What is it?
This set of Teachers TV videos deals with black history and is relevant for all pupils in the secondary years. It is divided into two areas: black history in Britain and across the world.
Getting started
These starter videos remind us that the first black people to come to Britain began to arrive as early as the 16th century and that, among their legacies, was a little-known but now well-known landmark in many UK towns and cities, where they can be seen in cemeteries and war memorials - the obelisk. Pupils are also introduced to some of the better-known consequences of the black people’s presence in Britain, such as the gold trade, slavery and even coffee houses - including the connections between the latter two, described unselfconsciously by historian Tony Warner (pictured above) as “one of the blackest episodes in British history”. The impact of gold mined in Africa on Britain’s early financial and economic growth is a largely forgotten story which is well told here, so today’s pupils using these videos will know that the guinea coin was named after the Guinea coast in West Africa.
Taking it further
Surprisingly, the section on “black history across the world” focuses on the Jazz Age in America. But in fact, like all well-crafted programmes, it cleverly uses jazz to take us through a variety of themes which, in this case, include the growing power of the racist Ku Klux Klan and the creation of (white) American wealth.
Where to find it
www.tes.co.ukbhm-videos.
