Black His/Her Story Month: Finally a comment ...

Please don't get me wrong,  but I had to ask myself,  why am I  seeing the same names churned out for our Black History month this October? Have we become  plain lazy or  are we just using the same templates and stories without really thinking? I guess it takes that long to redress some aspects of history but really? I know that Nelson Mandela and Dr Maya Angelou are well known by those in my age group. An assumption but let me have it. Sadly both died this year and I have been left  touched by their contributions  to the worlds stage that we call life.

I thought about whether to actually make a comment,or not and decided to just reflect a little. I know 'we' (yes that collective 'we') are more than just dancers, sport figures and entertainers. I know I am not just speaking to myself  when I wonder what else black people do? If  I really was relying on the media to show me that we are thinkers, inventors scientist and so much more I think I would have  ended up in a mental institute. It maybe just my observation - but when the media reports negatives in the media or on the television they are so quick to add the tag black or show a picture of a black person. However when there is positive information the tag black isn't displayed so quickly. You literally have to hunt for it. I remember during the early 90's I used to visit the United States regularly visiting bookstores, stalls and the like, looking for books that spoke about the positive Black experience that I couldn't find in the UK. I bought and kept my findings hoping to pass them on one day. Now x amount of years later I am thankful that I have my mementos,  positive encounters, and books  but recently I was reminded of how easy it is to stop searching and to forget. 

In September I went to Liverpool, in the UK, for a day trip. One of the places that I visited was the International Slavery Museum at Albert Docks. http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/ism

I went to this event because my Aunt had organised the trip to raise funds for her local music school. Anyway I left London and went to Birmingham. Then left from Birmingham with two coaches filled with people  all going to Liverpool. I went along with my children and some family members all doing our part to support my aunt's cause and using it as lovely way to spend some time together.  I enjoyed the day but I didn't expect to be touched by the museum in the way that it has.

I had done a little research about what I would like to see in Liverpool since I couldn't recall ever visiting the place! Since the museum was a free place to visit  it was first on my list. I also did some research because whenever my cousin, Dawn, is around she just loves to visit the shops and I was sure that the place had far more to offer then that. Anyway I hate shopping, unless I know exactly what I am going in the store to buy,  I can’t take the hassle and seeking out clothes sizes because the big sizes always go first! Anyway, I thought I had better start with what I wanted to see rather than follow the herd.  Some others felt the same way. 

I anticipated that I might feel angry when visiting that place but upon entering I was greeted by some quotes that resonated with me. 

My children needed some things explained to them, which I did, especially where my knowledge was strong. When I didn't know something we read the information together. I explained further with my usual twist to help them understand.  

Of course there were written and oral stories that I sat, read and absorbed. There were exhibitions of items relating to slavery life. There were also interactive items that my children got totally involved in especially music and its origins. My youngest just ran around the place with her little cousin. I let that go because she will revisit the theme of this place as she gets older. So what was the hurry? Forcing her to pay attention would have been counterproductive and anyway I wanted some time to absorb what I needed instead of being an ‘off duty teacher ‘.

My children have been introduced to the history of slavery at primary (elementary) school. I of course helped them with the persons they were asked to look at by their teacher. I also introduced them to new characters, so for example, when they talked of Florence Nightingale I spoke of Mary Seacole. When the school talked about Mary Seacole I reached for my Africans in History book and introduced them to a new person and what they had contributed. I would like to think this helped them to have an enquiring mind but kids are far brighter nowadays. The amount of questions they asked me made me sometimes wish I had ‘shut my mouth’. But I really didn't want them to stop thinking. So I had to go with the flow and still do. Anyway hence why I never pushed them to look at what I was looking at but allowed them to freely flow through the museum and ask me questions when they either didn't understand something or just wanted to share with me something they thought was interesting or exciting.

My eldest is into music and spent a chunk of time listening to the interactive display about the  origins and influences of music from slavery to present day. As I was going around I noted things that I wanted to follow up on such as Bessie Smith’s music. Of course I knew the name but did I really know her material.  Some things I found disturbing and didn't want to draw my children’s attention to it. For example Thomas Thistlewood  1721-1786  who kept a diary chronicling 3,852 acts of sexual intercourse and /or rape with 138 women, nearly all of whom were black slaves.  Now with my mature ‘hat’ I could understand that the objectification of the other leads to acts such as this. I was saddened that today the culture has recreated this as a global phenomenon and that women, all over the world, are objectified and treated as objects. This has created a mindset that makes us one dimensional playthings and insinuates that  sex is all we are good for. Anyway I digress.

The key thing that struck me  at the International Museum of Slavery was what I called ‘The Cube’ http://vimeo.com/98718926   This ‘cube’  displayed faces. Some I knew but many  I did not.

I didn't know that John Richard Archer Mayor of Battersea was the first black mayor of a London borough! I went to Liverpool to find this out?

Now I admit that this is really down to my own ignorance but also because we tend to focus only on the names we know.  What I was struck by was the imagery and realisation that these and so much more in black history have contributed to the landscape of humanity. A part of me felt embarrassed that I have reached this age and know little of my own history in this country!

The sources for the items below come from Wikipedia & Google along with any hyperlinks

Another  person that I did not know about was Sir William Arthur Lewis 1915-1991 a St Lucian economist that won the Noble Prize in Economics. 

Sir William Arthur Lewis was a Saint Lucian economist well known for his contributions in the field of economic development. in 1979 he won the Noble Memorial Prize in Economics!

George Padmore (left)

1903 - 1959 born Malcolm Ivan Meredith Nurse 

in Trinidad, was a leading Pan Africanist, Journalist and author who  left

Trinidad  in 1924 to study in the USA and from there moved to the Soviet

Union, Germany and France before settling in London and towards the end

of his life, Accra, Ghana. 

Phillip Emeagwali (right) 1954 -  is a Nigerian born engineer, mathematician and computer scientist/geologist who was one of two winners of the 1989 Golden Bell Prize , a prize from the IEEE, for his use of a Connection Machine supercomputer to help analyse petroleum fields.

(Wikipedia links)

This weekend I took my girls to  a Tony Fairweather Production called In Celebration of Our Culture: A Tribute to Dr Maya Angelou. He has had the pleasure of working with Dr Angelou  spanning some  19 years. We had actual video clips of her speaking to the audience, her words, poems literature and her the sharing of her thoughts in interviews. We were entertained through music, song,  dance and laughter. My children and I  left with a wonderful memory of the mark that this woman made on the world. I felt it was a lovely introduction for them as they now begins their journey with her.  On Sunday we went to visit our local church and found out about this man below. 

Samuel Ajayi Crowther 1809-1891 

First Anglican Bishop. Further information available from http://www.cms-uk.org/Ourstories/Crowther150years/tabid/797/language/en-GB/Default.aspx  

These people and others that I discovered on that visit to Liverpool made me  add my signature to the petition-calling for the Introduction of Black History to the Primary Curriculum. It maybe too late for my children to have been taught it fully in their primary school  but I wanted to support the petitions attempt to  introduce Black History earlier and in more depth. It can be found on epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/60635 .  If that proves a problem just google epetitions60635.

I don't want my children, or others, to just learn about slavery as the key item in our Black His/Her Story. I want the message, of those from others cultures who have positively contributed to the world that I live in, to be accounted for too. I would like fairer representation seen from Black people in the United Kingdom and the world. Black History is all Our History.

When I read back through my blog I realised a lack of balance because women’s contributions were not included. So I did a little research and  sourced some women!  

The Black Cultural Archives has an exhibition celebrating the contribution of women. Their site is http://bcaheritage.org.uk/

Name	Invention/Accomplishments
Bath, Patricia 1942–	First African-American female physician to receive a patent for a medical invention. Inventions relate to cataract surgery and include the Laserphaco Probe, which revolutionised the industry in the 1980s, and an ultrasound technique for treatment.
Boone, Sarah 1832–1905	Created Ironing board allowing sleeves of women's garments to be ironed more easily
Clark, Mamie 1914-2005	Conducted 1940s experiments using dolls to study children's attitudes about race She studied the effects of segregation and racism on the self esteem of black children. Her work was used in the 1954 landmark Supreme Court decision that declared that school segregation was unconstitutional. She also co founded The Northside Centre for Child Development, of of the first agencies to make psychological services available to poor black children.
Daly, Marie Maynard 1921 -2003	First black American woman with a Ph.D. in chemistry.
Janet Bashen 1957–	First African-American woman to receive a patent for a web-based software invention. The invention, LinkLine, is an Equal Employment Opportunity case management and tracking software.
Easley, Annie 1933 -2011	An African –American computer scientist, mathematician and rocket scientist
Snyder, Window 1976 -	Security engineer at Microsoft, Mozilla, and Apple
Bessie Coleman 1892-1926	A pioneer in aviation, Bessie Coleman has a number of ‘firsts’ to her name. At a time of both gender and racial discrimination, Bessie broke barriers and became the world’s first black woman to earn a pilot’s licence, America’s first black woman to fly a plane, and the first American overall with an international flying licence.