A Moment in Time

she broke through the social barriers. In 1947, she became the first black woman in the USA to obtain a PhD. Later in her career, she studied the effects of cigarette smoke on the lungs and the effects of high cholesterol on the heart. While doing all of this, she was also active in helping other minority students to gain access or scholarships to universities in the USA.

HISTORY: LEARIE CONSTANTINE Learie Constantine had an illustrious career: apart from any civil rights campaigning, he was the High Commissioner of Trindad and Tobago, the first black peer in the House of Lords and a cricketer for the West Indies. However, arguably his biggest contribution to our society today was his work during the Bristol Bus Boycott. In 1963, ethnic minorities could not be employed as bus drivers in Bristol. Constantine supported the West Indian Action Group’s protest against this. This involved marches and refusing to use the bus service. This was clearly inspired by Martin Luther King’s bus boycott in Birmingham, Alabama. Constantine personally related to this campaign as he had been refused entry to a hotel because of his race in 1944. Constantine met with key figures, such as the Mayor of Bristol, and on 28th August 1963 It was announced that there would be no discrimination based on colour in the bus service. The first non-white bus drivers started working later that year and Constantine’s work helped to pass the Race Relation Acts of 1965 and 1968.

by MR TRELAWNY

In history lessons we spend a lot of time looking back at and evaluating the past. But how will posterity view 2020-21? We asked pupils what they would put into an imaginary time capsule to help future generations of Exonians to remember and understand the last school year. As the pictures show there were some common and obvious choices:

1. Lateral Flow Testing This has now become a routine feature of so many of our lives. Attendance at school and the ability to visit so many places depends on testing negative. For how much longer will this continue?

2. Hygiene The regular cleaning and disinfection of work surfaces, and our own hands have become the norm. Who would have thought that this careful attention to public health and hygiene would be a daily feature of our lives? Hands, face, space!

3. Masks Until very recently many of us would look rather disparagingly upon foreign visitors who wore masks in public. Our ignorance almost made it seem as if they thought there was something wrong with us. Now we understand that wearing a mask is more a selfless and sensible act of personal and public hygiene, protecting the health and wellbeing both ourselves and others. We are sure this is a feature of the last year that will continue for some time to come. It is now strange to see someone in a communal area without a mask!

4. The Black Lives Matter Campaign After the tragic death of George Floyd on 25 May 2020, this campaign challenged all of us to reconsider racism and prejudice. The concepts of white privilege and unconscious bias became more widely spoken about and have led many institutions to re-evaluate their approach to inclusion and racism. In school this year there have been many assemblies, visitors and lessons that have explored these issues. Greater awareness has been an important feature of the last year.

5. Iconic figures of 2020-21 When asked, many pupils cited different individuals as being representative of the last 12 months. From Trump to Biden, from Johnson, Hancock and Cummings, to the death of the Duke of Edinburgh, to the heroic and selfless actions of Captain Tom in supporting the NHS, to the invaluable work of our medical professionals and Chief Medical Officer Professor Chris Witty, all of these people have made their mark in one way or another. There are many others, but as ever in history people are fascinated by their fellow humans who have contributed to its making.