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This page is a collaboration between the University of Brighton Libraries and Students Union to celebrate Black History Month.
Throughout October we will be adding more resources to this page. We would love to hear your recommendations for books to add to our libraries or simply to appear on our virtual display.
Our themed list highlights the books in the library collection documenting black and British history and culture. This is not an exhaustive list and we will be adding to it throughout the month. This list is publicly available through the library catalogue.
Staying power: the history of black people in Britain
Why I'm no longer talking to white people about race
Natives: race and class in the ruins of empire
There ain't no black in the Union Jack: the cultural politics of race and nation
Black and British: a forgotten history
White privilege: the myth of a post-racial society
The motherland calls: Britain's black servicemen & women, 1939-45
Black British culture and society: a text-reader
This list provides a starting point for research into some of the artists currently held in the collections at St Peters House Library.
Engaging with and supporting Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic student experiences and success.
A children's booklist celebrating a selection of British writers and illustrators of colour.
Ronnie Williams from Aldrich Library explains...
Aldrich Library celebrations of Black History Month are themed around subjects taught at the Moulsecoomb site. The last couple of years for example, have seen us focusing on African leaders in the fields of environmentalism (Nobel prize-winning Kenyan, Wangari Maathai) and architecture (multiple prize-winning David Adjaye, of Ghanaian descent).
We decided in 2020, to focus on the Caribbean and chose to do so with regards to science. Various sciences are taught at this site, but are not popularly associated with the Caribbean. When we discovered that the first week of October is ‘UN International Space Week’ we had visions of model Shuttle displays and a massive ceiling poster of the stars above Castries – all prevented by the lock down. Nevertheless, our research showed that space science would not be what it is now, but for contributions by scientists of African-Caribbean descent like Robert Rashford and Camille Wardrop Alleyne.
To highlight the achievements of some African-Caribbean scientists Aldrich Library are running a 'quizzish' (that's a quiz without a prize!) on Twitter. Question and answers will be posted daily and can be found with #UOBBHMquiz. You can also show your geographical knowledge of the Carribean by playing the 'guess the country quiz'.
Further material about people of African descent in sciences, challenges to racism in various fields and about Black Lives Matter can be found in accompanying reading lists, and Box of Broadcasts playlists. Discover who saved the Hubble telescope, or which quantum physicist wrote about jazz, or who was Jamaica’s own ‘forensic scientist of the sky’. Enjoy!
Video playlist of supporting material for the BHM 2020 Quizzish
This resource is designed to support the discovery of documents relating to Black British history within The National Archives’ collections. The term ‘Black British history’ in this context refers to records relating to British citizens of African and African-Caribbean descent
Find out more about Black History Collections in the IHR Wohl Library. We collect historical sources and guides to finding and using sources. This page also shows examples from the collections.
Black Cultural Archives is the only national heritage centre dedicated to collecting, preserving and celebrating the histories of African and Caribbean people in Britain.