Black History Month
People new to the subject of Black History Month may well wonder why do we need to do something on specifically "Black History". Some people may even think that the subject is divisive particularly when we do not draw attention to White History. To address these sorts of issues, we need to start at the beginning.
History as it has been written in mainstream books, has been and is currently taught, makes no mention of important Black personalities who have contributed to the arts, science or political movements. In that sense, what we have is essentially a White History. (A similar argument is used by women who are largely absent from history books, too.) Black History is therefore a response to the absence of Black people from history books and curricula.
Given the sum total of human knowledge is vast, it is to be expected that choices will be made as to what should be included and what should be excluded from textbooks and curricula in schools/colleges. Even taking that into consideration, it still does not explain the omission of Black people. However, when one takes account of the fact that racism, slavery, colonialism and empire have been integral to the historical relationship between White and Black people, the omission becomes more explicable. Ideas of racial superiority were entrenched and widespread among Europeans for several centuries, resulting in Europeans taking credit for the majority of the most important concepts in the arts, sciences and political movements. Black people were written out of history.
Through omission and often misappropriation of inventions, Black people are largely absent from mainstream books on the arts and sciences e.g. Mainstream science textbooks maintain Galileo invented the pendulum as a timing device when in fact Ibn Yunis some 600 years earlier had already established that point! Thomas Edison is correctly credited with the invention of the light bulb, but rarely do we mention the fact that it was Lewis Howard Latimer, an African American who perfected the carbon filament sufficiently for light bulbs to be mass produced and used widely by the public. (Latimer was also responsible for the electric lighting of New York, Philadelphia and London.)
Black History was and remains a counter-measure to the absence of Black people in mainstream books, despite their significant contribution to sciences, the arts and political movements. For some twenty years now, the month of October has been associated with a range of activities ranging from lectures, exhibitions to plays around the theme of Black History. Many local councils support and sponsor such activities in their localities and this year North East Lincolnshire Council has agreed to host Black History material on this website.
The continual omission of the achievements of Black individuals and communities confirms in people (however unintentionally) the idea that Black people have contributed nothing to world knowledge. Black History is therefore important for White people too. By understanding each other better, challenging assumptions, prejudices and stereotypes we contribute to dismantling barriers between people and promoting good community cohesion.
It is hoped that the residents of the borough will find this modest collection of short biographies informative, surprising and possibly entertaining.
Shahid Ashrif
Principal Equalities Officer
September 2007
The following files are Word Documents:
Abdus Salam.doc
Alexandre Dumas.doc
An Wang.doc
Charles Drew.doc
Chien Shiung Wu.doc
Dadabhai Naoroji.doc
Daniel Hale Williams.doc
Frederick Douglass.doc
Frederick Jones.doc
Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore.doc
Har Gobind Khorana.doc
History of Black Footballers.doc
Ibn Al-Haitham.doc
Ibn Sina.doc
Ira Aldridge.doc
Jagadis Chandra Bose.doc
Lewis Latimer.doc
Maharani Lakshmi Bai.doc
Malcolm X.doc
Mancherjee Merwanjee Bhownaggree.doc
Marcus Garvey.doc
Martin Luther King Jr.doc
Mary Seacole.doc
Mohandas Gandhi.doc
Otis Boykin.doc
Pashmina shawls.doc
Paul Robeson.doc
Queen Charlotte.doc
Queen Phillipa.doc
Sabeer Bhatia.doc
Samuel Coleridge.doc
Sarojini Naidu.doc
Satyendra Nath Bose.doc
Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman.doc
St George.doc
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar.doc
Wil liam Cuffay.doc
Yaqub Ibn Ishaq Al-Kindi.doc
(The documents are in Microsoft Word. If you do not have Microsoft Word on your PC, you can download a reader by going to our Downloads page.)
|