Black History Month in Manchester A Personal Reflection
W
hen we are educated not to respect, value or appreciate the important contributions made by black people to society, effectively we are being taught not to respect, value or ap-preciate black people currently living in the UK. The end result usually brings distrust, ridicule and indifference in how such people are treated by others. This ring true, as I endeavour to teach black history in Manchester. After a period of strong focus on Black History Month, for several years Manchester had no overall co-ordination, which led to many disjointed, and yet gallant, efforts to carry on re-gardless. However, the National Black Arts Alliance, led by Su Andi, came together with oth-ers to launch a voluntary list of Black History Month events. Known as Black History Month Greater Manchester (BHMGM), it is now preparing for its third year of promoting events with either historical and or educational context. The National Black Arts Alliance is also co-organiser of BHMGM's Launch Event, to be held again this year at Manchester Cathedral. Historically, since 1987, Culture Week, held at the West Indian Centre and coordinated by the inimitable Berry Edwards, was Black History Month in Manchester. Over the years several thousand people attended cultural events during the West Indian Culture Week held at the Carmoor Road West Indian Centre. From 1977, the Roots Festival, led by Elouise Ed-wards, focused on the history of the 'ancestors'; and for more than thirteen years both festi-vals explored a range of themes using music, dance, drama, art and sports dedicated to in-creased racial harmony. For example, 'Roots 86', held during the UK's Caribbean Focus year, included in the printed programme an outline history of the Caribbean migration and the different cultural traditions they brought with them.
24 BLACK HISTORY MONTH 2017
Black Arts Alliance (now National Black Arts Alliance) first hosted Acts of Achievements, a listing of Manchester's Black History Month events, in 2001. This continued until 2009 be-fore funding issues sadly curtailed its activities. An impressive selection of events has taken place in Manchester over the years. For instance, in 2003 'The West Indian Front Room' was exhibited at Zion Arts and it explored the original homes created by post-World War Two im-migrants who came from the Caribbean to Britain in the nineteen fifties and sixties. The sixtieth year commemoration of the Pan-African Congress was celebrated in 2005, along with Black Victorians gallery of paintings at Manchester Art Gallery, Master Drummers of Africa, 'Tracing Your Caribbean Ancestors' (hosted by myself) and 'The Early Black Popu-lation in Manchester'. Other events over the following years included Black History Trail in collaboration with Black Arts Alliance and English Heritage, led by Dominique Tessier and looking at the history of Black communities in Manchester. Between 2010 and 2014 a wide range of largely uncoordinated events by many organi-sations took place. Organisations that contributed included The People's History Museum, Contact Theatre, University of Manchester and The Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Re-source Centre. Two notable events were: 'Empire Pays Back', a lecture and film screening by award-winning broadcaster Dr Robert Beckford tackling the issue of slavery; and 'Exploring Your Black History', a question and answer session with Julius Garvey (son of Marcus Garvey).
Since 2015 Black History Month Greater Manchester (BHMGM) took to listing events. That year also marked the seventieth anniversary of the 1945 Pan-African Congress and three days of events took place across Manchester led by Colette Williams of PAC45. The fifth Pan-African Congress was held in Manchester in October 1945 and it was one of the major events of the 20th century as decisions taken at that conference led to the independ-ence of African and Caribbean countries. In that same year I delivered a series of black his-tory talks and this continues into 2017. In 2016, Manchester's Black History Month launch was supported by Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Education Trust, The Granada Foundation and the National Black Arts Alliance, and 2017 will continue To learn from the past and look forward to new and exciting events. Black History Month in Manchester will be launched on 26th September.
By Linford Sweeney Community Black History Educator, Caribbean Genealogist and author