Black History Month

Rather than focusing intensely on work around Black history for one month in the year, we want to use Black History Month to start off a programme of work which will be spread out through the year.

(You can read more about our new approach to commemorative days in this blog post: https://www.racearchive.org.uk/beyond-refugee-week-our-new-approach-to-refugee-week-black-history-month-international-womens-day-etc/)

To mark Black History Month this year, we want to create a Manchester Black Histories manifesto. This will set out how Manchester Black histories should be recorded, explored, shared and celebrated, We are asking our friends and partners of African or Caribbean heritage in Manchester to contribute to this. We will be collecting responses throughout October, and creating the manifesto to be shared at an event at the end of the year. You can find out all about it and how you can get involved in our blog post.

 

Previous Years

 

We Are Carnival!

Following the celebration of 50 years of the Manchester Caribbean Carnival in summer 2022, our Black History Month events that year were on the theme of Carnival!, looking at the history and the celebrations through workshops, music, poetry, family activities and food!

We were delighted to be able to host a workshop with noted Black History educator and researcher Linford Sweeney.

“The history of Caribbean Carnivals is much more complex than many realise. Carnival has origins based in colonialism and religious conversion, but it has now become a festival and celebration tied to freedom and emancipation from slavery. Learn about how established African-Caribbean communities transferred the traditions associated with carnival to Manchester as we explore the roots of the different aspects of carnival.”

On 27 October we held our We Are Carnival! party.

“Explore historical carnival memories through archives via an exhibition, film provided by North West Film Archive, music by Manchester Carnival affiliated DJ and Host Kemoy Walker, a family arts workshop by local Artist Tina Ramos Ekongo, spoken word performances by Young Identity and delicious Caribbean food courtesy of Buzzrocks Caribbean Restaurant. “