You can change your choices at any time by visiting Your Privacy Controls. Petition for the inclusion of black history in the curriculum. The answer for many young activists is through education. The Runnymede Trust, a race equality think-tank, made the case as recently as July 2019 — but now the issue is truly in the spotlight. The Black Curriculum aims to address the gaps in education that miss out on the long history of contributions to Britain from the Black community.

One petition on the UK parliament’s website has gathered 234,000 signatures, therefore exceeding the threshold of 100,000 names to be eligible for parliamentary debate. The authors of the petition write that by excluding “the evils of British Imperialism and how members of the African Diaspora contributed to the British nation-state” from education, progress on race equality has been hindered.

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I am privileged, and now more than ever, grotesquely aware of that privilege which is bestowed upon me purely because of the colour of my skin. Christina Laing started this petition to UK Parliament and 5 others. Edward Colston's statue is thrown in the harbour. The Black Curriculum aims to address the gaps in education that miss out on the long history of contributions to Britain from the Black community. Another organisation, Fill the Blanks, was launched in January by a group of sixth form students all hailing from countries that are former British colonies.

He was also a philanthropist whose donations to the city of Bristol led to dozens of buildings, streets, charities, schools, and other institutions being named after him. My name is Tia Smith, I’m 16 years old and I was born and brought up in West London. Another petition on Change.org — which will be sent to the education secretary Gavin Williamson — has almost 350,000 signatures and calls for “imperialism to be studied in more depth” in secondary school. Perhaps in 2020 Britain is finally getting to know itself. They also point out that the Royal Historical Society has produced research demonstrating that whitewashing the school curriculum puts off Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) pupils from continuing to study history beyond secondary school.

Keir Gravel, Flickr.

Dozens of other petitions have been started across the country, including in Cardiff and Plymouth, to rename streets or remove statues of controversial historical figures.

Campaigns for a better public understanding of the atrocities that took place in Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean under colonial rule, as well as immigration to Britain from former colonies in the 20th century, aren’t new. The group argued in an article for Dazed magazine on June 9 that there is a “gaping chasm” in how colonialism is taught. We offer a variety of ways to make your voice heard. Many people are also now asking whether the curriculum accurately depicts Britain’s colonial and imperial past, or reflects the achievements and contributions of Black people. It offers course materials, teacher training, and delivers lessons covering everything from the origins of calypso music to the activism of the British Black Panthers who were inspired by the US civil rights movement.

As historian and broadcaster David Olusoga wrote in an article on June 8, the day after Colston’s statue was removed: “This is history.

“Without this history, we lack the knowledge we need to tackle the culture of white supremacy,” the group wrote. The toppling of a statue of slave trader Edward Colston in Bristol during one such protest on June 7 has helped spark a national debate — prompting questions about the way historical figures responsible for the enslavement of thousands of people should be remembered.

June 16, 2020 In Bristol, change has already begun, with music venue Colston Hall — once boycotted by many of the city’s artists — committing to changing its name. I have been subject to the covertly damaging lack of diversity in the British curriculum.

People who want to learn about and take action on the world’s biggest challenges. And all over the world too, statues of colonial rulers are being removed. Now this global debate has become an essential part of a legacy that has seen the removal of other statues too. You can check out our Privacy Policy to see how we safeguard and use the information you provide us with. Lavinya Stennett — a recent graduate who founded the social enterprise The Black Curriculum in 2019 — has also written an open letter to Williamson calling for a review of the school syllabus in light of “increased awareness of racial history in Britain in recent weeks” due to the Black Lives Matter protests and the events in Bristol. "We have existed in Britain and been pioneers, inventors, icons,” Stennett told BBC News.

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Black History Month has been an annual fixture in the UK since 1987, celebrated in schools and at tens of thousands of events across the country, but in …

Call governments or join rallies. Some critics of the action in Bristol, such as Conservative MP Simon Clarke, said that it was akin to “rewriting parts of history that are painful".

Keep updated on what they're doing to change the world. That date has been chosen because it marks Windrush Day, celebrating the arrival of people from Jamaica on the first Windrush voyage in 1948, to help rebuild Britain after the Second World War.

It is one of those rare historic moments whose arrival means things can never go back to how they were.”, G. Miessi, Flikr.

Written by Tia Smith, Layla Alani and Elizabeth Haile. Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, ordered a review of the capital’s statues and street names on June 9. In order to create your account we need you to provide your email address.

But many campaigners have argued that it’s quite the opposite: far from rewriting history, they say it’s crucial the public learns more about our past — and say that school is the perfect place to start. June 2, 2020

As Londoners it’s only right that our statues, street names and other landmarks reflect our values in 2020. Check out original content and videos published every day to help you learn about the issues that mean the most to you. Not a Global Citizen yet?