Download African History Month Information

Build it in – don’t bolt it on
Planning for Education for Diversity
‘The ability to teach unity in diversity
will be the beauty and test of our civilisation.’
Gandhi
Ofsted
 Every Child Matters
 Community Cohesion
 ‘The global dimension remains underdeveloped in the majority of schools surveyed.
Frequently, insufficient connections are made to reinforce pupils’ understanding of
issues such as global citizenship, diversity and human rights and sustainable
development.’
QCA


The 2008 Key Stage 3 Programme of Study (Empire, Movement & Settlement to and
from Britain, Diversity, The Transatlantic Slave Trade – including the abolition of
slavery)
‘Too little attention is given to the black and multi ethnic aspects of British history.
The effect, if inadvertent, is to undervalue the overall contribution of black and
minority ethnic people to Britain’s past and to ignore their cultural, scientific and
many other achievements.’
DfES
 The Ajegbo Curriculum Review (‘Who do we think we are?’ week, Education for
Diversity)
 ‘In five years, for all schools to be actively engaged in nurturing in pupils the skills to
participate in an active and inclusive democracy, appreciating and understanding
difference.’
Recent Research
 It is vitally important to show that our history is a shared history. Children whose
parents and grandparents came from Africa, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh or the West
Indies have just as great a family involvement in the World Wars as children whose
family history has longer roots in Britain.
 Recent research has found that alienated African-Caribbean pupils want their history
to be seen as a greater part of the mainstream narrative of British history rather than
being treated separately. (Traille, E.K.A. (2006) School History and Perspectives on
the Past: a Study of Students of African-Caribbean Descent and their Mothers.
London University PhD)
 Recent research has also been critical of the way that ‘Black History Month’ is used
in some schools as a mechanism to ‘tick the diversity box’. Such an approach only
serves to marginalise the experiences of minority ethnic groups rather than show
pupils how these experiences are part of mainstream history. (Lyndon, D. (2006),
‘Integrating black history into the National Curriculum’ Teaching History 122,
Reconstructing History Edition)
 Rupert Gaze concludes that ‘Seeking, and finding, the hidden histories of black and
Asian people in the wars does not just help to engage young black and Asian
students. It also makes for better history teaching and more capable historians, and
ultimately engages everyone.’
 ‘Black and Minority Ethnic History’ should not be bolted on to curriculum plans. It
needs to be interwoven into meaningful enquiries that motivate all pupils. It should
and can include local examples …
CURRICULUM POSSIBILITIES
Movement & Settlement
 The Ipswich Caribbean Experience – Depth Study (DVD available free to all Suffolk
schools, visits can be arranged through the ICA, Schemes of Work and Case Study
schools: Copleston, Thurleston)
 ‘Who we think we are?’ – An overview of immigration to Britain (Migration Myth
Busting! When does the story begin? A nation of immigrants?; The contribution
made by migrants to British history – individual stories; The Windrush Experience;
Post-Windrush – Notting Hill, Rock against Racism, Migration today)
 See: http://ourkindofpeople.e2bn.org/
The First & Second World Wars
 A Forgotten Contribution: The role played by men and women from Africa, Asia and
the Caribbean in the First and Second World Wars. Could be linked to the Memorial
Gates in Hyde Park or First World War (links between the Suffolk Regiment and
Indian troops, the Essex Regiment) or The Second World War (linked to the
Windrush experience and the ICE DVD)
 The diversity of the British army through time – ‘Who fought?’
The Transatlantic Slave Trade
 ‘Recognition should also be given to the cultures, beliefs and achievements of some
of the societies prior to European colonisation, such as the West African kingdoms.
The study of the slave trade should include resistance, the abolition of slavery and the
work of people such as Olaudah Equiano and William Wilberforce.’ (New KS3
History PoStudy)
 Focus should be on the history of resistance by enslaved Africans in Africa (see
David Richardson’s research into slave ship uprisings) and the Caribbean (Haiti Toussaint L’Ouverture and Henry Christophe, Grenada - The Fedon revolution,
Barbados - Nanny Grigg, Jamaica – Samuel Sharpe)
 The first mass human rights movement in British History – show the diversity of the
movement (Thomas Clarkson, Anne Knight, Olaudah Equiano, Quobna Ottobah
Cugoano, Ignatius Sancho, Phyllis Wheatley, Mary Prince)
 STACS (Slave Trade Abolition in Cambridgeshire & Suffolk) and MLA (Museum
Libraries & Archives) projects initially involving Holywells, Thurleston and
Holbrook. Further trials in west of the county and Cambridgeshire)
 Resources available at http://abolition.e2bn.org and St Johns College Cambridge
Rights & Protest
A thematic approach – exploring protest –
 The Suffragettes (Sylvia Pankhurst) and the Suffragists (Millicent Fawcett)
 Civil Rights in the USA – beyond Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks (Booker T.
Washington, Marcus Garvey, Du Bois, James Farmer, Jesse Owens, Billie Holiday,
Paul Robeson, Josephine Boyd, Student protest – the SNCC, James Meredith ,
Malcolm X, Stokely Carmichael, The Black Panthers, Public Enemy, Barack Obama)
 The campaign against apartheid in South Africa (Nelson Mandela, Steve Biko &
Black Consciousness, The Soweto Uprising and student protest, Desmond Tutu, the
Anti-Apartheid movement)
Empire (Case Study: India)
 Individuals: Akbar & the Mogul Emperors (Tudors), Duleep Singh (a local Victorian)
 How did India gain its Independence? (Amritsar, Gandhi, Nehru) Consequences?
The Holocaust
 ‘Frank’s Story’ – The Holocaust explored through the eyes of Frank Bright and his
classmates
 Also consider: The historical context (persecution throughout History), Jewish
Resistance, The role of the Allies and other European countries, Other victims, Other
examples of genocide (Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia)
The Crusades (see new SHP series – Y7 – ‘The Wonders of Baghdad’)