Book & eBook (with links to video clips)
The National Curriculum has a really strong focus on British history and how other cultures during different time periods have influenced the Britain that we live in today.
There are countless groups of people and key events throughout history that have had an effect on Britain as a country and how it has become the multicultural society that it is.
This history of ours should also include black British history, and whilst it is not explicit in the National Curriculum, there are numerous links that we can make to show our students that British history is full of amazing examples (both good and bad) of how both black and white people have had an impact on our country.
These include:
- Early evidence of black African people living in England during the Roman times.
- Tudors such as John Blanke - a black trumpeter in Henry VII and VIII's courts.
- Heroes such as Walter Tull during WWI and Noor Inayat Khan during WWII.
There are also other aspects that need to be included:
- The Atlantic slave trade and its impact on Britain's growth and empire..
- The abolitionist movement..
- The Windrush generation.
It is a subject that is at the forefront of discussions across the world, and if we want to encourage our young people to show the British values of respect, tolerance and individual liberty then they should know and understand our history from all angles.
This publication has been written to explore the links that can be made easily to the topics that are already being taught in Primary Schools across the country. It looks at black British people who have had an impact on our society, the key events involving black people within our history and developing an understanding that both black and white people have existed together in Britain for thousands of years. It is a starting point for changing the way we plan our curriculum to be more inclusive and reflective of our society; a series of lessons planned chronologically, linking to 'traditional' primary history topics and developing subject knowledge for teachers.
