BHM – research

I do not recall a time where I was taught about British Black History and if I was then the information was not extensive enough since I cannot recall it. This I believe is a fault in the education system as I think it is important to learn important events in history that shaped the world to be what it is now.

Therefore to start the project I began researching what brought about change in Britain, having a look into the Civil rights movement, Notting Hill Carnival and the Transatlantic slave trade. The most significant period for me was in 1970,when a group of black radicals were committed to stand trial on charges based of claims of violent clashes between the police during a peaceful protest. The trial gave light to the problem of racism within the metropolitan police service as the black radicals won the trial. This was a celebratory time for the black community because they had shown the possibility of taking on authorities in the name of racial justice and succeed in winning.

To gain more insight into black history I visited Athi-Patra Ruga’s exhibition: Of Gods Rainbows and Omissions. I loved his pieces of work especially the centre piece in the third room called ‘at the end of the rainbow we look back…’, the mixed media to create this left me speechless.

From this I knew I wanted to focus on the achievements of black history and how this is celebrated. One main event that does is, is Notting Hill Carnival. For primary research I interviewed a couple of people to see what they thought of the carnival and why it is important to them. They all gave very positive feedback about how the event promoted ‘togetherness’. For secondary research I looked into the costumes and atmosphere, finding an article with a variety of images from the festival. This gave me a good basis to start developing my work.