop on our IBHM Heritage shop, which helps support IBHM-UK website and independent bookshops. My Sister, the Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite Our book of the month is a wonderfully sharp and funny tale from Nigerian writer Oyinkan Braithwaite. Her debut novel revolves around sisters Ayoola and Korede living in Lagos, Nigeria. Ayoola is a stunningly gorgeous young woman who is notorious for killing her lovers and Korede is a fastidious nurse who helps cover up Ayoola's crimes. Until Ayoola starts dating the doctor where Korede works as a nurse and she isn’t prepared to see him wind up with a knife in his back, but to save one would mean sacrificing the other… Finding Me by Viola Davis An inspiring memoir that explores Viola’s childhood in poverty, her journey to Hollywood, and the importance of embracing one's true self. She offers a glimpse into the experiences that shaped her as a woman and an artist, and shares the lessons she learned along the way. Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley Nightcrawling details the story of seventeen-year-old Kiara Johnson, a young Black teenager who turns to sex work to pay her family's rent and care for the abandoned nine-year-old boy next door. Glory by NoViolet Bulawayo Inspired by George Orwell’s Animal Farm, Glory is set in the animal kingdom of Jidada. After a 40-year rule, the “Old Horse” is ousted in a coup, along with his much-despised wife, a donkey named Marvellous. At first there was great rejoicing and hope for change under a new ruling horse, Tuvius Delight Shasha (the former vice-president turned rival of Old Horse). Hope, however, quickly vanishes and into the period of post-coup despair steps a young goat named Destiny, who returns from exile to bear witness to a land where greed, corruption and false prophets are rampant. The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw An award-winning, deliciously rebellious short story collection that teems with feeling, The Secret Lives of Church Ladies follows a cast of Black women navigating social pressure, the hurdles and joys of being in love, and joyous respites from being ‘good’. There is fourteen-year-old Jael, who nurses a crush on the preacher's wife; the mother who bakes a sublime peach cobbler every Monday for her date with the married Pastor; and Eula and Caroletta, single childhood friends who seek solace in each other's arms every New Year's Eve. With their secret longings, new love, and forbidden affairs, these church ladies are as seductive as they want to be, as vulnerable as they need to be, as unfaithful and unrepentant as they care to be, and as free as they deserve to be. Thicker than Water by Kerry Washington Thicker than Water is a moving and honest story of how her parents huge secret effect her even before she knew that they had a secret. Kerry has had to deal with sexual abuse, eating disorders, self esteem issues and constant feeling that something was off in her life. Kerry Washington is an intensely private person. The Gilded Ones - Gilded by Namina Forna The first book in the best-selling fantasy series in an ancient West-African inspired world, in which girls are outcasts by blood and warriors by choice. Sixteen-year-old Deka lives in fear and anticipation of the blood ceremony that will determine whether she will become a member of her village. Already different from everyone else because of her unnatural intuition, Deka prays for red blood so she can finally feel like she belongs. Leslie F*ucking Jones: A Memoir by Leslie Jones In this audacious memoir, Leslie Jones opens up for the first time about how she faltered and triumphed on the road to success and, in doing so, encourages others to let go of the fear and self-doubt that has holds them back. Leslie F*cking Jones is a love letter to regular people just trying to make it day to day. The Worst Best Man by Mia Sosa Mia Sosa delivers a hilarious enemies-to-lovers romance about wedding planner Lina and her ex-fiance’s brother Max and about opening yourself up to a chance at love. Wedding coordinator Carolina Santos is left at the altar. Three years later, she has an opportunity to win a dream job. She is assigned a marketing specialist - Max Hartwell, her former fiancé's brother and she loathes him. Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler Parable of the Sower (1993) is the story of Lauren Olamina, a young woman who lives in a near-future dystopian California. When her home community succumbs to the destructive forces of the world around it, Lauren is forced onto the road in search of a new life. You can purchases any of the books listed in our IBHM Heritage shop on IBHM Heritage shop, which helps support IBHM-UK website and independent bookshops. Disclosure: If you buy books linked to our site, we may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookshops.

Britain of the 1970s and 1980s was a cold, bleak and unwelcoming place for the sons and daughters of immigrants who accepted Britain’s call for workers to help restore its post-war economy. There was widespread racism in housing, employment, and policing. African, Caribbean and South Asian heritage people in Britain were subjected to racist violence from far-right groups such as the National Front and struggled to find work despite being born in the UK. During this period, it was common for Black footballers to be subjected to racist chanting from crowd members. It was a pivotal time for Britain and British Black History. The 1970s saw Britain try to come-to-terms with its post-colonial status. The decade was marked by four elections, blackouts, an IMF bailout, massive strikes, mass unemployment and 25% inflation. Life was hard for the ordinary working class Britons, and even harder for young Black people who faced racial discrimination in employment and policing. In 1965, spurred on by the Bristol Bus Boycott, the Labour government enacted the Race Relations Act to make ‘racial discrimination unlawful in public places’. The act was later amended in 1968 to make it illegal to refuse housing, employment or public services to a person on the grounds of colour, race, ethnic or national origins in Great Britain (excluding Northern Ireland which had its own parliament at the time). It also created the Community Relations Commission to promote ‘harmonious community relations.’ But these laws didn’t cover the Police forces in the UK who had argued successfully to the then Labour government that it would prevent them from ‘doing their job properly.’ In particular, using the notorious ‘sus law’ to stop, search, arrest, detain and assault young Black people, some as young as 11 years-old. The law was based on section 4 of the 1824 Vagrancy Act which was enacted to deal with a homeless population which had been swollen by veterans from the Napoleonic Wars and people displaced by the effects of the Industrial Revolution. Section 4 gave police the right to apprehend people suspected (hence ‘sus’) of ‘intent to commit an arrestable offence.’ As a result of a confected mugging scare in the early 1970s, police began to apply the law disproportionately and almost arbitrarily towards young Black people, especially in London. (1) Under the ‘sus law,’ Black children as young 11 and 12-years old were routinely arrested for activities as inoffensive as waiting for a bus or walking down the road. In many cases, these Black youths - mainly boys - would be arrested and physically assaulted in the back of a police van or at the local station. Often they would be detained for days, without their families’ knowledge. And often they would be wrongly accused of a crime such as theft or conspiracy, in which case it became their word against the police’s. (1) Because under the law the burden of proof lay with the police. No physical evidence was required. It’s only requirement was two witnesses, almost always police officers, who could corroborate that they had reasonable belief that someone was about to commit an arrestable offence. In fact, more than 90% of convictions in sus cases were on the strength of police testimony alone. Lord Boateng described the time in the Guardian newspaper: “It was a very turbulent period in the history of Black people in Britain. We were up against overt racism on the part of not only the police but the entire criminal justice system. There were two Black solicitors in London and I was one of them. There were hardly any Black magistrates. There were hardly any Black police officers. Racism was rampant, and to be found everywhere.” In 1977, a group of parents, led by Mavis Best, in Lewisham set up the ‘Scrap the SUS’ campaign to repeal the law. When Black youths were taken into custody, they would go down to the police station to get them out. Best said in an interview: “I used to go down to the police station and say: Come on. I demand that you let these kids out. I want to take them home. Because by then their parents were so debilitated by the whole thing that they couldn’t do anything.” Under Best’s leadership, the group secured the help of a 28 year old community activist and lawyer, Paul Boateng (future Home Secretary and Labour Peer) to help them. He said ‘Best called me up out of the blue and just said: Would you come to a meeting on Friday?’. The campaign first grew into a London-wide coalition rallied by the Black Parents Movement. As Black parents became more and more concerned about their children being targeted by the police. In Lambeth, Jean Bernard started the group ‘Lambeth Black Parents Against SUS.’ She said: “I never dreamed that police did the things they do. My attitude [of them] has changed drastically over the past two years.’ Veteran Black activist, Martha Osamor (now Baroness Osamor) recalled how Black mothers discussed the issue during the school pick-up. She joined the campaign whilst working as Community Outreach for the Tottenham Law Centre. Part of the Black People’s Organisations Campaign Against SUS (BPOCAS), a broad coalition of Black groups and lawyers, launched later in 1978. The Scrap SUS campaign issued leaflets, ran stalls at public events, and drummed up support from the local press and other community members. Mavis said: “We used to scan the papers daily and if there was anything inaccurate about our community we would immediately respond with a rebuttal or story from our perspective. If we don’t do that then people tend to believe what they hear.” Best would organise and attend demonstrations, and was often dragged away by the police herself. She also marshaled families and the community to attend court hearings en masse, to fight every case and to call as many witnesses as possible to contradict police evidence. “You have to cast your mind back to a time in which it was rare to challenge directly the evidence of the police,” says Boateng. “But a group of us came to the view that we had to be prepared to call them liars. We had to be ready to challenge them and bring home to magistrates that they themselves were being watched by the community.” (1) Over time the campaign against ‘sus’ garnered nationwide support with TV stations and national newspapers covering the issue. Paul Boateng recalled: “The great strength of SUS campaign was it came from the grassroot experience of a group of Black women in Lewisham and came in time to embrace black and white people, churches, political parties, all united in the belief that this was a law that had to change.’ For three years, successive home secretaries, Conservative and Labour, failed to act on the Black community’s complaints. Mavis and Boateng even met with Merlyn Rees, the Labour home secretary at the time, to discuss the issue. He refused to take action as ‘the police commissioner felt strongly that without the power to stop and search the police wouldn’t be able to do their job properly’. When questioned on the topic in 1980, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir David McNee stated that the reason for its disproportionate use on Black people was because they were “over-represented in offences of robbery and other violent theft.” Paul Boateng described the problem with governments as: “The Home Office consistently under both Labour and Conservative home secretaries refused to accept that the ‘sus law’ was either inherently discriminatory or being used in a discriminatory way.’ But the Scrap SUS campaign’s efforts finally paid off. In February 1980, an all party home affairs committee on Race Relations and the ‘sus’ law began hearings into the law. Both Mavis and Boateng were called to give evidence to the committee. John Wheeler, Conservative MP for the city of Westminster, chaired the select committee and they had to use strong arm tactics to force the reforms. They issued the conservative home secretary William Whitelaw with a tough ultimatum: Repeal the law or we’ll put our own Bill before parliament. Wheeler said: “It was very controversial at the time, and I don't think I was always very popular.” The ‘sus law’ based on Section 4 of the 1824 Vagrancy Act was finally repealed in August 1981. “It was an uphill struggle, but we believed in the justice of our cause, and we believed we would succeed,” says Boateng. But we think that Mavis Best deserves the final word on scrapping the sus campaign: “It took us three years to convince politicians the need to repeal the Act. So, the credit must go to the Black community for this and no one else.” Sources: https://youtu.be/Fi1mXdgoLyI?feature=shared https://youtu.be/AcZkSZHJmDM?feature=shared https://youtu.be/lRbcFNhDFeA?feature=shared https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/nov/29/she-was-not-a-woman-to-back-down-the-fearless-black-campaigner-who-helped-to-scrap-the-sus-law https://mediadiversified.org/mavisbest-2/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sus_law https://www.calmview.eu/BCA/CalmView/default.aspx https://irr.org.uk/article/fighting-sus-then-and-now/ https://www.toynbeehall.org.uk/21/09/2023/black-history-month-at-toynbee-hall-saluting-our-sisters/#:~:text=In%201970s%20London%2C%20police%20used,government%20to%20scrap%20this%20law.

Angela M (CEO of IBHM-UK) explains the origins of Black History Month UK and how to celebrate it. Black History Month UK 2020 October 1st marks the start of Black History Month UK, observed since 1987, it is a time to celebrate the achievements and contributions of African and Caribbean heritage peoples to UK culture and history. What is Black History Month UK? Black History Month UK was the brainchild of Akyaaba Addai-Sebo, a special projects officer at the Greater London Council. He wanted to boost the self-esteem of Black British children and young adults by educating them on the achievements of Black people living in the UK. Taking inspiration from Black History Month (also known as African American History Month) in the United States. The first official event took place on 1st October 1987 at Country Hall. It has since evolved into a national movement that is observed throughout the UK. It is also recognised in other parts of the world during October in Ireland and the Netherlands. In the US, where Black History Month originated, the awareness month is held in February. It is also celebrated in Canada during the month of February, where it was officially recognised in 1995. Why is it celebrated at different times across the globe? After visiting America in the 1970s, Addai-Sebo created a British version of Black History Month in 1987, but they are not officially linked. In the United States, Black History Month takes place in February to coincide with the births of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. Addai-Sebo choose to celebrate Black History Month UK in October because of the month's importance in the African calendar. More importantly, it was the start of the British academic year. Why do we celebrate Black History Month UK 2020? Did you know that there has been a Black presence in the UK since Roman Times? Or that there were Black Tudors, Stuarts and Georgians? Black History Month is our chance to celebrate these unsung heroes of Black British history whose contributions have for too long been ignored and forgotten. Black History Month provides you with the chance to find out more about Black Britain’s rich and varied long history dating back to antiquity times. It’s a time to celebrate the achievements and contributions of Black Britons who helped to shape the country amongst the Black British community and the widen UK population. It also provides us with a space to tackle racism heads-on by encouraging government, institutions and corporations to embrace and adopt equality and diversity policies. What is the theme of Black History Month UK 2020? 2020 is the year the world finally started talking about race and anti-black racism. The brutal murder of George Floyd in the United States by police generated shock waves across the globe and lead to thousands of people taking to the streets to demand an end to racism. Here in the UK, young activists took to the streets to demand an end to racial inequality in education, health and employment. Sparking important conversations over Britain’s colonial past and its role in the Atlantic Slave Trade within government, business and the media. This month we want to celebrate the inspiring modern Black Britons who first picked up the civil rights baton that has now metaphorically been passed onto today’s brave and inspiring young activists. Our theme for this October is ‘Non-Violent Civil Disobedience’ in which we’ll be taking a look back at the Black British activists of the 1960s and 1980s who fought to achieve racial equality in the UK. Shining a light on the Civil Rights activists behind the Bristol Bus Boycott and the Lewisham Mums against SUS laws who paved the way for today’s young Black British activists. Throughout the month we’ll be sharing a variety of profiles and features on the British Civil Rights pioneers of the 1960s and 1970s who paved the wave for today’s Black Britons and the wider UK immigrant community. Visit our website and any of our social media channels (Instagram, Twitter, and Youtube) or why not sign up for our monthly newsletter updates. How will it be commemorated in 2020? Black History Month is a great opportunity for people from all backgrounds to educate themselves on Black British history and the often-overlooked people who have made a difference to the country. Please check your local authority website for news on any exhibitions or events they’re holding in commemoration of Black History Month UK. Or the websites of your local museum or other local cultural institutions for any special events they may be running to mark the occasion. Alternatively, why not check out our Events Calendar or read our blog ’31 ways to celebrate Black History Month UK’ for ideas on how to celebrate UK’s Black History Month with your friends and family. Brands supporting Black History Month this year include The Black Farmer, Bumble, Gap UK, Instagram, Royal Mail and Sainsburys plc. TV and satellite channels supporting Black History Month this year include BBC, Sky, Channel Four, ITV, Britbox, BT Sport, and Together TV. To mark Black History Month and its continued commitment to giving diverse voices a platform in the UK, Spotify is shining a spotlight on the Black artists and talent who have made a difference in a very challenging 2020. Who is the International Black History Month UK (IBHM-UK) organisation? The International Black History Month UK (IBHM-UK) was created in June 2020 by a group of Black Britons with a passion for investigating and curating the hidden and forgotten stories of Britain’s black past. We’re committed to raising the profile of the month amongst the African, Caribbean and Black British community in the UK. As one of our young volunteer interns explains: “Neither my primary or secondary schools celebrated Black History Month UK and I had to learn about UK Black History myself. So, I think it’s important that an organisation like this exists to fill the gaps in knowledge that many people in the UK’s African and Caribbean community may have about Britain’s black past. Our community is not a monolith, and we all have different lived experiences. BHMUK allows us all to reflect and celebrate on all the different aspects of British Black history from finding out about awe inspiring individuals like Dr Harold Moody and John Blanke to the legislative changes in UK law championed by the Windrush generation." For too long, Black History Month UK has lacked direction and focus. We decided to step into that space to ensure that this important month has a clear message and theme. Our CEO, Angela says: “I have a young son who was tasked with choosing a notable Black Briton for a school assignment and I was shocked to learn that the only resources available was a listings website with poorly researched articles and filled to the brim with job adverts. We set up this organisation to ensure that quality information and free resources are available to everyone who wants to learn about UK Black History. And more importantly, that the stories of Black Britons are told in an authentic voice that belongs to us and not someone masquerading as one of us!“ We are a local community group that provides free resources on UK Black History and hope to run themed Black UK history events in 2021 and beyond.

Black History Month UK 2023 'Before Windrush' - exploring the lives and stories of Black Britons who were living in the UK before the arrival of Empire Windrush in 1948. Chief Kofoworola Abeni Pratt Hon. FRCN was born into a wealthy family in Lagos, Nigeria in either 1914 or 1915. She was the second of four children - two girls and two boys - of Augustus Alfred Scott and Elizabeth Omowumi Scott (née Johnson). Her paternal grandmother was the daughter of Chief Taiwo, alias 'Olowo', who became the Olofin of lsheri in Lagos State. Brought up in the Anglican faith, she attended St John's Secondary School and CMS Girls School in Lagos. Kofoworola's desire to work within the nursing profession was fired by a tragic event from her early youth. At the end of the First World War in 1918, an influenza epidemic swept across the globe. The cosmopolitan city of Lagos was ravaged by the infection. One morning, the young Kofoworola wandered into her young sister's room to find her father holding her sister to his chest and crying. Her aunt who was also in the room grasped the young Kofoworola and ordered her to go to the room next door. She later learned that her sister, Ayoka, had died at the tender age of two-and-a-half years from influenza. But Kofoworola's wish to become a nurse was thwarted by her father who felt it wasn't a position befitting of a daughter from the Nigerian elite. At that time, in colonial Nigeria, senior nursing posts were only open to white immigrant British women, with the menial tasks delegated to Nigerians. After passing the Cambridge senior school certificate in 1933, she instead went on to study teaching and returned to her old school to teach British history. From 1936 to 1940, she taught at the CMS Girls School. On 3 January 1941, she married Eugene Samuel Oluremi (Olu) Pratt, a pharmacist for the Colonial Civil Service. Her husband was posted in Enugu, Warri and Forcados, so the couple moved around a lot. Their first son died in infancy and their second son, Babatunde, was born in Lagos in 1943. Unsatisfied with their nomadic lifestyle, her husband moved to London the following year to study to become a doctor. Whilst there Olu Pratt made the introduction for his wife to the matron at St Thomas' Hospital in 1946. The matron accepted her, subject to the arrival of the required documents, which proved to be in order. At that time, it was unusual for a married women from the middle classes to enter the nursing profession. Society norms dedicated that married women stayed at home to raise their family, particularly amongst the middle classes. But Kofoworola’s husband Olu strongly supported his wife’s commitment to nursing and provided an unobtrusive support to her achieving her dream career in nursing. In August 1946, Kofoworola moved to England to study nursing at the Nightingale School at St Thomas’ Hospital in London. Her son was left with foster parents in Nigeria while she attended the St Thomas’ Preliminary Training School. Kofoworola arrived to, a London still reeling from the Second World War. St Thomas’ Hospital had been bombed in the war, and so her nursing training took place in temporary quarters across London. During her time at St Thomas’s Hospital, Kofoworola experienced racial discrimination, when a patient refused to be treated by a Black nurse. She was active in the West African Students' Union (WASU), an association of students from various West African countries who were studying in the United Kingdom, and which, in 1942, had called for the independence of Britain's West African colonies. Kofoworola passed her preliminary state exams in 1948 and her finals in 1949, qualifying as a State Registered Nurse on 25 November 1949. Ambitious and driven by learning, she followed her nurse training with a succession of further achievements. She qualified as a midwife (and worked as a midwife), then gained a certificate in tropical medicine. Back in the early 1950s, the Royal College of Nursing ran a ward sister course which she completed before moving into children’s nursing. She worked for the NHS for four years from 1950 to 1954. With the NHS beginning in 1948, she is recognised as one of the first Black women to work in the NHS. Kofoworola is often incorrectly cited as being the first qualified Black nurse to work for the NHS. It seems this first appeared in her biography by Justus A. Akinsanya and was then repeated. Recent research shows that Black nurses worked in the UK prior to the founding of the NHS in 1948, such as Annie Brewster and Princess Ademola. By 1948 trained Black nurses predating Koworola's qualification in 1949, were working for the NHS; however, their stories are under-researched and have only recently come to light such as Lulu Coote. Kofoworola broke through many barriers in her lifetime. She was the first Black student at the Nightingale School for Nurses and later became the first Nigerian-born Chief Nursing Officer in Nigeria. (1) The 1950s also marked another milestone in the lives of the Pratt family with the birth of their third child, a boy they named Olufemi in 1952. He was three months old when his mother decided to take advantage of the Nightingale Fund grant previously offered to her. She completed the Ward Sister’s Day course at the Royal College of Nursing while Femi was cared for by Dr Pratt's cousin, Mrs Akerele. She completed the course and obtained a distinction in the final examination. By now, Dr Pratt had been appointed as medical officer with the Commonwealth Development Corporation and was later posted to the Cameroons. Leaving their family divided between England and the Cameroons. (2) In 1954, Kofoworola returned to a Nigeria still in the grips of British colonial rule. She applied for a post as ward sister at the University College Hospital in Ibadan but was turned down, despite her numerous qualifications and considerable experience as a ward leader in the UK. Colonial Nigeria was managed by the British under a system known as ‘indirect rule.’ Credited to Frederick Lugard who took the idea from the Songhai and Ashanti Empires. Lugard’s interpretation became a political doctrine which held that Europeans and Africans were culturally different to the extent, Africans had to be ruled through the African’s own institutions. In practice, this meant that the African colonies were ruled directly by the Colonial Office in London and an apartheid-style system in which the vast majority of the native populations were condemned to work in menial jobs. At the time, the position of ward sister was only open to white British nurses. Kofoworola fought the decision and with the support of her colleagues at St Thomas’ Hospital got the position. Not surprisingly, the staff weren’t very welcoming and when she arrived at the hospital, she discovered that her accommodation was in a separate block from her white British colleagues. Even more maddening, the professor of medicine wouldn’t let her work on the hospital ward because she was a native Nigerian. However, the matron of the hospital overturned the decision and Kofoworola was moved to a medical ward at the newly built Adeoyo Hospital in Ibadan. When Kofoworola arrived at Adeoyo Hospital was still under construction and she used the opportunity to impose new standards for hygiene, care and nutrition, and reformed the administration of the ward. She was promoted to administrative sister in 1955 and the following year, she returned to London to study for a diploma in hospital nursing administration from the Royal College of Nursing. This transition from white British nurses, doctors, and other professionals and administrators to Nigerians was called “Nigerianisation”. It was a policy of training and posting Nigerians to positions of responsibility previously occupied by white Britons in the public service of the government of Nigeria. The process started and was largely implemented in the 1950s becoming more important as Nigeria marched towards independence in 1960. It was shaped as a fight against racial discrimination and colonialism by Nigerian nationalists. Shockingly, but not surprisingly, when the first independent Nigerian government took power, they had to agree to giving financial compensation to all the white British workers who had lost their jobs to native Nigerians. After becoming the first Nigerian ward sister, Kofoworola, then, successively, the first Nigerian assistant matron, deputy matron, and in 1964, matron, at the top hospital in Nigeria, University College Hospital, Ibadan. Later in 1959, she travelled to the United States, Puerto Rico and Jamaica on a Carnegie Grant to gain broader nursing experience. In the United States, she was impressed by training based at universities. She would later lead in the introduction of university-based training in Nigeria, achieved in 1965. In 1964, Kofoworola was appointed matron at University College Hospital in Ibadan, the first Nigerian nurse to hold that position, which was previously only open to white British nurses when Nigeria was under colonial rule. The following year, she became chief nursing officer in the Nigerian Ministry of Health and was later made commissioner of health for Lagos. (3) Committed to public service and raising the profile of nursing, she helped establish a professional association for nurses in Nigeria and founded a journal, Nigerian Nurse. She led in the establishment of nursing schools and did some of the training herself. There were many broader accomplishments too, which helped cement Kofoworola’s place as a nursing leader of international significance. She led Nigeria’s first delegation to the congress of the International Council of Nurses (ICN) and was the first African to serve as a vice president of the ICN. As an advocate for the rights of women and children, she also headed the Nigerian delegation attending the United Nations’ first world conference on the status of women, held in Mexico City in 1975. (3) And for a decade she was a member of an expert panel that advised the World Health Organization on nursing. (3) In October 2021, Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital launched The Kofoworola Abeni Pratt Fellowship for nurses, midwives, and allied health professional from across the Trust who wanted to undertake personal and professional development. The one-year programme and was based in the Nightingale Academy where Kofoworola started her nursing career. Kofoworola has been dubbed the ‘African Florence Nightingale’ and there are certainly many similarities between the two. Both came from middle class backgrounds and were discouraged by their parents to pursue a nursing career. Both fought and overcame the discrimination of the day to pursue their nursing careers and revolutionised the nursing industries in their home countries. Rightly so, Kofoworola is well known throughout Nigeria because of the legacy she left. She’s a role model to the thousands of women who choose to enter the nursing professional in Nigeria each year. And by highlighting her story throughout Black History Month UK we hope that she can inspire Black nurses here in the UK too. In 1979, surely in a full circle moment, Kofoworola was awarded the Florence Nightingale medal by the International Committee of the Red Cross and made an honorary fellowship of the RCN. (3) Kofoworola died in Lagos in 1992. Sources: An African Florence Nightingale by Justus A. Akinsanya (2) https://nightingalesociety.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/An-African-Florence-Nightingale-CWFN-site.pdf https://www.rcn.org.uk/magazines/History/2022/Jan/Fearless-about-being-first-Nigeria-Kofoworola-Abeni-Pratt (3) https://www.guysandstthomas.nhs.uk/news/guys-and-st-thomas-launches-kofoworola-abeni-pratt-fellowship https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kofoworola_Abeni_Pratt (1) https://nightingalesociety.com/papers/kofoworola-abeni-pratt-outline/ https://www.younghistoriansproject.org/early-women/kofoworola-and-mojibola-pratt https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(21)02240-6/fulltext

March is Women's History Month - an annual month that highlights the contributions of women to events in history and contemporary society. The 2024 theme celebrates “Women Who Advocate for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.” This theme recognizes women who understand the need to eliminate bias and discrimination from individuals' lives and institutions. We'll be exploring the lives of African & Caribbean heritage women who contributed to change in the UK and overseas via biographies, media recommendations and blogs throughout the month. ​ Remember, you can explore Black British History beyond a designated month and we’re committed to helping guide you through your journey learning about UK Black History all throughout the year. Start your journey today by learning about amazing Women of African and Caribbean heritage such as: Yvonne Conolly, Emma Clarke, Jessica Huntley, Claudia Jones, Kofoworola Abeni Pratt, and Kathleen Wrasama. ​ Alternatively, you can check out our social media accounts or why not test your knowledge in our Women’s History Month quiz. Don’t forget to subscribe to our monthly e-newsletter for regular updates!

American Fiction available nationwide in cinemas only Cord Jefferson's debut American Fiction is a funny, fresh and insightful satire that follows a frustrated novelist-professor who writes an outlandish satire of stereotypical 'Black' books, only for it to be mistaken by the liberal elite for serious literature and published to both high sales and critical praise. The Colour Purple streaming on demand on all platforms This musical adaptation of Alice Walker’s acclaimed Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, The Colour Purple, includes a star-studded cast in Taraji P. Henson, Fantasia Barrino, Danielle Brooks, Coleman Domingo and Halle Bailey. Mea Culpa streaming on Netflix Mea Culpa is a legal thriller written and directed by Tyler Perry. A criminal defence attorney played by Kelly Rowland takes on the case of seductive artist (Trevante Rhodes) who is accused of murdering his girlfriend. But when desire takes hold of them both, things get hot - and dangerous. Miss Juneteenth streaming on ITVX and Amazon Prime Nicole Beharie gives an amazing performance as Turquoise, a former beauty queen who tries to mold her rebellious teen daughter into her Miss Juneteenth pageant footsteps and grows closer to her in the process. Back on the Strip streaming on demand on all platforms Back on the Strip is a raucous comedy starring Kevin Hart, Wesley Snipes and Tiffany Haddish. It tells the story of Merlin, who moves to Las Vegas after losing the woman of his dreams. He gets hired as a frontman in a revival of the notorious Black male stripper crew, the Chocolate Chips. The Blackening streaming on demand on all platforms The Blackening is a horror comedy directed by Tim Story and starring Grace Byers, Jermaine Fowler, Melvin Gregg, X Mayo, Antoinette Robertson, Sinqua Walls, Jay Pharoah and Yvonne Orji. The film, set on Juneteenth, follows a group of Black friends targeted by a masked killer while staying at a cabin in the woods. Honk for Jesus. Save your Soul streaming on demand on all platforms Honk for Jesus. Save Your Soul is a mockumentary comedy film written, directed and produced by Adamma Ebo, in her feature directorial debut. It stars Regina Hall and Sterling K. Brown as the first lady and the pastor of a megachurch, who attempt to reopen and rebuild their congregation, following a major scandal. Rustin streaming on Netflix Coleman Domingo gives an Oscar-nominating performance as social activist Bayard Rustin who faced racism and homophobia as he helped change the course of Civil Rights history by orchestrating the 1963 March on Washington. Single Black Female streaming on Paramount Plus Amber Riley and Raven Goodwin star in this bonkers, so ‘good it’s bad’ thriller Single Black Female. Goodwin plays talk show host Monica who becomes close friends with her new assistant, Simone (Amber Riley), a deranged woman who plans to take over Monica’s life for good. Focusing on black talent.... The Creator streaming on Disney+ Action star John David Washington stars in the sci-fi action movie The Creator. In the future, the human race and artificial intelligence are at war, ex-special forces agent Joshua (John David Washington) is recruited to hunt down and kill the Creator, the elusive architect of advanced AI. The Creator has developed a mysterious weapon that has the power to end the war and all of mankind. As Joshua and his team of elite operatives venture into enemy-occupied territory, they soon discover the world-ending weapon is actually an AI in the form of a young child. Cold Copy streaming on demand on all platforms Girlfriends and Black-ish star Tracee Ellis Ross plays a famous journalist known for her hard-hitting exposes in the drama/thriller Cold Copy. When an ambitious journalism student (Bel Powley) falls under the thrall of an esteemed yet cut-throat news reporter (Tracee Ellis Ross) whom she's desperate to impress, even if it means manipulating her latest story and the very idea of truth itself. Image credits: Vertical Entertainment, 20th Century Fox

The first of February marks the start of Black History Month in several countries including the USA, Canada, and Germany. And the start of Pride month in the UK too! Throughout the month of February, join us in learning about the Black Britons who have led the way in LGBT+ history in the UK and stories behind some of the faces of other global Black History Months. Remember, you can explore Black British History beyond a designated month and we’re committed to helping guide you through your journey learning about UK Black History all throughout the year. Start your journey today by learning about Black British LGBT+ trailblazers: Ivor Cummings, Pearl Alcock, Justin Fashanu, and Olive Morris. Or check out our features on Ira Alridge, who was Britain’s first Black Shakespearean actor, media recommendations for the month, and our Global Black quiz to play with family and friends. Check out our social media accounts or subscribe to our monthly e-newsletter for regular updates!

Swarm streaming on Amazon Prime Dominique Fishback was nominated for an Emmy for her role as Dre, a young woman who is obsessed with a pop star, whose fanbase is known as ‘The Swarm.’ Her obsession goes to increasingly violent lengths for her favourite R&B singer. The Other Black Girl streaming on Disney+ Based on Zakiya Dalila Harris’ thrilling satirical 2021 novel The Other Black Girl, the series centres on Nella Rogers, an ambitious editorial assistant working at a white publishing firm. When a Black co-worker arrives she gets excited, but is the new girl a friend or foe? Twenties streaming on BBC IPlayer Twenties is a comedy series follows a queer Black woman in her twenties, Hattie and her two straight best friends, Marie and Nia, as they try to find their footing in life, love, and the professional world in Los Angeles. Selah and the Spades streaming on Amazon Prime Originally released in 2019, Selah and the Spades is the directorial debut of Tayarisha Poe. This smart and stylish teen drama tells the story of Selah, who leads the faction named Spades at her school, and is looking for a protege to replace her. Things take a turn when Paloma transfers to the school. Survival of the Thickest streaming on Netflix Comedian Michelle Buteau turned her Survival of the Thickest memoir into this charming romantic comedy series that has recently been renewed for a second season. After a bad breakup, a passionate stylist Mavis Beaumont (Buteau) seizes the opportunity to start over in life and love while finding happiness on her own terms. Lawmen: Bass Reeves streaming on Paramount Plus Lawmen: Bass Reeves is a western based about the legendary lawman, one of the greatest frontier heroes and one of the first Black deputy U.S. marshals west of the Mississippi River. The Changeling streaming on Apple TV Lakeith Stanfield stars in the horror fantasy The Changeling which is based on a novel of the same name. Stanfield is a bookseller from Queens who meets a librarian from Virginia. They fall in love, marry, have a baby - and trigger an unimaginable series of events. Power Book II: Ghost streaming on Amazon Prime The Power spin-off and sequel Ghost follows Tariq navigating his new life, in which his desire to shed his father’s legacy comes up against the mounting pressure to save his family. Along the way, Tariq gets entangled in the affairs of the cutthroat Tejada family, adding further complications as he tries to balance his drug operations with his education, love life, family affairs, scrutiny from local and federal law enforcement. I’m a Virgo streaming on Amazon Prime I’m a Virgo is a brilliant absurdist comedy created by visionary director Boots Riley and starring Jharrel Jerome. It follows the story of Cootie, a 13-foot-tall (4m), 19-year-old Black teenager raised by his Aunt Lafrancine and Uncle Martisse in California. He is shielded from the outside world until being accidentally discovered by a group of teenage political activists. Lupin streaming on Netflix This French heist-thriller became an international phenomenon when it was released in January 2021 on Netflix and is now on its third season. Winner of Csear Award for Leading Man, Omar Sy, is perfectly cast to play Assane Diop, the gentleman gem thief inspired by the classic French tales of Arsene Lupin by Maurice Leblanc.

Google Doodle celebrates the brilliant American writer and civil rights activist James Baldwin, who is remembered for his many literary works, which often explored themes of social justice. On the1st February 2024, in honour of Black History Month USA, Google Doodle celebrated the life of the extraordinary writer and civil rights activist James Baldwin. He was born on the 2nd August 1924 in New York City. He grew up in Harlem and helped raise his eight siblings. As a young teenager, he followed his step-father’s influence and became a junior minister at a church in Harlem. He also got involved in his high school’s magazine where he began publishing poems, short stories and plays. His time working on the magazine honed his literary skills and solidified his passion for writing. In his late teens and early 20s, he took on odd jobs to support his family and, in parallel, set a goal to write a novel. In 1944, Baldwin’s promise as a writer earned him a fellowship, but he found himself struggling to write his first novel which ended up taking 12 years to produce. This novel, Go Tell It on the Mountain, is a semi-autobiographical story which is now considered one of the best English-language novels of the 20th century. At age 24, Baldwin made the decision to move to Paris for another fellowship. Distance from New York allowed him to write more freely about his personal experience. He wrote essays such as Notes of a Native Son, Nobody Knows My Name, and The Fire Next Time. His depictions of Black masculinity in America were as poetic as they were groundbreaking , and they resonated far beyond Black communities. He released his second novel, Giovanni's Room, in 1956. The novel was one of the first to bring in-depth characterizations of homosexuality to mainstream culture, well before the gay liberation movement had gained steam. In the following years, Baldwin continued to write essays and novels that addressed racial tensions in America head-on. In 1974, he wrote If Beale Street Could Talk, a tragic love story set in Harlem. The story was later adapted into an Academy Award-winning film in 2018. In 1986, Baldwin earned the Commandeur de la Légion d'honneur, the highest French order of merit. He went on to receive numerous awards during and after his lifetime. But, Baldwin’s influence is much greater than any award — his works provided valuable representation to people whose stories often went untold, and inspired many civil rights leaders who, in turn, made progress in society that impacted generations. Thank you, James Baldwin, for your massive contributions to the literary cannon - your voice has shaped how we approach conversations of identity and social justice.

Black History Month UK 2022 'Sharing Journeys' campaign - In the first of our history in the making articles, we'll be exploring the life and career of the cabinet minister, Kemi Badenoch. Kemi Badenoch was born Olukemi Olufunto Adegoke on 2 January 1980 in Wimbledon, London, to Femi and Deyi Adegoke. Her father was a GP and her mother a professor of physiology. She spent her childhood growing up on both sides of the Atlantic where her psychology professor mother had lecturing jobs. Life became increasingly hard for her family when Nigeria was thrown into political chaos after a military coup in the early eighties. The country was racked with financial ruin and severe human rights abuses. The Nigerian naira was devalued and the country was temporarily suspended from the Commonwealth for executing nine environmentalists including Nobel prize nominee Ken Saro-Wiwa. Living in such dire conditions, Badenoch’s father took the difficult decision to send her to the UK. She recalls: that Nigeria’s currency had suddenly become worth 10% of what it had been and “my Dad [had to] spend several months’ pay on my ticket. We went to the travel agent with all his savings stuffed in a plastic carrier bag. He had £100 left when he’d paid for my ticket, and he gave it to me to take to England. So that’s all I had when I arrived.” “But I was so excited. When I saw my British passport it was like Willy Wonka’s golden ticket. It was amazing, a very special privilege to be a citizen of this country. Many people use citizenship as an international travel document, but to me it was much more than that. I think of this country with affection, feeling, loyalty. Its values make it special.” At the age of 16, Badenoch returned to the UK to stay with her mum’s best friend in Wimbledon. Whilst studying for her A Levels at Phoenix College in south London she worked at Mcdonald’s and other jobs. She told the Times of her time at McDonald’s: “You would have people from college who would turn up and laugh at me because I was there with my hat and badge and I didn’t have any stars. But it was what I had to do. I didn’t have money. My parents weren’t here and I was living with family friends. So I had a roof over my head, but I needed to earn to live. There’s dignity that you just get from working and earning your own money.” After graduating from Sussex University with a degree in computer systems engineering, she worked for Logica, claiming she was “once the only woman on a building site with 300 men!” She then moved on to work for the Royal Bank of Scotland as a system analyst before pursuing a career in banking. She became an associate director at the private bank Coutts from 2006 to 2013. Developing an interest in law and politics, she began studying law at Birbeck, University of London and completed her LLB in 2009. She then took the tentative steps to move into politics while working as a director of the digital department at the influential right-wing magazine The Spectator. In 2015, she became a member of the National Assembly, going on to retain her seat in the Assembly in the 2016 election. Badenoch joined the Conservative party in 2005 and spent several years trying to get elected to Parliament. A year after being elected to the National Assembly, she was shortlisted by the Conservative Party for a marginal seat in the Hampstead and Kilburn consistency in the 2017 general election. She was unsuccessful but was ultimately selected as a Conservative candidate for Saffron Waldon, a safe seat for the Tories, which she held with 37,629 votes and a majority of 24,966. In her maiden speech as an MP on 19 July, she described the vote for Brexit as “the greatest vote of confidence in the project of the United Kingdom” and cited her personal heroes as Conservative politicians Winston Churchill, Airey Neave, and Margaret Thatcher. In July 2019, Badenoch joined Boris Johnson’s government as a junior minister in the role of Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Children and Families). She bounced around several junior ministerial roles before being promoted to Minister of State for Equalities; and appointed Minister of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government. Within days of her appointments, the latter title was renamed “Minister of State for Levelling Up Communities.” Her tenure as Minister of State for Equalities was sometimes mired in controversy. During a debate in the House of Commons in April 2021, Badenoch criticised the Labour Party’s response to a report compiled by the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities which declared Britain was not institutionally racist. Labour had described the report as “cherry-picking of data”, while the party’s former frontbench MP Dawn Butler claimed the report was “gaslighting on a national scale”, describing those who put it together as “racial gatekeepers”. Badenoch accused Labour of "wilful misrepresentations" over the report and responded to Butler's comments by stating "It is wrong to accuse those who argue for a different approach as being racism deniers or race traitors. It's even more irresponsible, dangerously so, to call ethnic minority people racial slurs like Uncle Toms, coconuts, house slaves or house negroes for daring to think differently." In a Black History Month debate in the House of Commons in October 2020, she reiterated the government's opposition to primary and secondary schools teaching white privilege and similar "elements of critical race theory" as uncontested facts. ConservativeHome readers voted Badenoch's speech on critical race theory 2020 'speech of the year', in which she said that any school that teaches "elements of political race theory as fact, or which promotes partisan political views such as defunding the police without offering a balanced treatment of opposing views, is breaking the law". Badenoch has been dubbed the UK’s Candace Owens by her critics on the left because of her controversial opinions on race and equality. Shortly after her appointment as Minister of State for Equalities 2021, Vice News said they had received leaked audio from 2018 in which Badenoch mocked gay marriage, referred to trans women as "men" and used the term transsexual which is considered offensive by some trans people. During the comments reportedly made in her Commons office in 2018, Ms Badenoch is alleged to have said: “Now it’s not just about being free to marry who you want, you now want to have men using women’s bathrooms.” Deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner labelled the remarks “disgusting” and LGBT charity Stonewall said the comments were “hurtful and harmful”. In response, a government spokesperson said: “The 2018 comment has been taken out of context, with the Minister making a clear point about striking the balance for equality and fairness when there are multiple and often competing demands between different groups. It should not be used to misrepresent her views.” Tipped as a possible contender in the run-up for the Conservative Party leadership election in 2019. She instead supported the campaign of Michael Gove. Twenty-five months later, after the resignation of Prime Minister Boris Johnson, she threw her hat into the ring. Ranked as an outsider, she campaigned on the “anti-woke” platform and small government pitch becoming the new darling of the right of the Tory party. "I came to this country aged 16 and now I am standing for prime minister - isn't that amazing? I was born in this country but I didn't grow up here… And I don't understand why people want to ignore all of the good things and only focus on the bad things and use the bad things to tell the story." According to The Sunday Times, Badenoch entered the race as “a relatively unknown minister for local government” but “within a week emerged as the insurgent candidate to become Britain’s next prime minister". On 16 July, a ConservativeHome survey found Badenoch to be the favoured candidate of members by a double-digit margin. She was eliminated in the fourth round of voting, winning 59 votes in that round, the fewest of the four remaining candidates. On the 6th September, Kemi Badenoch was appointed Secretary of State for International Trade and President of the Board of Trade. It is her first cabinet post and she’s tipped to take another shot at the top job when the time comes. “Running doesn’t have to mean winning,” said one admiring MP, who backed Liz Truss for the leader. “Running means getting ready to win later.” Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kemi_Badenoch https://www.standard.co.uk/insider/who-is-kemi-badenoch-tory-leadership-candidate-b1012442.html https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-62176280 https://www.politico.eu/article/kemi-badenoch-british-pm-tory-race/