Black History Month
Black History Month was originally founded to recognise the contributions that people of African and Caribbean backgrounds have made to the UK over many generations. Now, Black History Month has expanded to include the history of not just African and Caribbean people but black people in general.
It first started in The United States which was known as African-American History Month and was first celebrated in the United Kingdom in October 1987; the United States celebrates it every year in February while the United Kingdom celebrates it every year in October
Every year according to the theme picked, we look at ways we can celebrate and adapt it to the Black community in Plymouth. We collarborate with different partners in the city to ensure that as a community and a city we are able to celebrate and raise awareness to all the Black History not just around the world and the Uk, however the Black History that could be found in Plymouth aswell.
Throughout the Black History Month Project, we want to create and organise a series of events (i.e talks, wellbeing sessions, film/movie viewings, food demos and more) to create spaces to allow Black, Brown and everyone from all different ages to be able to come together to learn, share, celebrate, tell and experience the different stories and cultures whether past, present and future from the Black and Brown communities.
This month and these events are an opportunity for individuals to connect with people they would not normally have the occasion to speak to within their community, to better understand the life experiences of others and challenge their own assumptions, prejudices and stereotypes.
Through this month and events, we hope to help increase the visibility of the diverse BAME business owners, the different organisations and networks that are in Plymouth and help our partners and ourselves become leaders in addressing diversity issues.
Our aims and objectives for Black History Month are:
To increase dialogue, reduce prejudices and racism, and encourage understanding of one another among diverse members of our community.
To provide an opportunity for Black and Brown members of the community to share their life experiences with strangers in a face-to-face question and answer situation.
To strengthen the relationships with other organizations in the community and to then be able to collaborate with organizations that represent or serve different groups.
To raise awareness and celebrate Black History Month
To create spaces where Black and Brown people in the community could feel free to express themselves through any form (i.e singing, painting, sewing, spoken words and much more)
To bring together different groups in your community.
