Black History Month education pack

Black History Month in the UK takes place during October each year to recognise and celebrate the achievements of African and African Caribbean communities. The month also serves as a focus of awareness of issues affecting culturally diverse communities, and an opportunity to give voice and listen to narratives and histories, under-acknowledged or missing from educational curriculums and/or resources. As a significant year for international civil rights movements, including Black Lives Matter, this pack will provide a contextualisation that is both historical and contemporary.

Created by Serendipity, and commissioned by the National Education Union, this education pack seeks to provide teachers with invaluable resources and lesson plans most suitable for Key Stage 4. However, the materials might be suitable for adoption for younger and older students. It is recommended that the materials in this pack are considered for the age and understanding as appropriate.

The foundation of these resources lies within Serendipity's growing archival collection of ephemera, photographs and video footage, documentary shorts and publications featuring first-hand reflections of academics, practitioners and artists from across the African and African Caribbean Diaspora.

This pack is segmented into four parts to support with focused learning:

1. What does Black History Month mean to you? – Resources and activities aimed at providing greater breadth to the picture of Black presence in the UK. Recognising the contributions that the Black community have made to British life whilst also contextualising international perspectives.
2. Social History – Lesson plans that make direct reference to communities across the UK and the diverse experiences of migration. Providing students with practical tools and critical skills to research and document hidden histories.
3. Activism – Activities to support reflections on international civil rights movements throughout history, the role they have played in changing legislation and law, and how they inform present movements such as Black Lives Matter.
4. Arts and Culture – putting Black artists and practitioners centre stage.

Throughout this pack, Black is capitalised, to reflect a shared cultural identity across the African and African Caribbean Diaspora. Occasionally, reference is made to political Blackness, inclusive of Asian, African and Caribbean communities.

Many of the resources have an international and national focus, and occasionally a local focus to Leicester. In your planning, we encourage you to consider Black History month within your local context. We use Leicester here as one example to inspire and guide you – it would be valuable for your staff body and students to consider your own town, city or county’s local milestones and achievements.

This pack is not a definitive resource for Black British History; rather it seeks to provide a unique collection of tools with contemporary relevance and support for additional research. Supporting the teaching of Black British history and decolonising education across the national curriculum, supplementing citizenship, personal development and independent learning, during October for Black History Month and throughout the year.