Schools –
Planning your Black History Month

Leslee Wills, is a Secondary School teacher who also has wide experience in teaching and arranging cross cultural activities, including Black History Month events. Here she shares her experiences of arranging activities during Black History Month and tells how she inspired and enthused pupils and staff alike to join in the season of learning and celebration.

“In my previous school in London, I was in a facilitative role in the run-up to two specially scheduled Black History Month assemblies. In the September and October months 2006/2007, preceding the celebration, we encouraged the students to explore themes such as “Yourself as History” and to bring in their family photographs which often revealed recent migrant origins.

This was in a predominantly non-white school in East London, where many students and teachers were second generation immigrants from the old Commonwealth countries. A very popular and stimulating start was organising a display board where interested teachers could anonymously show three generations of family history. This encouraged identification, speculation and admiration in turn, and was used as the basis of our first Black History quiz.

Pupils vied to guess which teacher was in which photo often using background geography and other clues such as styles of traditional outfits and 50’s, 60’ fashion faux pas to guess which teacher’s country or culture was being featured. Quizzes were on subjects such as the Black Victorians, Britain’s early black footballers, war veterans, media and community personalities.

I also featured the work of Caribbean painter and artist-impressionist Wilfedo Lam Cuban, friend and contemporary of Picasso. This display was the starting point for much discussion and artwork. Individual contributions ranged from speeches based on Harriet Tubman’s underground railroad; and for many drama sequences based on stories of Rama and Sita/Hindu gods and goddesses (who were indisputably optically black) were all encouraged and incorporated into our BHM assembly.

Older female students found Maya Angelou’s poem, “I Rise” empowering for adaptation. We used old carnival drawings of sections in bands as templates to assist pupils to design posters with a historical feel. Admittedly, I was fortunate enough to have a vast collection of these.
I encouraged all subject areas to interpret and incorporate history at levels that they considered to be relevant. More importantly, after agreeing a rehearsal rota for lunchtimes and afternoon clubs with fellow teachers or teaching assistants, I found that most students are superbly creative and can rehearse within the most general of guidelines.

Plasma screen and power point displays of examples of cultural icons, and clothing embracing ancient and recent Afrikan styles announced the day of celebration and dressing up. Pupils either made or contributed from parents or grandparents wardrobes.

These generously included Moroccan, Russian, Algerian and most popular Somali outfits. Chinese contribution (and an excuse for some to dress in Chinese costume) tied in with Chinese indentured servants input to Caribbean history and the role of a famous part Chinese-Trinidadian as China’s P.M.

The pupil with the best performance at recent G.C.S.E was invited to give the opening inspirational speech, linking excellence in academic achievement with performance and display. On the special assembly days, the participants paid a small contribution for non–uniform status which was in aid of an agreed charity such as sickle cell. The school’s canteen also joined in with an African and Caribbean menu with appropriate ‘French creole or patois’ titles for dishes.
In the end our use of languages, banners, flags and textile appliqué made it a cross curricular challenge.

My feeling is that if we are to interpret the broadest possible cultural access to the curriculum, BHM teaching should not be a tack on but owned creatively by those pupils and teachers that value its celebration. Whole school involvement in assemblies, exhibitions, quizzes, interpretive dance, drumming, song competitions and cuisine is only possible if these assemblies, rehearsals and after-school clubs are scheduled way in advance – usually in the summer term before – for month long events. Black History teaching and focus would work most effectively as part of a three or five year collaborative plan.”

Leslee Wills is currently a History teacher at Magnus School in Newark, East Midlands. She has coordinated Black History events at McEntee and Walthamstow Academy schools in
East London.

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