Black History Month 2023
Time to reflect, celebrate and champion
"Black History Month is a time for us to reflect, celebrate and champion the rich history and legacy of Black Britons both past and present. This year's national Black History Month theme 'Saluting our Sisters' is an opportunity for us to shine a light on the pioneering Black British women whose contributions to our national history should be better known. For the Black History Month planning team this year's theme has been core to the events that we have planned.
Although Black History and the significant achievements and contributions of people from the African Diaspora to British society should be acknowledged all year round, Black History Month serves as an opportunity to directly draw attention to this and to challenge the systems that allow racial inequality to exist in our society.
As a community, we have shown a strong commitment to improving the experiences of our Black staff and students but we also acknowledge that there is more to do. This October, we ask you to join us in celebrating Black History Month, get involved with the array of events that we have planned and to challenge yourself in thinking about how you can be an ally to our Black community."
Words by Reece St Omer, Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Partner
While we work year-round to address areas of inequality Black History Month is a month to take a moment to reflect on our actions and this year to celebrate our black women colleagues and students. For me it is a moment to reflect on the efficacy of my allyship, to help give voice and emphasis to lived experiences and to celebrate the innovation and creativity of black women."
Mandy Ure, SLT Lead for Equality, Diversity & Inclusion and SLT Sponsor for Race
There has been a plethora of success stories about black people, especially women, yet too often this has been overlooked. Join me this year to celebrate Black History Month, ‘Saluting our Sisters'. We have some fantastic workshops and speakers which I hope you will attend."
Thuy Mason, BAME co-chair
Events
Kingston celebrates Black History Month 2023 as we welcome civil justice advocate and campaigner Tessy Ojo CBE.
Tessy Ojo is the Chief Executive Officer of the Diana Award - the charity legacy to the late Princess Diana of Wales. Tessy is also the very first British National to be awarded The Martin Luther King Award. Outside of her work with the Diana Awards, she is a huge advocate for women in leadership, diversity, and social issues affecting young people.
We're thrilled to invite Tessy to Kingston as we celebrate Black History Month 2023 and continue to champion this year's theme 'Saluting Our Sisters'!
Meet the student behind the Black History Month artwork
This year's artwork has been created by Sustainable Design student, Trusha Oza, who explains her design process:
"The BHM branding uses bright colours, playful and bold typography to represent the joy of decoloniality. I attended a workshop at the University of Westminster where we shared images and objects that bring us decoloniality joy. Participants shared powerful stories of strength, family, food, culture, etc which was the main inspiration behind the identity design. The design aims to evoke a positive feeling of decolonisation and at the same time show strength in fighting colonialism.
My process involved working with keywords, creating a visual mood board, sketching and finally working on Adobe Illustrator to create logo options. I had the most fun designing this logo, the process gave me joy."
News carousel
Resources
- Black History Month UK official website.
- BBC Alt History: Writer and historian David Olusoga presents a series of short films exploring critical moments in Black British history from 1919 that have been forgotten or rarely discussed.
- TED talks: How to recognise your white privilege – and use it to fight inequality – Peggy McIntosh, Anti-racism activist, scholar.
- TED talks: The Danger of a Single Story – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
- White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack (PDF).
- Black Cultural Archives: Telling the story of the Black British experience.
Reading list
- Noughts and Crosses series by Malorie Blackman.
- Resisting Racism: Race, Inequality and the Black Supplementary School Movement by Kehinde Andrews.
- White: Essays on Race and Culture by Richard Dyer.
- Staying Power: The History of Black People in Britain by Peter Fryer.
- How To Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi.
- Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge.
Students and staff can find a wider list of resources and suggested readings by logging into the iCat online library with their Kingston University username and password.
