Across the United Kingdom, communities are coming together this October to honor Black History Month with events celebrating art, education, and culture throughout the diaspora.
On Oct. 13, the exhibition “Beyond the Bassline: 500 Years of Black British Music” opened in Bristol, offering a free celebration of five centuries of Black musical influence in Britain. Running through Oct. 31 at St. Paul’s Learning Centre, the exhibition explores the people, places, and genres that have shaped the nation’s rich and evolving soundscape.
It’s one of several themed events in cities like Bristol and Somerset celebrating the diverse Black cultures that have shaped Britain’s rich heritage.
“It’s very important to know where we are coming from and where we are going,” Glen Crooks, owner of Glen’s Kitchen at St. Paul’s Learning Centre in Bristol, told the BBC. “Black history should be taught all the time, not just in a month.”
Born in Jamaica, Crooks moved to England as a child in 1967 and remembers growing up unaware of prominent Black civil rights leaders like Martin Luther King and Paul Bogle. Witnessing the evolution of the UK’s Black History Month since its start in 1987 serves as a nod to Crooks and many others on just how far Black Brits have progressed in the country.
“We are coming from a long, long way from slavery. As Black people, we’ve been through a lot, but we still come out strong,” he said.
Other Black History Month events in Bristol include the Bristol Bus Boycott X, an immersive pop-up exhibition commemorating 60 years of the 1965 Race Relations Act, celebrating local heroes and sheroes; the Somali Week Festival; and the Voices of Resilience rap and poetry workshop, among many others.
In Somerset, locals can take part in a showcase of powerful images from London-based visual activist Wayne Campbell. His “Celebration of Demonstration” on display at the newly opened Shoemakers Museum in Street showcases the more than 100 protests he’s photographed around the world since his start following the death of George Floyd.
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