Fascinating new events have been added to Liverpool Hope University’s Black History Month celebrations.
We’re more than half way through Black History Month - an annual, national series of events ‘to honour the too-often unheralded accomplishments of Black Britons in every area of endeavour throughout our history’ - but there’s still plenty to whet the appetite.
Hope has been contributing to the national conversation through a mix of talks and webinars organised by the School of Humanities, the School of Social Sciences, and the Students’ Union.
Participants have enjoyed discussions about Liverpool’s 1919 race riots from award winning author Emy Onuora (Link), and they’ve also taken part in everything from a cultural food cook-along to a Black history debate night.
Now a new raft of webinars have been added to the roster, thanks to the popularity of the series so far.
And here’s everything that’s still in store over the coming days:
TUESDAY 20TH OCTOBER:
SheRose Charity Talk (1pm-2pm)
The SheRose charity fights for the rights of young girls in Malawi, attempting to eradicate child marriages while improving access to education. Here, in a talk arranged by Hope’s Students’ Union, guests from the charity will discuss the charity’s important work and explain how students can get involved in the organisation, too.
** Webinar link to be published on the Hope SU Facebook page & instagram page @liverpoolhopesu
Being Black in America: Yazz's Story (6pm)
Webinar organised by the Hope Students’ Union and hosted by BAME officer Louisa Patterson-Brown.
** JOIN VIA ZOOM HERE
Meeting ID: 385 094 8808
Password: 242771
WEDNESDAY 21ST OCTOBER:
Discussion about SARS (6pm)
SARS - aka ‘Special Anti-Robbery Squad’ - was a Nigerian Police Force unit created in late 1992 to deal with crimes associated with robbery, motor vehicle theft, kidnapping, cattle rustling, and firearms. They now stand accused of harassing, robbing, killing, abusing and raping young men and women in Nigeria. Thousands are protesting against police brutality on a daily basis. Here Andrew, a victim of SARS and who lives in Lagos, tells his own story.
** JOIN VIA ZOOM HERE
Password: 242771
Lecture from Professor Hakim Adi (7pm)
Professor Hakim Adi is a British historian and scholar who specializes in African affairs. In this lecture he reflects on his research and his trailblazing status as the first black history professor in the UK. Hakim Adi has written widely on Pan-Africanism and the modern political history of Africa and the African diaspora, including the 2018 book Pan-Africanism: A History. He is an advocate of curriculum change to better reflect Britain's black history.
** JOIN VIA ZOOM HERE
THURSDAY 22ND OCTOBER
Being Black In America: Dornay's Story (6pm)
Webinar organised by the Hope Students’ Union and hosted by BAME officer Louisa Patterson-Brown.
** JOIN VIA ZOOM HERE
Password: 242771
Paul Robeson: Fighter for Liberation (7pm)
In this webinar Liverpool playwright, singer and actor Tayo Aluko will discuss the life, works and politics of Paul Robeson. Robeson’s immense talents brought him to the forefront of American life in the 1930s and 1940s. In addition to becoming recognised as an American Football star in his youth, Robeson got a law degree in 1923, became a great singer, actor and film star, and as a linguist, mastered numerous languages. But as a black man Robeson was confronted by the deep structural racism of American society. He was drawn to socialism and supported anti-capitalist and anti-colonialist struggles around the world, including for example supporting Welsh miners in their strike for better conditions in the late 1920s to travelling to Spain to sing for the troops of the International Brigades in the war against Fascism. The mixture of his immense popularity and his strong politics caused him to be persecuted by the American authorities, and he suffered professionally and personally as a result. Tayo will suggest how Robeson's life can provide both lessons and inspiration for today.
** LINK TO BE POSTED AND SHARED ON HOPE’S FACEBOOK CHANNELS
FRIDAY 23RD OCTOBER
Racism & Global Issues: Lehtu's Story (6pm)
Webinar organised by the Hope Students’ Union and hosted by BAME officer Louisa Patterson-Brown.
** JOIN VIA ZOOM HERE
Password: 242771
SATURDAY 24TH OCTOBER
Mental Health and Well-Being Seminar: ‘Am I Enough?’ (2pm-3pm)
TEDx speaker and Wellbeing coach, Toluwa Oyeleye has spent most of her professional career working with young people around the world, enabling them to make transformative changes in their personal and professional lives as well as their communities.
This interactive seminar will be focused on what self-worth, self-love and self-confidence look like for students of colour, with practical tips and wellbeing techniques provided.
The seminar is designed to be a small, intimate online workshop.
** TO REGISTER FOR A FREE PLACE HEAD TO:
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/am-i-enough-blacklivesmatter-tickets-121565825657
TUESDAY 27TH OCTOBER
Roots: The Criminal System (6pm-7pm)
Ashleigh Nugent is a Liverpool-based rapper, writer, director and performer, and author of book ‘LOCKS’, a novel about a troubled mixed-race teenager who finds himself mugged, stabbed, arrested and banged up in Jamaica. He’s also the founder of Rise Up, an organisation that works with prisons, schools, the long term unemployed and those at risk of offending within the wider community. Here Ashleigh chats about the UK criminal system, from ‘stop and search’ police powers to prison reform.
** Webinar link to be published on the Hope SU Facebook page & instagram page @liverpoolhopesu.
Networking Quiz (6pm)
The Hope Students’ Union will run a Black History Month networking quiz and will be joined by a host of other local universities.
** Webinar link to be published on the Hope SU Facebook page & instagram page @liverpoolhopesu closer to the time.
WEDNESDAY 28TH OCTOBER
Liverpool’s Black History: 1919-2019 (7pm)
Author Dave Clay has worked for over forty years towards the development of Liverpool's black community. Born and raised in the Granby area of Liverpool 8 with a black African father and a white mother, he has a wide range of experience in the field of race relations including at Merseyside Community Relations Council for a number of years and as the first Chairperson of the L8 Law Centre.
Here he discusses his upcoming new book, ‘1919-2019 Liverpool Black History’, which documents 100 years of the city’s black community.
** JOIN VIA ZOOM HERE
THURSDAY 29TH OCTOBER
Black troops were welcome in Britain, but Jim Crow wasn’t: the Battle of Bamber Bridge, June 1943 (7pm)
Here Professor Alan Rice, Professor in English and American Studies at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLAN), documents the so-called ‘Battle of Bamber Bridge’ - an outbreak of racial violence between Black and white American servicemen stationed in the village of Bamber Bridge, Lancs, in June 1943. Events began in the village’s Ye Old Hob Inn, where black soldier Private Eugene Nunn had been threatened with arrest by US Military Police for being inappropriately dressed. Yet local people and British servicemen sided with Nunn - with one British soldier exclaiming, ‘Why do you want to arrest them? They’re not doing anything or bothering anybody’. Yet violence ensued, leading to the death of one black soldier while several others were injured.
** JOIN VIA ZOOM HERE
Passcode: 805658
**** All online webinars will be available on the Zoom platform - with links to the sessions posted on Hope’s social media channels.