As a Global Majority-led archive and library based in Manchester, we have worked with Global Majority histories over decades, to ensure that these histories are archived, to raise their profile and to advocate for an anti-racist approach to heritage and education.
Over the past 25 years we have had the privilege of working with many Black community members and groups who have trusted us with their histories, as well as sharing their frustrations about how these histories are treated. This has informed how we work with Black histories, always seeking to work ethically and respectfully.
In autumn 2023, we carried out a structured conversation with members of Manchester’s Black communities (including many young people) to seek their views on this issue. We asked questions about the purpose of Black History Month; which Black histories we should share; and how we should share them. We gathered a wealth of responses, which naturally included many different views and ideas.
This Manifesto is built on these responses, as well as what our friends and partners from Manchester’s Black communities have shared with us so generously over decades of working together. We have tried to pull out clear directions and principles to follow, that honour the diversity of opinions.
We will use this Manifesto to guide our work, and we offer it to other organisations – particularly those in education, archives, museums, libraries and galleries. We hope they will use it to guide and shape their work with Black histories.
The Manifesto is available under our Resources page or you can click here.
Please note: We use the terms ‘Black’ and ‘Global Majority’ throughout this document. By Black, we mean people and communities whose heritage is in Africa and the Caribbean. We use Global Majority to refer to people and communities of Caribbean, Latin American, African, Middle Eastern, Asian and Indigenous heritage collectively
