Speaking with Astrid Madimba, co-author of It's a Continent at the Africa is Not a Country, It's a Continent panel at Gladfest 2022. ​Applications are now open for the new Miranda Kaufmann Black British History Scholarship at Gladstone’s Library for 2023, and you can apply from now until 31st October.  ​ The scholarship – two weeks’ all-inclusive accommodation at Gladstone’s Library, complete with a travel allowance – is to support research into the histories of people of African and/or Caribbean origin or descent in the United Kingdom, making connections ..read more

sI am happy to announce that a new Miranda Kaufmann Black British History Scholarship will be available at Gladstone’s Library from 2023. ​ The scholarship will be for research into the histories of people of African and/or Caribbean origin or descent in the United Kingdom, making connections between the local and global aspects of British History. The award is for two weeks’ all-inclusive accommodation at Gladstone’s Library, complete with a travel allowance. Gladstone’s Library, in the pretty village of Hawarden, just over the Welsh border from Chester, is the UK’s only resident ..read more

8th-century Welsh gardener John Ystumllyn (c. 1738 - 1786), also colloquially known as Jac Du or Jack Black Penrhyn Castle As I live in North Wales, I'm particularly excited that following the success of our previous events in London, Liverpool, Bristol, Preston, Huddersfield and Leicester, we will be holding the fourteenth of the What's Happening in Black British History? Workshops (WHBBHXIV), at Bangor University in North Wales on Saturday 14 May. The event will be focused on Welsh Black History, with a  keynote from Professor Charlotte Williams, OBE, followed by ..read more

I am incredibly disappointed that the MA in Black British History at Goldsmiths, University of London, the only taught course of its kind in the country, which only launched  in 2019, is at risk of closure, as Goldsmiths has put its lecturers Christienna Fryar & Hannah Elias at risk of redundancy. Their actions are in direct opposition to Goldsmiths’ publicly stated goals on diversity and racial justice. Yesterday I and the other convenors of What’s Happening in Black British History? sent the letter below to Warden Frances Corner, Dinah Caine, Chair of Goldsmith ..read more

It's that time of year when we like to look back and forward at once (like Janus!), and as I haven't blogged much for a while I thought I'd round up some of what I've been up to, and exciting things planned for the coming year. The biggest achievement of 2021 was working hard to create my FutureLearn Black Tudors course, which over 4,800 people have now signed up to. If you want to learn more about Africans in Tudor and early Stuart England, explore the original documents recording their lives, hear from a range of experts, and join the debate yourself, why not enrol for F ..read more

John Ystmyllyn, gardener in North Wales (d.1786) As I live in North Wales, I'm really excited that, following the success of our previous events in London, Liverpool, Bristol, Preston, Huddersfield and Leicester, we will be holding the fourteenth of the What's Happening in Black British History? Workshops (WHBBHXIV), at Bangor University in North Wales on Saturday 14 May 2022! As regular readers will know, the aim of the series is to foster a creative dialogue between researchers, educationalists (mainstream and supplementary), artists and writers, archivists and curators, and policy m ..read more

I am SO EXCITED to tell you all about the new Black Tudors course I've created with FutureLearn and a wonderful team of expert contributors! Since writing my book, Black Tudors: The Untold Story (2017), I've continued my quest to bring the fascinating stories of the Africans who lived in Tudor England to the widest possible audience, particularly through giving my Black Tudors: Three Untold Stories talk in multiple locations, and working with teachers and educational publishers on my Teaching Black Tudors project... but this is taking it to another lev ..read more

Really looking forward to our next What’s Happening in Black British History? event which will be all about Books and Publishing! It will be held online via Zoom on Thursday 29th April. It's a FREE to attend, full day event- running from 10am- 6.30pm, and you can register here. To aid informal networking we are scheduling breakout rooms throughout the day and will be encouraging you to stay online after the formal proceedings end at 5.30pm to have a chat and a drink. This will also be when we announce the winner of the “What’s your Favourite Black British History book?” competi ..read more

I’m not going to spend time explaining why we need to teach Black British History. Or bemoaning how little of it is currently taught. That has been done repeatedly, eloquently and shockingly, not least in a series of as yet unacted on government recommendations.  Though I will just quote W.E.B. DuBois’s warning of how easy it is ‘by emphasis and omission to make children believe… that every great thought was a white man’s thought’ and ‘every great deed…a white man’s deed’, and draw your attention to this  brilliant spoken word performance by Samuel King which ..read more