We continue our exploration of how we represent out history to our children.  Previously we looked at the role of the institutions, namely our foundation (“supplementary/Saturday”) schools and their dedicated practitioners. Tonight we look at the resources, tools of their trade so to speak – the books.

For decades, for the most part, educators had to adapt and extract adult texts to deliver to children, making this option beyond the capacity of most parents wanting to instil a historical grounding in their children.  For example, author K. N. Chimbiri recounts her experience:

“I looked for books as gifts and it really hit me that there wasn’t anything suitable at all.  Most children’s books are fiction and even with those, there are issues with a lack of diversity. With non-fiction, especially history, it’s even worse. Many black history books had inaccurate information. It was virtually impossible to find any black history book that wasn’t about slavery or civil rights. That’s when I decided to take my love for black history into producing books that others could benefit from.” (1)

Sis. Chimbiri published her first book Step Back in Time to Ancient Kush, in 2009 with over half a dozen more since. During this period the genre has certainly been reinvigorated with a plethora of other texts for general reading as well as for mainstream schools including by community heavyweights like Robin “Black History Man” Walker, Tony Warner and others. An interesting feature of this development, particularly within the last two to three years, is the participation of mainstream publishers in this field. (2)  

Master Teacher Warrior Scholar Ancestor Baba John Henrik Clarke, referencing Arthur A Schomburg reminded us that “What you’re calling African History or Black history are the missing pages of world history.” (3)

Indeed, Arthur Schomburg himself reminds us how fundamental our history is to our very existence:

“The American Negro must remake his past in order to make his future. Though it is orthodox to think of America as the one country where it is unnecessary to have a past, what is a luxury for the nation as a whole becomes a prime social necessity for the Negro. For him, a group tradition must supply compensation for persecution, and pride of race the antidote for prejudice. History must restore what slavery took away, for it is the social damage of slavery that the present generations must repair and offset. So among the rising democratic millions we find the Negro thinking more collectively, more retrospectively than the rest, and apt out of the very pressure of the present to become the most enthusiastic antiquarian of them all.” (4)

(1) Rosemary Laryea (17/07/16) Reclaiming Africa’s treasures. https://archive.voice-online.co.uk/article/reclaiming-africa%E2%80%99s-treasures

(2) Pearson (07/07/21) Pearson & The Black Curriculum join forces to champion black British history topics on the national curriculum. https://www.pearson.com/uk/news-and-policy/news/2021/07/pearson-and-the-black-curriculum-join-forces.html; see also: Angela Leonard (Ed), Rosemary Rees, Tony Warner and Joshua Garry (2021) GCSE (9-1) Edexcel History Migrants in Britain c. 800-present Student Book. Pearson; Robin Walker, alongside Vanika Marshall, Paula Perry & Anthony Vaughan (2017) Black British History: Black Influences on Black British Culture (1948-2016). Reklaw Education and Croydon Supplementary Education Project; Robin Walker (2019) Black History Matters: The Story of Black History from African Kingdoms to Black Lives Matter. Franklin Watts; David Olusoga et al. (2021) The Black History Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained. DK Publishing and Andrew Lindo’s Black History Activity Book Series (https://blackhistoryactivitybooks.com/).

(3) St. Clair Bourne (1996) John Henrik Clarke: A Great and Mighty Walk. Black Dot Media

(4) Arthur A. Schomburg (1925) The Negro Digs Up His Past. https://scalar.lehigh.edu/african-american-poetry-a-digital-anthology/arthur-a-schomburg-arturo-schomburg-the-negro-digs-up-his-past-1925

So tonight we ask the question:

How should we teach Black History to our children?  Pt 2

1) Why is it important for a people to document its own history?

2) Is Black History really the “missing pages of world history”?

3) What impact will mainstream publishing of Black History have?

4) Do we have to “remake our past in order to make our future”?

Bro. Ldr. Mbandaka: Resident guest who is Spiritual Leader of the Alkebu-Lan Revivalist Movement and an Afrikan-Centered Education Consultant.  Bro. Ldr is a veteran activist of nearly 40 years standing, a featured columnist in The Whirlwind newspaper and author of Mosiah Daily Affirmations and Education: An African-Centred Approach To Excellence.

K.N. Chimbiri: started out as a self-published author. She researched, wrote and distributed four Black history books for children from her spare bedroom Step Back in Time to Ancient Kush (2009), The Story of Early Ancient Egypt, Prehistoric and Old Kingdom Egypt (20,000 – 2,181 B.C.) (2009), Secrets of the Afro Comb, 6,000 Years of Art and Culture (2013) and The story of the Windrush (2018).

In 2020 Kandace decided to concentrate solely on writing. She signed a 5-book deal with Scholastic UK. The first book is a reprint of her most popular self-published title The Story of the Windrush which celebrates the Windrush generation pioneers. The Story of Afro Hair, 5,000 Years of History, Fashion and Styles (longlisted for the UKLA Book Awards 2023 in the 3 – 14+age category) soon followed.  Her latest book, just released, is The Story of Britain’s Black Airmen.