Wootton Village hall Talk and THAT tricky question.

I was recently invited to speak about the descendants project to a small but very engaged audience at the Wootton village hall talks, which attracts some of the biggest names in show business, media and academic world.

The Oxfordshire audience of some 80 people were predominantly white and its face to say not in their first flush of youth.

That said the questions resulted in something of a back and forth debate, something I greatly enjoy.

So I asked THAT tricky question, not to shame, but to provoke thought.

I asked the audience if they could name 5 people of colour who are British who played an important role in the history of the UK from anytime in the last 500 years? (with one rule, they could not name sportsmen or sportswomen)

Understanderbly, and somewhat predictably, no one person could name 5, so it evolved into various people naming individuals of colour who had played a role in UK history (both during and after the talk) and we all learnt a new name or two that we did not know before we went home that night.

Though I have been on a journey of discovery, it has really served to do is to emphasise, despite my own meandering research, just how ignorant I am.

Is this acceptable?

No.

Many years ago when I was at school we were taught zero about race and the part it has played in the history of this sceptred isle

I hear you say ‘that was a long time ago’ (it was!) and that things are ‘much better now’ (and no doubt they are)

When my long suffering 13 year old son Sam returns from school I ask hm what he learnt at school that day, and that inevitably involves history.

So far, I am sad to say he tells me that he has learnt relatively little about race and empire at school (though LOTS about the six wives of Henry VIII)

Cosmopolitan ran a very interesting piece about this

https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/reports/a32796670/black-history-schools-curriculum-uk/

So, it seems not to be unusual.

This has led to some rather regrettable outcomes.

I was talking to highly intelligent young woman who had just graduated with a medical degree.

I told her about the descendants project, particularly in relation to the celebration and exploration of colour and she said that ‘I sounded a bit niche’

So, it would seem we are heading for another generation who will not be able to name significant black and Asian figures in UK history.

At the end of the evening at Wootton village hall where we raised £600 for the Ukraine Humanitarian appeal, I was moved when two Asian women approached me and said ‘ Thank you, no one tells our story’

What can we do to change that?

Just talk and share.