Black History is British History
Like the school kids in this video, I was never taught about Black British History.
(video credit: Sean Ramiz, TikTok)
Until adulthood, my knowledge only extended to the lived experiences of myself and close family members. I knew something of the Windrush generation's tribulations through the stories of my grandma, who was sold the dream of a better life than the one she left behind in Jamaica (because Britain needed immigrant labour in order to rebuild after WWII) - only to be greeted with cold winters, smog, poverty & racism.
But beyond these oral family histories, I - like most British children - was taught nothing at all about Black contributions to British society, or about the transatlantic slave trade and its lasting stain on humanity (and its continued role in Britain's economic position as a world power). I wasn't taught about the Mangrove Nine, or the Brixton Riots, or Mary Seacole. We didn't read any Malorie Blackman books in English Literature.
This erasure of Black History is no accident. The British government programme named ‘Operation Legacy’ (which ran from the 1950s - 1970s, the height of decolonisation) had the specific remit of destroying (in some cases burning, in others dumping at sea) any colonial documents that could 'embarrass her Majesty's government'. This shocking practice was taking place within my own parents’ lifetime, and demonstrates that it was the express desire of the British state to prevent ex-colonies from inheriting documents that would reveal the truth of their own history under British colonial rule. In more recent years, campaigners have been calling for a review of the school curriculum; to include an accurate portrayal of Britain's role in the transatlantic slave trade, as well as teachings about the historic and modern-day contributions and achievements of Black people in British society. But their calls have continuously fallen on deaf ears. In fact, last year, the Tory MP Michelle Donelan went so far as to compare decolonisation of the curriculum to “Soviet Union-style censorship”, a statement so topsy-turvy, it’s difficult to know where to begin.
The author Hilary Mantel once said "history is not the past – it is the method we have evolved of organising our ignorance of the past. It’s the record of what’s left on the record." The desire to scrub from the record the nuanced, violent, ugly truth of our history is an established British tradition. But by erasing Black History and omitting its central role in British History from the mainstream historical narrative, we are failing not only the Black children of this country, but every child who grows up here.
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion is about more than workplace interventions. It’s about building a more conscious, humane society; one in which ethnic origin is not correlated with material deprivation, unemployment and risk of homelessness. That starts with understanding our full, complicated history.
Those that seek to suppress the truth - about colonialism, about Black resistance, Black activism, Black achievement, Black contribution - understand deeply the power that this knowledge would have to shape the self-confidence, self-awareness, and political consciousness of the next generation.
