Black History Month takes place every October and has been celebrated in the UK since 1987. It gives everyone the opportunity to share, celebrate and understand the impact of black heritage and culture in the UK. This year’s theme is Standing Firm in Power and Pride, “a powerful tribute to the resilience, strength, and unwavering commitment to progress that defines the Black community across the globe.”
LOCAL EXHIBITIONS THROUGHOUT THE MONTH
‘Colourism’ (Various Venues)
This exhibition explores Colourism, the bias attaching value to different complexions, and its impact on Black, Mixed-Race, and White communities, past and present. It encourages reflection on how Colourism shapes today’s culture, beauty and identity. The exhibition will be displayed at venues including Southampton Solent University, Southampton Central Library, Shirley Library, Woolston Library, Southampton General Hospital, October Books, Barton Peveril Sixth Form College, God’s House Tower and MAST Mayflower Studios (dates to be confirmed but, when announced, can be accessed via COLOURISM).
‘Our Coffers Were Emptied to Pay for Your Pleasures’ by Josie Turnball (Southampton)
This installation at God’s House Tower, Southampton, visualises the imagined fate of an anthropomorphised Arowana – a former champion cast aside. Artefacts, including costumes, trophies, and merchandise, build a memoir dramatising the Arowana’s tragic ‘rise and fall’. The work traces a lineage of British colonial extractive industries in Malaysia, the Golden Arowana’s place of origin, and draws parallels with the ruthless star-making machine of Golden Age Hollywood, as evoked in films like Sunset Boulevard (1950) and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962). It will be displayed until October 5th and is accompanied by a conversation with the artist, Josie Turnball, and Khairani Barokka – discussing themes such as the seductive and destructive power of plastic, why and how a cosmetic gaze and “Instagram face” is imposed on a fish, Josie and Khairani’s approaches to ‘collaging time’ and Colonial ‘chromophobia’: Artist Voices: In Conversation with Josie Turnbull and Khairani Barokka
Recovering by the Sea, The Indian Army in Bournemouth, 1914 – 1915 (Bournemouth)
This free exhibition, in the Café Gallery at the Russell Coates in Bournemouth, explores the largely unknown story of the British Indian Army in Bournemouth during the First World War. See Recovering by the Sea: The Indian Army in Bournemouth
OTHER BHM EVENTS
- 1 October: Flag Raising Ceremony – Basingstoke and Deane Civic Offices, 10am
- 4 October: Heritage & Hope, Andover Black History Vibes – The Town Mills
- 5 October: Walking Hidden Histories Trail, Jane Austen’s Southampton and Black Georgians – God’s House Tower
- 9 October: One World – Anvil Arts, Basingstoke
- 9-11 October: Julius Caesar – Mayflower Studios (16 October) Poole Lighthouse
- 12 October: Black Business Arts and Music Festival – Guildhall Square, Southampton
- 24 October: Dial 1 for UK – Mayflower Studios (Studio 2)
- 28 October: F.T. Prince Memorial Lecture – Southampton University
- 31 October: Bulabulay Mun? / How Are You? – Pavilion Dance South West, Bournemouth
- 4 November: Philharmonia Orchestra with Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha – Anvil Arts, Basingstoke
RESOURCES
Christian Aid ‘Belong’
Belong is a resource which acts as a guide for youth workers to engage 11–18-year-olds through 11 sessions exploring issues of faith, social justice, and how we can put our faith into action.
Belong – Older Youth in Church | Christian Aid
Wonderful Youth ‘No Outsiders’
Five Biblical sessions created for Black History Month to empower young people between the ages of 13 and 16 to become ‘The best that you can be’.
After the Flood
The documentary aims to be educational and redemptive and addresses the historical neglect of slavery in British Christian history.
https://cte.org.uk/after-the-flood-documentary/
Liturgical Resources for Black History Month
These resources from the Church of England include Services of the Word, a Eucharistic service, Prayers of Lament and of Commission, and links to further resources for Bible studies, youth work, Messy Church, and music.
https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/worship-texts-and-resources/liturgical-resources-black-history-month
BOOK REVIEWS
Wrestling With Imperial Christianity by Canon Dr Mukti Barton
Through compelling studies of a number of passages of scripture from both Old and New Testaments, Dr Barton offers alternative readings based in the traditions of contextual and liberation theology. She highlights the importance of Jesus’s teaching that one cannot serve both God and wealth and shows that the mammonic interests of Western imperial Christianity are diametrically opposed to salvation and service of God.
Ghost Ship: Institutional Racism and the Church of England by A.D.A France-Williams
Ghost Ship explores the harrowing stories of institutional racism experienced then and now, within the Church of England. Far from being an issue which can be solved by simply recruiting more black and brown clergy, says France-Williams, structural racism requires a wholesale dismantling and reassembling of the ship – before it is too late.
We Need To Talk About Race: Understanding the Black Experience in White Majority Churches by Ben Lindsay
Ben Lindsay offers eye-opening insights into the black religious experience, challenging the status quo in white majority churches. Filled with examples from real-life stories, including his own, and insightful questions, this book offers a comprehensive analysis of race relations in the Church in the UK and shows us how we can work together to create a truly inclusive church community.
God is Not a White Man by Chine McDonald
Part memoir, part social and theological commentary, God Is Not a White Man is a must-read for anyone troubled by a culture that insists everyone is equal in God’s sight, yet fails to confront white supremacy; a lament about the state of race and faith, and a clarion call for us all to do better.
Britain’s Slavery Debt: Reparations Now! by Michael Banner
A concise, reasoned, practical case for why Britain should pay reparations for historic wrongs to present Caribbean inhabitants.
God’s Ghostwriters: Enslaved Christians and the Making of the Bible by Candida Moss
Filled with profound revelations for reading and understanding the gospels themselves, God’s Ghostwriters is a groundbreaking and rigorously researched book about how enslaved people shaped the Bible, and with it all of Christianity. It’s also an intimate portrait of lives not often considered by history, and a reckoning with the motives and methods of the early Christians as they spread their message across the ancient world.
Black Liturgies: Prayers, Poems and Meditations for Staying Human by Cole Arthur Riley
Bringing together new prayers, letters, poetry, meditation questions, breath practice, and the writings of Black literary ancestors to offer 43 liturgies that can be practised individually or as a community.
Caribbean Contextual Theology: An Introduction by Carlton Turner
Attempting to bring a contextual theological gaze to what is a fascinating and often understated context, it offers readers an introduction to the unique and important contribution that a Caribbean theological lens can bring to the broader theological landscape.
Deconstructing Whiteness, Empire and Mission by Anthony G Reddie and Carol Troupe
What happens when ‘go, make disciples’ meets ‘Black Lives Matter’? Arising from the Council for World Mission’s “Legacies of Slavery” project, this book offers an unapologetic exploration of Christian Mission and its history, and the ways in which this legacy has unleashed notions of White supremacy, systemic racism and global capitalism on the world.
The Hopeful Activist: Discovering the Vital Change You Were Made to Bring by Rachel Walker and Rich Gower
Featuring contributions from Shane Claiborne, Lisa Sharon Harper, Krish Kandiah, Sam Wells and many more, The Hopeful Activist is full of fresh wisdom and practical advice to help you play your part in bringing God’s justice and restoration to the world around you.
