Black History ToolKit

Citizens of the Commonwealth migrated to the UK at different stages during the 20th century before and after the Empire Windrush in 1948. Migrants settled in several towns and cities across the UK and in Wales where unique multicultural communities were formed.

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Today's generation of African Americans and POC run the risk of being killed when interacting with law enforcement. This modern day state sanctioned lynching has a darker history that serves the broad social purpose of maintaining white supremacy in the economic, social and political spheres.

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The removal of statues and tributes to slave traders and colonialists in Wales and the UK was a hot topic during 2020. The removal of the statue of Sir Thomas Picton in Cardiff City Hall and Edward Colston in Bristol sparked a new 'toxic' culture war. In this edition Abu-Bakr provides some history and context to the issue.

The untold history of the African presence in Britain.  The discovery of the earliest skulls in Britain (Cheddar Man and Plynlimon Man in South Wales) now identified as Grimaldi 'African skulls' provide the vital evidence that support the 'Out of Africa' Theory.  European ancestors would have left Africa, moved into the Middle East and later headed west into Europe, before eventually crossing the ancient land bridge called Doggerland which connected Britain to continental Europe.

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In this episode Abu-Bakr looks back at his own experience as a child from the Windrush generation where education represented a site of struggle which reproduced inequity and a negative representation of “blackness”.  The enduring inequalities experienced by black children in schools in the UK have been extensively documented. 

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More than 100 years ago, American sociologist W.E.B. Du Bois was concerned that race was being used as a biological explanation for what he understood to be social and cultural differences between different populations of people. He spoke out against the idea of "white" and "black" as discrete groups, claiming that these distinctions ignored the scope of human diversity.

Science would favor Du Bois. Today, the mainstream belief among scientists is that race is a social construct without biological meaning. Modern scientific views favor this theory, with the most widely accepted model for human origins being the "Out of Africa" theory.

In this edition the concept of Africa as being the cradle of civilization is discussed with a detailed look at the scientific evidence.

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African and black history is often taught and delivered in a limited way - the emphasis is on the roles of leading blacks in fundamentally white historical settings. This has led to people of African heritage demanding an interpretation of the past that does justice to the black presence which is often ignored.

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Ida B. Wells was an African American journalist, abolitionist and feminist who led an anti-lynching crusade in the United States in the 1890s. She went on to found and become integral in groups striving for African American justice.

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Carter G. Woodson known as the “Father of Black History,” believed that Blacks should know their past in order to participate intelligently in the affairs in our country. He strongly believed that Black history – which others have tried so diligently to erase – is a firm foundation for young Black Americans to build on in order to become productive citizens of our society.

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