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Find a book club
Find a Book Club, a club that does what it says on the tin, asked me to recommend 10 books for book clubs (including two of my own).
Category Archives: History
Black History Month; Black History Studies and Nova Reid’s Student Confession
October is Black History Month in the UK. But obviously Black History should be taught and celebrated every day of every year in history lessons in our schools, in everyday conversation, in stories, in music and song, in any way … Continue reading
Posted in Allyship, Antiracism, Black History, Books, Equality, History, Human Rights, Kindness, Listening, Psychology, Racism, White Allies
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Antiracism: Student Confessions Series, with Nova Reid
I took part in Nova Reid’s series of Student Confession Interviews after graduating from her deeply affecting, life-changing course: Becoming Antiracist with Nova Reid. The Course altered the way I live my life and transformed my attitudes and my core … Continue reading
Posted in Allyship, Antiracism, Equality, History, Human Rights, Psychology, Racism, White Allies, White Fragility
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Afrikan Reparations: a conference
On Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd October, in London, a conference to discuss Afrikan Reparations and to address the legacy of the trafficking and enslavement of peoples of Afrikan descent, of colonisation and colonialism, was held. I went, at the … Continue reading
Posted in Allyship, Antiracism, Equality, History, Human Rights, Love, Morality, Politics, Racism, White Allies
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Black History Month, and David Olusoga
October is Black History Month in the UK, but David Olusoga, historian and broadcaster, and many many others, including me, think it’s well past time that British history included everyone who’s part of the UK’s history wherever it’s taught, read … Continue reading
Posted in Allyship, Antiracism, Black History, Equality, History, Human Rights, Racism
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Independence Day: two dissenting points of view
Independence Day, celebrated in America on the fourth of July, commemorates the Declaration of Independence, ratified on the fourth of July 1776. It stated that the: Thirteen Colonies were no longer subject (and subordinate) to the British monarch, George III, … Continue reading
Posted in Allyship, Antiracism, Books, Democracy, Equality, History, Human Rights, Politics, Racism, White Allies
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Windrush, 75 years on
Seventy-five years ago, on 22 June 1948, HMT (His Majesty’s Transport) Empire Windrush arrived at Tilbury Docks, on the River Thames. She was named, as many empire ships were, for a British river, in her case the River Windrush, a … Continue reading
Posted in Allyship, Antiracism, Art, Black History, Books, Creativity, Democracy, Equality, Fiction, History, Human Rights, Morality, Racism, Windrush, Writers, Writing
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Tom Titanic: a Welsh hero remembered
On 15 April I went to Cemaes, the northernmost town on the Ynys Môn coast, with my cousin Alex Leslie, and my sister Lucinda Mackworth-Young. We were there because Cemaes is the town where Thomas William Jones was born, on … Continue reading
Posted in BLue Plaques, History, Kindness, Places, Talks, Titanic, Travel
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Blue Plaques for Black People: Nubian Jak Community Trust
For this Black History month, here’s an organisation which celebrates Black history throughout the year and throughout the land. The Nubian Jak Community Trust (NCTJ) installs Blue Plaques to acknowledge and remember notable Black people. It was founded in 2006. … Continue reading
Posted in Allyship, Antiracism, Black History, Black Plaques, Equality, History, Human Rights, Music
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Queenhood by Simon Armitage
I’m not a monarchist nor a royalist but I am – as Helen Mirren said, recently – a Queenist. This country’s Queen, Queen Elizabeth II, is an extraordinary woman whose seventy years as head of state was celebrated in the UK … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Creativity, Democracy, Elizabeth II, Equality, Fiction, History, Women
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Reading Black Writers
Until George Floyd was murdered on 25 May 2020, I had not begun to acknowledge, let alone unearth, my inherent racism. That racism includes not reading or even thinking about the work of Black writers. But since that May I’ve … Continue reading
Stephen Lawrence Day 22 April 2022 #sldayfdn
This is from Stephen’s Story on the Stephen Lawrence Day website: Stephen Lawrence was born and grew up in south-east London, where he lived with his parents Neville and Doreen, his brother Stuart and sister Georgina. Like most young people, … Continue reading
Posted in Allyship, Antiracism, History, Human Rights, Mental Health, White Allies
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Ukraine: & how we can help #StandWithUkraine
Ukraine flag. Credit: Ayhan Altun/Getty Images click on the images below for links about where and how to donate money or supplies and how to support people directly. from the Guardian: from the BBC: from the UK government page: and … Continue reading
Posted in Allyship, Democracy, Gifts, History, Human Rights, Love, Refugees, Ukraine
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Betty Campbell taught Black British history every month
On September 29, 2021, in Cardiff, a statue was unveiled to Betty Campbell, the first Black British headteacher in Wales, and the first to teach Black British History all the time (not just in Black History Month – which began … Continue reading
Posted in Antiracism, Education, History, Human Rights, Racism
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White Allies Network, and Black British History
On 2 September, I joined the White Allies Network. They are, as they say on their website: A network of people that are committed to learn and do what it takes to be counted true allies against racism. It consists of … Continue reading
Posted in Allyship, Antiracism, Equality, History, Human Rights, Love, Morality, Psychology, Racism, White Allies
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Stephen Lawrence Day, 22 April 2021
We will no longer ignore, the racism we all deplore. We will never forget Stephen Lawrence. Directed by Simon Frederick. Written by Simon Frederick, Marcus Jones & Max Cyrus. Narrated by Max Cyrus And, from the Stephen Lawrence Day Foundation website: Stephen … Continue reading
Posted in Antiracism, Art, Books, Democracy, Equality, History, Human Rights, Morality
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Bookshop.org: an online bookshop that supports indie bookshops. And, ‘It’s easier to be a Dad, this morning … .’
Bookshop.org, as the Guardian articles below suggest, is exactly what the publishing world has been waiting for. Bookshop.org supports independent bookshops (it doesn’t undercut them, as the unmentionable does) and it makes it possible for independent bookshops to benefit from online sales … Continue reading
Posted in Antiracism, Books, Bookshops, Democracy, Equality, Fiction, Good News, Good Things, History, Human Rights, Living Standards, Morality, News, News Outlets, Politics
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October is Black History Month in the UK. But shouldn’t Black history be taught all the time?
Black History Month began in America as an annual History Week, in 1925. That year, Black historian Carter G. Woodson, the Father of Black History, announced Negro History Week: A celebration of a people that many in this country at the time believed … Continue reading
Posted in Antiracism, Democracy, History, Human Rights, Psychology, Racism
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