Black History Month – why is it important to me?

Frances Onyniah, paralegal at Cole Khan Solicitors blogs about Black History Month and what it means to her:

Black History Month is important to me because it is a period where we can stop and recognise all the contributions black people, throughout history have made to this country. It is crucial because it enriches my understanding of the past and present.

I am someone who loved history growing up, this month always piqued my interest. I loved History so much that I decided to take it all the way to university. Ironically, what pushed me further into pursuing history was the little information we were taught about Black British people growing up.

Our curriculum focused predominantly on slavery and the substantial role Britain played in the transatlantic slave trade. Otherwise, the American perspective dominated, emphasising figures like Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks, often leaving British Black history overshadowed and underappreciated.

Even aspects of African and Caribbean history were omitted, which I believed to be strange and quite frustrating. As such, I purposely sought to learn this at A Level’s in my independent research project and further tried to specialise in this topic in university where I could.

Through my intentional desire to learn Black British history, I stumbled upon greatness. Learning about individuals across many centuries from Olaudah Equiano; a prominent figure in the British abolitionist movement in the 1780s; to Margaret Busby – Britain’s youngest black female publisher in the 1960s.

I was particularly excited to learn about Tessa Sanderson CBE; the first Black British woman to receive an Olympic gold medal. Awards in 1984, her achievement challenged stereotypes and preconceptions about what black athletes can accomplish. To date, she remains the only British person to have won a gold medal in a throwing event at the Olympic games.

The World Wars, rightly so, represent a huge component of the school history curriculum. We learn about the red poppy flower used to remember those who fought and lost their lives in the war effort. We do not, however, learn about the various other poppy colours, including the black poppy which commemorates the contributions of Black, African, and Caribbean soldiers who also died in the same war effort. This again, is something I learned in my personal deep dive of Black British history.    

To summarise, there is a lot of amazing Black British history that does not make it into our textbooks. However, the omission of such does not take away from the valuable contributions that have been made and are acknowledged outside of the curriculum.

Whether in corporate seminars, article or workshops, I find joy in seeing others share different elements of Black history and deepening my own understanding of some events or figures. Black history is both important and diverse, and it is an integral part of British History.