Videos

Learn about the Black History Walks experience on our YouTube channel. We regularly post videos of talks by eminent experts and academics on important Black history topics.

You’ll find our popular Queen Nzingha lectures here, which are presented by African Caribbean female academics and experts in their fields. Previous topics include “The Impact of Hip Hop on White Masculinities” and “White Saviours”. We carefully select content that will educate, inspire and encourage debate.

blackhistorywalks

Information and over 180 videos on Black British and international history which features a black (African) perspective. Each clip has a brief description and sometimes a website where more info can be obtained. New videos added monthly. More information on the website.

Walks, Talks and Films on the African History of London

We will screen this film as part of African Odysseys at the BFI Southbank on Monday 12th February in the evening plus Q&A with Jacaranda Books. Tickets available from one month in advance

Watch the official trailer for #AmericanFiction, starring Jeffrey Wright, Tracee Ellis Ross, Issa Rae, and Sterling K. Brown. From Writer/Director Cord Jefferson. Only in theaters this December.

AMERICAN FICTION is Cord Jefferson's hilarious directorial debut, which confronts our culture’s obsession with reducing people to outrageous stereotypes. Jeffrey Wright stars as Monk, a frustrated novelist who’s fed up with the establishment profiting from “Black” entertainment that relies on tired and offensive tropes. To prove his point, Monk uses a pen name to write an outlandish “Black” book of his own, a book that propels him to the heart of hypocrisy and the madness he claims to disdain.

About MGM Studios: Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM) is a leading entertainment company focused on the production and global distribution of film and television content across all platforms. The company owns one of the world’s deepest libraries of premium film and television content as well as the premium pay television network MGM+, which is available throughout the U.S. via cable, satellite, telco and digital distributors. In addition, MGM has investments in numerous other television channels, digital platforms and interactive ventures and is producing premium short-form content for distribution.

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AMERICAN FICTION | Official Trailer

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Transcript

A letter signed by hundreds of international journalists says Western media coverage of the Gaza war has been biased in favour of Israel and against Palestine.
Newsrooms are accused of dehumanising Palestinians.
Are the allegations fair?
#AlJazeeraEnglish #Palestine #Gaza

Former soldier, author, and journalist for Haaretz speaks at the Israel Lobby/National Press Club in 2015 about history, settlements and Palestine

CNN's Anderson Cooper speaks with Emily Callahan, an American nurse with Doctors Without Borders, who gives a harrowing description of what she witnessed in Gaza as she was attempting to get out of the area.
#CNN #News

The newest Yatreda project captures the world’s most famous origin story: 𝘈𝘥𝘢𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘏𝘦𝘸𝘢𝘯. Or, as the world knows them: Adam and Eve. 𝘈𝘥𝘢𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘏𝘦𝘸𝘢𝘯 is another story which belongs to the world, but the way we artistically interpret it is based on my understanding studying the Tewahedo tradition.

Every culture in the world holds their own creation story. Where we came from, where we are going, and what defines good and evil. In Ethiopia, instead of Adam and Eve, it's Adam and Hewan. We reimagined the Genesis narrative, envisioning Africa as the birthplace of humanity.

Yatreda's latest project, "Adam and Hewan", encompasses 13 video looping artworks. This project draws inspiration from the age-old tale of Adam and Hewan, reimagined through the modern and innovative perspective of the collective. We all want to see ourselves in the first people and this is our version.

Caught between her parents' dreams and a life-changing offer, 16-year-old Ayesha Minor must decide whether to conform or chase her musical destiny.

"A-Minor" has received recognition from the industry. It was selected for the Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival and won an honorable mention at the Women's Film Festival for Best Narrative Short. These accolades speak to the film's quality and its ability to connect with audiences on a profound level.

jrstrickland.com

nocturnalfx.com

With the death toll from the Maui wildfires at 111 and as many as 1,000 still missing, we speak with Hawaiian law professor Kapuaʻala Sproat about the conditions that made the fires more destructive and what's yet to come for residents looking to rebuild their lives. Decades of neocolonialism in Hawaii have redirected precious water resources toward golf courses, resorts and other corporate ventures, turning many areas into tinderboxes and leaving little water to fight back against the flames. Now many Hawaiians say there is a power grab underway as real estate interests and other wealthy outsiders look to buy up land and water rights on the cheap as people are still reeling from the loss of their family members, livelihoods and communities. "Plantation disaster capitalism is, unfortunately, the perfect term for what's going on," says Sproat, who just published a piece in The Guardian with Naomi Klein and is professor of law at Ka Huli Ao Native Hawaiian Law Center and co-director of the Native Hawaiian Rights Clinic at the University of Hawaii at Mānoa School of Law. "The plantations, the large landed interests that have had control over not just the land, but really much of Hawaii's and Maui Komohana's resources for the last several centuries, are using this opportunity, are using this time of tremendous trauma for the people of Maui, to swoop in and to get past the law."

Transcript: democracynow.org

Stop University of Chichester’s axing of the MRes History of Africa & the African Diaspora
https://chng.it/mBGrcsyQ

Other useful links:
https://www.historymatters.online
https://www.hakimadi.org/

The Black Secret needs the support of the community to help with a very important cause which is dear to their hearts. A revered academic and friend of the founders of The Black Secret, Professor Hakim Adi and his first of a kind History course are under threat of permanent closure. Professor Hakim is the first African Heritage Professor of History in the UK. At Chichester University in 2015 he created the Masters by Research ( MRes ) and PHD courses in ‘History of Africa and the African Diaspora’, of which he is both the Tutor and Thesis Supervisor of both programs.

In July 2023 Chichester University announced it was closing the MRes course and ending Professor Hakim Adi’s employment. This decision was made without any consultant with either Professor Adi or his students. The MRes course is the first and only Master’s course in the UK specifically focused on the subject of African History and the African Diaspora.

A campaign was quickly launched to raise awareness and to resist Chichester University’s discriminatory actions, with an aim to restore the MRes course and to reinstate Professor Adi to his post.

The Black Secret met Professor Hakim at his home to interview him about what was happening with Chichester University and the campaign to save the MRes course. They spent a good hour interviewing Professor Hakim, covering the importance of saving the MRes program, the benefits that having such a course has contributed to the research of African History in the Diaspora.

This is the edit version focused on the campaign itself

Black British Civil Rights leader, writer, history maker, co-founder of 'Race Today Collective' honoured with a Nubian Jak plaque

On 4th January 2022, we unveiled an historic blue plaque. The plaque was produced by Nubian Jak and sponsored by Black History Walks. It was unveiled at 167 Railton Road, Brixton, presently home to the Brixton Advice Centre, in the 1970s the building was the office of the Race Today Collective.

Darcus Howe was a key figure in many major movements from; the Black Panthers, to the Mangrove 9, to Bangladeshi housing, the Black Peoples Day of Action, the Brixton uprisings, changing the face of British TV with the Bandung File, Devils Advocate and the Race Today Collective.

Between 1973-88, the ground-breaking Race Today journal was at the epicentre of the struggle for racial justice in Britain, highlighting the limitless opportunities and impacts campaigning journalism can have.

With the struggle against police racism and brutality currently happening across the world, it is vital that young activists learn about the recent history of Black Radicalism in Britain, including the Black Radical press, in order to harness the revolutionary potential of the media in the fight for racial justice.

Between 1973 and 1988, the Race Today journal and its collective of writers passionately fought police brutality, challenged racist institutions and, by adopting intersectional politics, linked the experiences of Black communities in Britain with other struggles to illustrate the interconnectedness of race, sex and class exploitation.

Under the controversial editorship of activist and former Black Panther Darcus Howe and, from 1985, his wife Leila Hassan, Race Today became a central voice for the anti-racist Black community in London.

For full article by Bryan Knight in Novara Media use this link https://novaramedia.com/2020/07/10/black-britannia-the-race-today-collective-demonstrated-the-radical-potential-of-journalism/

Agenda and timings

12pm DJ with Darcus favourite music. 12.30pm Short addresses from Leila Hassan-Howe, Nubian Jak, Aykaaya Addai-Sebo, Henry Bonsu and others. 1pm plaque unveiling, press and networking.

4th January is also CLR James ( author of the Black Jacobins) birthday.

To see our collection of lectures on Darcus Howe visit https://www.youtube.com/user/blackhistorywalks/videos

Details at www.blackhistorywalks.co.uk

Watch out for our book 'Black History Walks in London Volume 1'. This is part of Jacaranda Books revolutionary Twenty in 2020 initiative to publish 20 books by 20 Black British authors in 2020. An unprecedented feat. 'Black History Walks in London Volume 1' is the 20th of that series but was delayed to this year due to the Coronavirus.

Premiered Jul 14, 2023 #RolandMartinUnfiltered #BlackStarNetwork #BringTheFunk
According to the CDC, 85-percent of Black adults and 94-percent of Black youth who smoke use menthol products.

For years, those products have been marketed to communities of color.

These practices have led to Black Americans dying disproportionately from heart attacks, lung cancer, strokes, and other tobacco-related diseases.

Mignonne Guy, the Chair of the Department of African American Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, is joining me now to discuss big tobacco's long history of targeting Black communities with menthol cigarettes and the health impact.

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#RolandMartinUnfiltered and the #BlackStarNetwork are news reporting platforms covered under Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research

Testimonies to Sybil Phoenix, the first Black woman to be awarded an MBE in Britain and driving force behind the legendary Moonshot youth club.

This session hears from some of the many people she helped and worked with speaking on her impact and legacy.

This event was organised by Mia Morris OBE and Guyana Speaks with the support of Black History Walks

Here is a sample of some of the history we cover:

Dame Sybil Theodora Phoenix DBE, MBE (born Sybil Marshall, 21 June 1927) is a British community worker. She was born in British Guiana (Guyana), and grew up in Georgetown. She and her fiancé Joe Phoenix moved to England in 1956, and married in June of that year. In 1973 she became the first black woman to receive an MBE (Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) from Queen Elizabeth II. Dame Phoenix initially refused to accept the honor unless the council gave her a property where she could house, feed and educate homeless young girls from the Borough of Lewisham.

Dame Phoenix is a legendary figure in her adopted home of Lewishan in South East London. It has been said of her: “Sybil has a tremendous capacity for loving in the face of hatred, rejection and discrimination”. In the early 1960s, she began providing foster care for unwanted children and in 1977 she founded a youth center for teenagers; named Moonshot. However, the center was burned down by members of the right-wing extremist “National Front” and Dame Pheonix vowed to rebuild. “My name is Phoenix and I will build a new center from the ashes of this club, so help me God.” she said. Four years later, in 1981, the Prince of Wales was present for the grand opening of the new center.

As a Black person, Dame Phoenix experienced racism from the very beginning. This motivated her to actively work against the kind of discrimination that people suffer solely because of the color of their skin. She co-founded of MELRAW (Methodist and Ecumenical Leadership Racism Awareness Workshops), an organization which offers Racism Awareness Training programs. She was also a leader in the New Cross Fire campaign and the post Brixton negotiations and the famous Black Peoples Day of Action.

In 1979 Dame Phoenix and her husband founded the Marsha Phoenix Memorial Trust, a supported housing project for single homeless young women aged from 16 to 24. The trust was named in honor of her daughter who died in a car accident in 1974.

Thanks to Guyanese Girls Rock for this article

The Casey report of 2023 revealed the Metropolitan Police to be racist and sexist. In this segment the author Louise Casey explains why.

The report was triggered by police officer Wayne Couzens who raped and killed Sarah Everard in 2021

For those interested in Harry Belafonte's legendary history this is the film to watch

In 1982 the BBC show Ebony became the UK’s first Black news and current affairs TV magazine programme. It was presented by the pioneering Juliet Alexander. Previously a journalist at a time of great racial unrest, she worked on The Guardian and The Sunday Times, as well as co-presenting Black Londoners on BBC Radio London with Alex Pascall. <br /><br />In this panel speakers including Maxine Watson (Producer, Commissioning Editor) and Gillian Joseph (Sky Newscaster) talk about Alexander's pioneering career and discuss clips from Granada Reports, Ebony, Black Britain and John Craven’s Newsround that encapsulated the achievements and progress of Black women in broadcast journalism. <br /><br />The session host is author Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff.<br /><br />This event was part of African Odysseys at the BFI<br />Black History Walks has over 20 years’ experience managing film exhibitions and talks. The African Odysseys film programme at the British Film Institute is the only one of its kind in the country. No other cinema offers a monthly showing of Black films plus a Q&A session. The programme has proven hugely successful over the last 15 years and has created an impressive archive of general history, film history and recorded Q&As with directors, actors and producers.<br /><br />You can see some of our recorded post film Q&As on our Youtube page

Dr. Cecil Belfield Clarke was born in Barbados in 1894 and on winning an island scholarship came to London in 1914 to study medicine. In 1918 he graduated from Cambridge University, became a qualified surgeon and then set up his medical practice at 112 Newington Causeway, Southwark. He worked as a doctor, serving the local community for over 40 years and London for over 50. During that time he served as a doctor and medical professional in Africa, the Caribbean and throughout the UK.<br /><br /><br />Entry in the London Post Office Directory, 1924 <br />Clarke was one of the founder members of the League of Coloured Peoples (LCP) which began in 1931. The organisation was set up to achieve a number of objectives with a focus on racial equality and civil rights for Black people in Great Britain. Clarke was an active member but was also associated with other Pan-African causes, including as the first chairman of the House Committee of Aggrey House, a hostel for students from Africa and the Caribbean. Clarke was diplomatic and this enabled him to be an effective communicator between the politically left and right of the Pan-African movements of the 1930s and 40s, so much so that he was a mediator during the planning for the Conference on the African Peoples, Democracy, and World Peace held in London in July 1939.<br /><br />Clarke hosted many LCP events at his home and was a good friend of author and American civil rights activist W.E.B. Du Bois, with whom he continued correspondence right up to the 1960s, supporting many of his civil rights causes. Many of Dr Clarke’s letters to Du Bois can be read at the Special Collections and University Archives, at the University of Massachusetts Amhurst. The letters reveal the great affection and respect Clarke had for Du Bois and the importance of continuing the civil rights message. In one such letter dated 4th July 1929, Dr Clarke encloses his annual subscription to The Crisis magazine which he felt was his “duty” as “one of the few coloured Drs practising in London”. He kept the magazine in his doctor’s surgery waiting room and it proved to be a popular read. The Crisis is the official magazine for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) co-founded by W.E.B Du Bois and is still operating.<br /><br />League of Coloured People’s conference attendees, from The Keys, vol.4, 1936. Dr Cecil Belfield-Clarke is in the middle of the back row. <br />What may be little known about Dr Clarke is that he formulated the early mathematical dosage for paediatric medicine known as ‘Clark’s rule’. He was the first black District Medical Officer for London in 1936 and the Belfield Clark Prize, which first began in 1952 at St Catharine’s College, Oxford is still awarded to students in Biological Natural Sciences Tripos examinations.<br /><br />Sources<br />Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries<br />The Keys magazine (Southwark Local History Library and Archive).<br />Matera, M., Black London: the Imperial Metropolis and Decolonization in the 20th Century, 1st ed., University of California Press, Oakland, California, 2015.<br />St Catharine’s College, Cambridge University.

Testimonies to Baroness Ros Howells and her incredible legacy of fighting for human rights and equality in Britain.<br />Baroness Howell has had an outstanding career in the fight for racial equality in Britain<br /><br />Director of the Greenwich Racial Equality Council in 1994, Baroness Howells was created a Life Peer in 1999. Educated in London and in the United States, she was the first black woman on the GLC'S Training Board and the first female member of the Court of Governors of the University of Greenwich. She served as Vice Chair at the London Voluntary Services Council. She worked with the the Carnival Liaison Committee and the Greater London Action in Race Equality, campaigning for justice in the field of race relations. She is a trustee of the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust.<br /><br />She was at the forefront of the fight against the labelling of Black children as Educationally Sub Normal in the 1970's and took on racism in the financial sector and within the House of Lords itself.<br /><br />This session hears from some of the many people she helped and worked with speaking on her impact and legacy.<br /><br />This event took place courtesy of her daughter Anne. It was organised by Mia Morris OBE and Juliet Alexander with the support of Black History Walks

Ignatius Sancho was a British writer, composer, business owner, and abolitionist. He was celebrated in the late 18th-century as a man of letters, a social reformer and an acute observer of English life. Sancho was a former Enslaved African who advocated for abolition through prolific letter-writing and became the first person of African descent to cast a vote in a British general election.<br /><br />The portrait is loosely based on a painting by Thomas Gainsborough painted in 1768 and was commissioned by Bankside BID for the Frost Fair mural trail curated by us at Lawless Studio<br /><br />Between 1600 and 1814, it was not uncommon for the river Thames to freeze over for up to two months at a time. During this time Britain and the entire Northern Hemisphere was locked in what is now known as the ‘Little Ice Age’. British winter was more severe than it is now, and the river was wider and slower, further impeded by the 19 piers of the medieval Old London Bridge. Harsh winters often brought with them famine and death, but enterprising Londoners decided to make the most of it and set up the Thames Frost Fairs. Between 1607 and 1814 there were a total of seven major fairs, as well as many smaller ones. The Frost Fairs would have been quite a spectacle, full of quickly constructed shops, pubs and ice-skating rinks and at one fair an elephant was led across the river just below Blackfriars Bridge.<br /><br />Ignatius Sancho was born in 1729 and died in 1780. He lived in Greenwich as a child then later in Blackheath. During his lifetime a Frost Fair occurred in 1739–40 so it's likely he would have attended this fair as a child, given his close proximity to the Thames. <br /><br />Shot by Louis Thornton

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