Black History Month

[ghoti_mhic_uait]

One of the things that suddenly confused me wrt Black History Month - is it meant to be the interaction of black people with history, or is it meant to be the history of people who happen to be black? Because that's a hell of a lot of differing histories, either way. ETA: I've also seen it suggested that it's the history of Africans/people of African descent. Which is all of us ultimately, but never mind that.

In any case, what it practically means in school is that we talk about MLK/Rosa Parks and Mary Seacole. All of whom are fine people to talk about, and Mary Seacole has relevance to a British school by virtue of being Scottish. Also, she did a lot to combat growing colour-based racism in England (and presumably Scotland and Wales) by just getting on with being an excellent person. (Basically, at the beginning of her stint in the Crimea, she was 'that weirdo who looks weird and what the hell does she hink she's doing?' and at the end she was 'Mother Seacole who saved a lot of the lives of our brave boys'.)

However, I'm sure we could branch out. How about the first black pope? Actually, Victor I is quite important in Catholic history - he was the geezer who brought the Latin Mass to Rome, where previously they used Greek (but Latin was used in Africa). How about St Augustine? I know they might not be main-stream enough for general consumption, but I work in a Catholic school so Catholic history seems relevant.

Comments

[firinel.livejournal.com]

I had no idea that the UK celebrates a Black History month (ours is in February). I can't really say what yours is meant to study, as I strongly suspect there's cultural differences between here and there as to what it is to be black.

fyi, I've never heard of Mary Seacole.

[marnanel.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry to say I hadn't either until ghoti was talking to me about her the other week.

I like the idea of talking about the Pope who introduced the Latin mass. I think people forget that at one time Latin was actually the common tongue and it was Greek which was the inaccessible language.

[ghoti.livejournal.com]

She was half Scottish half Jamaican, and a nurse in the Crimea. Unlike Florence Nightingale, she set up her hospital in the centre of the war zone, and also had (admittedly limited) medical training.