Black History Month (UK)

Black History Month might be drawing to a close, but that does not mean the conversation stops here.

Below are a list of resource recommendations to begin educating yourself with. This page will be updated throughout the year so be sure to check back for more recommendations, but also don’t be afraid to do your own research!

Books:

• So you want to talk about race? – Ijeoma Oluo
  Ijeoma Oluo guides readers of all races through subjects ranging from intersectionality and affirmative action to “model minorities” in an attempt to make the seemingly impossible possible: honest conversations about race and racism.

• Making the Revolution Global – by Theo Williams.
  Making the Revolution Global shows how Black radicals transformed socialist politics in Britain in the years before decolonisation.
  
  
• The Heart of the Race – by Beverley Bryan, Stella Dadzie, and Suzanne Scafe (Foreword by Lola Okolosie)
  The Heart of the Race is a powerful corrective to a version of Britain’s history from which Black women have long been excluded. It reclaims and records Black women’s place in that history, documenting their day-to-day struggles, their experiences of education, work and health care, and the personal and political struggles they have waged to preserve a sense of identity and community.

• How Europe Underdeveloped Africa – by Walter Rodney
  This is an ambitious masterwork of political economy, detailing the impact of slavery and colonialism on the history of international capitalism.
  
  
• The Making of the Black Working Class in Britain – by Ron Ramdin
  In this pioneering history, Ron Ramdin traces the roots of Britain’s disadvantaged black working class. From the development of a small black presence in the sixteenth century, through the colonial labour institutions of slavery, indentureship, and trade unionism, Ramdin expertly guides us through the stages of creation for a UK minority whose origins are often overlooked.
  
  
• Imperial Intimacies – by Hazel V. Carby
  Moving between Jamaican plantations, the hills of Devon, the port cities of Bristol, Cardiff, and Kingston, and the working-class estates of South London, Carby’s family story is at once an intimate personal history and a sweeping summation of the violent entanglement of two islands. Born to a Jamaican father and Welsh mother, Carby’s place in her home, her neighbourhood, and her country of birth was always in doubt.
  
  
• The Diversity Gap – Bethaney Wilkinson
  Combining real-world research with honest first-person experiences, racial justice facilitator Bethaney Wilkinson provides leaders a replicable structure to foster a diverse culture of belonging within your organization.