Black History Month

This year, the theme of Black History Month is all about ‘Sharing Journeys’. This October, at The Appleton School, we’ll be exploring the lives and stories of the people who came to Britain in the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries and helped lay the foundations of today’s diverse Black British Community.

Why do we have Black History Month?

Throughout history, people have been treated differently because of their race.

Black people were not seen as equal and were not treated in the same way as White people. For example, they had to sit in different seats on a bus or public places like the cinema.

Lots of people knew that this was wrong and wanted things to change.

In 1926, in America, a man called Carter G. Woodson introduced a week-long event to recognise and celebrate the history and achievements of Black people. This later turned into Black History Month.

In 1987, the first Black History Month took place in the UK.

Sharing journeys from around the world

In light of the theme of ‘Sharing Journeys’, we are looking at different people’s experiences and how they celebrate Black History Month. Watch the video to see how different people from all around the world celebrate this amazing event.

What are we doing to celebrate Black History Month? During the month of October, we are celebrating Black History Month by:

• having dedicated lessons in all subjects across the school;
• having assemblies on BHM;
• tutor time activities based on key black influential figures who have made a significant impact in the UK and their journey to get there;
• putting up posters of key influential black individuals who have made a significant impact around the world;
• running a competition based on the key theme of BHM (Sharing Journeys)