A group of students at a Shirebrook school took a leading role in shining a light on Britain’s unknown multicultural past when they signed up as ambassadors for Black History Month.
Twenty-five Year 10 students from Shirebrook Academy spent the last month taking part in a series of activities with their peers in order to raise awareness of black Britons who have played key roles in their communities and society right back to the days of the Roman Empire.
They also took time out to canvass opinions among other students about which black Britons from history or the present day inspire them, as part of a whole range of Black History Month events taking place across the whole school during October.
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From left: Liam Woolley, head of humanities, students Marcie Key, Lamin Sanno, Tallula Sowah and Maizy Allsop and head of history Chris Hardcastle with work generated as part of the school’s work for Black History Month.
Shirebrook Academy ‘s Black History Month activities were devised by the school’s humanities department, which used this year’s theme – Proud To Be – to explore the uplifting and positive stories from down the years.
In particular, students explored the experience of black people living in Britain before the arrival of the SS Empire Windrush in 1948, including their presence at events such as the Battle of Agincourt, as soldiers serving during the Roman occupation and as entrepreneurs living during the Industrial Revolution.
Liam Woolley, head of humanities at Shirebrook Academy, said the work has led to everybody across the school gaining a better understanding of black history and praised the student ambassadors for taking a leading role.
He said: “Across the curriculum we look at the experiences of black people in history and culture, but we have tended to concentrate on the negative aspects like slavery and we don’t do enough to celebrate the positives.
“This was a chance to change that, and we decided that there could be no better way to approach it than by recruiting student ambassadors to take the message directly to their peers and work with them to put together Black History Month displays.
“The response has been fantastic. It’s no secret that Shirebrook isn’t as multi-cultural as other communities so to see our school community embrace Black History Month in such a positive and focussed way has been very encouraging.”
One of the students taking part, Tallula Sowah, said: “Black History Month is important to me because it is my history and it runs through me.
“People need to know how to celebrate the positive history. I have experienced racism myself and I hope to be an example for young black people to speak out and so they know they are not alone.”
Fellow student Maizy Allsop added: “Black history is so important to me and I wanted to become a leader of the black history project so that I could raise awareness of it.
“I have encountered racism in the past and would like to make a difference.”
