This 6 week online course will detail African/Caribbean women who have fought against colonialism and racism over the last 400 years as well as examine their varied spiritual belief systems.
Mainstream history consistently ignores the contribution of Black women in general, but many of these women used indigenous spiritual belief systems to sustain their own ideologies and inspire their followers. African civilisations and belief systems were, and are, routinely denigrated by Europeans which has led to stigma and mis-representation.
This is the first half of a 12 week course. Part two dates will be announced shortly. Part One is a general introduction and Part Two will go deeper into specifics and new but related topics.
Tuesdays 5,12,19,26 November, December 3rd,10th from 6.30pm-8.30pm online via Zoom
In this 6 week course we will cover:
- Pre-colonial African belief systems
- Christianity as oppression and resistance
- Sanite, Mbuya, Nanny Greg, Yaa, Fannie, Nzingha, Coretta, The Two Amys, Queen Thom, Queen Ami, Yemaja, Oya, Dandara, Nehanda and Graca
- 1970s women soldiers in Africa’s liberation wars
- Black women’s resistance in English literature
- Jamaica, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Mississippi, Haiti, Angola, Brazil, Cuba, Nigeria: Civil and Human Rights
- Disparaging terms ‘Obeah’, ‘Juju’, the real history of Santeria, Candomble, and Jumbie
- African religious beliefs and Hollywood superheroes
- The African roots of the Zombie & movie metaphors
- White female fragility and the co-options of feminism
We will use obscure and modern film clips, archival documents, rare books and essays, interviews , testimony from the women and their followers and small as well as large group work. This is a ‘camera on’ live course where participants will interact with each other and the presenters.
Course Objectives:
- Provide political and spiritual context for 40 Black women leaders from 1660s to 1980s
- Explain pre-colonial belief systems and their survival in post-colonial African diaspora
- Analyse and explore white supremacist thought in mainstream media
- Promote the consumption of Black history and literature
- Provide extensive resources for further study
- Detail little known films/series which tell stories of powerful Black women
Cost £120.00 for six-week course.(Part 1) book via Eventbrite. £20.00 discount for those who book by 27th September 6pm. Use promo code COE when booking
Other coming events in 2020 from www.blackhistorywalks.co.uk:
- Black History Helicopter tour
- James Baldwin season @BFI
- John Pilger season @BFI
- Black presence in the National Gallery
- Pilots of the Caribbean + Tuskeegee Airmen (Red Tails)
- Harlem in Mayfair, Soho, Hackney, Trafalgar square, Black History Walks
- Medical Apartheid
- Black History River Cruise and Bus tour
About the course leaders
Dr Michelle Asantewa
Michelle Asantewa graduated from the then University of North London (now London Met) with First Class Honours in English. She completed an MRes (Masters in Research) in Postcolonial Studies and PhD on Guyanese Komfa there also. Guyanese Komfa practice involves spirit possession – spirits who manifest are identified as either African, Amerindian, Chinese, Dutch, English, Portuguese or Spanish, reflecting the historical context of previously colonised British Guyana. African indigenous and diasporic spiritual systems are her main research interest and cultural practice.
Concerned with the media image of black boys and gang-related violence, coupled with personal experiences of the realities and impact of this profile, Michelle explored these themes in her first novel Elijah. The novel considers the influences black youth are exposed to and how they impact their life choices. It explores cultural and peer identity as determiners for self-perception and social responsibility.
Michelle is Co-Chair and founding member of Johmard Lyme, a Voluntary Community Organisation that provides opportunities for young people to develop social, personal and life skills. She is also part of an organising group set up to redevelop Bogle L’Ouverture Publications. BLP was co-founded in 1968 by Eric Huntley and Jessica Huntley, and was among the first Black owned publishers in the UK. Michelle is a freelance literary consultant for the Literary Consultancy. Dr Asantewa collaborates with a number of community organisations, such as Black History Walks and Pan-Afrikan Society Community Forum, and Education Through Culture.
Tony Warner
Tony Warner established Black History Walks. Talks and Films in 2007. BHW explores the thousands of years of African/Caribbean history in London via 18 guided walks, bus tours, river /canal cruises, helicopter tours,, talks, films, blue plaques and courses.
Black History Walks has featured on BBC, ITV, Arise TV, The Guardian, Huffington Post, Time Out and Channel 4. Tony has written and presented documentaries for Teachers TV and National Portrait Gallery; Conde Nast Traveller listed BHW in their Best 15 walks in London in 2018; and in 2011 the Guardian put them in their Top Ten walks.
Since 2011 BHW has sponsored 9 Nubian Jak blue plaques in honour of Black historical figures such as Sarah Parker Remond, Phyllis Wheatley, Emma Clarke, Darcus Howe, James Baldwin,Dr Harold Moody and Dr Cecil Belfield Clarke
Tony is an author on the ground-breaking ‘Pearson GCSE (9-1) Edexcel History Migrants in Britain Student Book’. This exam textbook, for the first time, introduces Black British Civil Rights at GCSE level. The book is part based on his Notting Hill Black History Walk. It is now used by 10,000 pupils in 140 schools.
Tony is the co-founder of the African Odysseys programme. This grassroots initiative has been screening African diaspora films plus Q&As, on a monthly basis at the British Film Institute’s Southbank cinema for 17 years. It is the only such programme in the country and has shown thousands of films to tens of thousands of people.
In 2020 he was part of Jacaranda Books unprecedented initiative to publish 20 Black British authors in one year, Twenty in 2020 with his book ‘Black History Walks in London Volume 1’ which was delayed to 2022 due to the coronavirus.
In 2021, he was selected as the first ever Activist in Residence at University College London’s Sarah Parker Remond Centre for the Study of Racism and Racialisation.