My Top Resources for Teaching... Black History
My Top Resources for Teaching... Black History
10 resources to help with teaching a more diverse history curriculum
Over the last few years, the issue of making the curriculum more diverse has been raised by a number of individuals and groups. The 2014 National Curriculum, as it stands, focuses very much on Western, predominantly British, historical events and people; a product, some might say, of the architects behind it. However, opportunities exist to present a more diverse curriculum and look at events from a number of angles: indeed, many schools have already made great progress in achieving this and recently a number of high quality books (both fiction and non-fiction) have been published. In this post, I will give some examples of resources I have found that would help in teaching aspects of black History which could be utilised in the classroom. My audience is primary, however some of these resources could also be used at KS3.
It should be noted that, although October is Black History Month when many schools focus on black history, we should avoid tokenism: the history of our nation is complex and has involved the migration of groups from many countries across the world. The narratives of these should be fully integrated with the teaching of history; the settlement of our country and contribution of many diverse groups (not only those with African heritage) should be incorporated into lessons at every opportunity and not just limited to one month of the year. Black history is British history!
Here is my list of top resources that I have found useful when planning for a more diverse history curriculum. This is by no means a comprehensive list, but comprises of books and websites that I have found useful in my own practise or think may be useful and of interest to pupils.
1. Black and British an Illustrated History by David Olusoga
This is a brilliant book and one that should be in every classroom. If there is one thing you take away from this post, make it this! David Olusoga charts black British history from the Roman invasion right up to the present day and shows how rich the diversity of our nation is. Did you know that the most powerful man in Roman Britain at one time (the governor Quintus Lollius Urbicus) originally came from Africa or that there were hundreds of black people living in Tudor England, one of whom got a pay rise from Henry VIII? This book covers slavery and abolition, American independence and World Wars I and II. It also dispels the image that the only black people living in Britain were slaves and that many were free individuals who held roles of power and influence.
2. 100 Great Black Britons
https://www.100greatblackbritons.co.uk/resources.html
This site is based around a book of 100 significant black British people. The resources section is particularly useful as it contains links to other sites and also a timeline of black British history (however please be aware some links have expired). If you are a secondary school, there is a form that you can fill out to request a free copy of the book for your school (though sadly not for primary) here.
3. Black History Heroes
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m000wfhl/our-black-history-heroes
These short 2 minute films on BBC iPlayer focus on the lives of famous black heroes from around the globe chosen and narrated by children. There’s a selection of 22 individuals to ignite pupils’ interest including the more obvious (Martin Luther King, Barack Obama and Muhammed Ali) and the less obvious (Harriet Tubman, Madam CJ Walker and Chadwick Boseman). These could be used for the start of a lesson on a significant individual, part of an assembly about one of the individuals or as a resource for pupils’ own research/homework. You might even use one a day in class during Black History Month and spend some time discussing each individual.
4. The Black Curriculum- Books and Website
This series of recently published on the themes of Migration, Places and Legacies are another great addition to any classroom. Each book gives some really good information about pioneering black people and important turning points in black British history.
There is also a website which has some useful materials.
https://theblackcurriculum.com/downloads
Although not all the resources are free here, this site does include a few free downloads including the role of black soldiers during WW1. If you scroll to the bottom of the page, there are some videos and pdfs that might come in handy when teaching various aspects of history, including the Bristol bus boycotts, John Blanke (more about him later) and Notting Hill Carnival.
5. Blue and Black Plaques
If you are looking to study a significant individual as part of a unit, it may be worth looking at English Heritage’s listings of their Blue Plaques. There is a section entitled ‘Blue Plaque Stories’ which gives background on a number of individuals.
https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/blue-plaques/blue-plaque-stories/londons-black-history/
For the same reason, the following website might also be of use.
https://blackplaqueproject.com
This is an interesting site, which has installed black plaques (similar to the English Heritage blue plaques) at locations in London where significant black individuals lived, which they believe should be commemorated with an official Blue Plaque. According to this site:
“The Black Plaque Project, which is an initiative by Nubian Jak Community Trust, aims to temporarily champion these heroes, in the hope that we can gain support from our wider community to champion them permanently. Turning their black plaques blue.”
It gives a synopsis of each person’s life and there is a map showing where each black plaque has been installed. Amongst those included are George Bridgetower, an 18th Century virtuoso violinist, firefighter Frank Arthur Bailey and athlete Ethel Scott. Both sites may help in choosing significant figures that you wish to cover in your curriculum or individuals you might talk about during Black History Month instead of the some of the more well known choices.
6. BBC Bitesize/Clips
https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zwcsp4j/articles/zb84cmn
This resource is aimed at KS3 and highlights the lives of a number of black Tudors, including John Blanke. Some of this information could be adapted for KS2 when studying a unit on Tudor England and contains some very useful material.
There are also clips highlighting the lives of John Blanke and other famous Black Britons such as Mary Prince (aimed at KS2) here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0114302
7. Historic Royal Palaces: John Blanke
Historical Royal Palaces have an entire page dedicated to John Blanke. It outlines what we know of his life and give examples of primary sources evidencing this, including his image as it appears on the Royal Tournament Rolls.
https://www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/history-and-stories/john-blanke/#gs.8pbga6
In fact the whole site is worth investigating if you’re interested in some background on the Tudor dynasty.
8. Missing Chapters
I stumbled across these resources during a search for black Romans and Tudors & Stuarts. The following links will provide you with a pdf document on each time period. I’m not sure about some of the activities but the information in these documents is pretty comprehensive and gives an idea of how diverse Britain was during these time periods and where these people travelled from (some of this is also covered in David Olusoga’s book). There is some good information and images from the times covered.
Tudors & Stuarts:
https://st-john.hackney.sch.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/8/2020/06/Black-British-Tudor-History.pdf
Romans:
9. Royal Museums Greenwich
This site has a selection of resources including a resource on black Tudors and the sea and information cards about famous black Georgians.
https://www.rmg.co.uk/schools-communities/teacher-resources/black-tudors-sea
10. Scholastic ‘Voices’ series
My final pick, is this series of novels published by Scholastic. Although these aren’t historical sources and shouldn’t be treated as such, each book features a story set in a particular time told from the perspective of a young, black person. They well researched and written by notable authors including such as Patrice Lawrence and Benjamin Zephaniah, really giving a feel of each period. These novels could be used in English lesson to complement more familiar historical narratives and offer a different perspective.
