kabarsula “The UK is yet to have a national reckoning around its role in colonialism” bandar SLOT INDONESIA

Lavinya Stennett on the importance of teaching Black history in schools

In 2016, I received my A Level results. I didn’t get my first-choice university, so went through clearing [how universities and colleges fill any places they still have on their courses]. I received a place at SOAS to do African Studies. I didn’t know much about the university, but my mum insisted I go.

The course changed my life. Prior to my degree, I hadn’t been able to access any information around African history that was empowering or wasn’t just focused on enslavement.

I started learning from African lecturers and it was such a grounding experience. I received a scholarship to go to New Zealand, where I learned a lot about Māori land law, as well as issues around the colonization and theft of land, and it just put everything into context.

The main aim of  The Black Curriculum is to empower all students with a sense of identity and belonging.

Lavinya Stennett

I realized that the UK hadn’t had a national reckoning around its role in colonialism and the impact it’s had on young people today. We often see Saturday schools and other forms of alternative Black education pop up, but there’s nothing in the official curriculum – so that’s how the Black curriculum was born.

Inspiring a new generation

The main aim of The Black Curriculum is to empower all students with a sense of identity and belonging, allowing young people from all backgrounds to access knowledge on their cultural or national history.

Our work primarily focuses on training teachers, working directly with young people, and campaigning because it is our aim to embed Black history into the national curriculum.

We work with people across the education sector, as well as with people in prisons and museums to make sure they have access to our curriculum – so it’s really about societal education for all young people.

© Stanley Wainaina/Amnesty International

There are so many things that inspired this idea. Initially, we started speaking to teachers directly and there were three schools in South London that were excited to work with us. Once we had worked in those schools, The Black Curriculum took on a life of its own. We were approached by teachers across London, as well as Manchester. Then, after George Floyd was killed, we were contacted by schools in Canada and the USA, eager to know how they could incorporate it into their curriculum.

Our course is having an incredible impact across the world, and our reports from 2020 to 2024 show that students gain an improved sense of confidence from learning about their history once they’ve completed our course – and this goes for both Black and white students.

We don’t just have one scheme of work for the term that we give to teachers, we work with what they have. So, for example we have a zine our young people have created, as well as animations, podcasts and digital and physical learning resources.

Why reparatory justice matters

Through our course, I’ve realized how important it is to continue to seek reparatory justice because the work we’re doing around truth-telling in our histories and across the curriculum must lead to something. It’s not just about retelling a long history for history’s sake, it’s about building a consciousness within the peoples of the world to shift structures and systems that are affecting us. 

Reparations are about repairing the harms still taking place, as well as the harms that people of African descent have experienced, in particular. Enslavement has impacted our countries, our cultures, our languages, our everything.

Enslavement has impacted our countries, our cultures, our languages, our everything.

Lavinya Stennett

I think it is about re-educating people truthfully about what’s happened so that we can then think really clearly about what needs to be rectified for a better future.

Aside from the obvious moral wrong, Britain and other colonial powers have a duty to readdress a lot of the ills that we see today from discrimination in access to healthcare to education disparities – and a lot of this stems from colonialism, so it needs to be brought under a framework of reparations.

I’m from Jamaica in the Caribbean, and for many people of African descent we don’t know where we’re from. Even if you do a DNA test, it doesn’t even give you the specific community you’re from, so it’s about reconciling our cultural identities that were lost historically. Families were forced into migration when Britain brought back its “citizens” from the colonies to help rebuild itself postwar and we were essentially forced into poverty – we didn’t have a choice.

Finding where I fit in

I have always been attracted to history and the more social side of education, but I couldn’t figure out where I fitted in. So going through primary school, secondary school and onto university, I had to go and find that for myself. I was lucky I had the opportunities I’ve had, but there’s people that haven’t and will continue to stay lost and not have that sense of identity that their white counterparts may be privileged to have because they’ve seen themselves in history and in the curriculum taught at school. We want everybody to be able to see themselves in what they’re learning and use that to guide them forward and to build on themselves. To date we’ve reached well over 25,000 educators and that’s young people and teachers combined. We’ve also amassed a huge following on social media.

But outside of that, it’s incredible to share our message across the world. I recently travelled to Ghana and Kenya, and connected with young people who understand the legacies of colonialism very well and are passionate and want to bring it back into a larger space.

It’s not a privilege, but it feels like a rite of passage that I’m very honoured to walk on.

In our series, Voices of Reparatory Justice, we speak with artists, activists and leaders who share their stories of repair and resilience in fighting against the negative impacts of historical injustices, slavery, and colonialism.  Despite existential challenges, their journey to secure dignity and rights of racialised groups, restores hopes for our collective future, humanity must always prevail. This is one of those stories. Find out more about our work.