(Published Thursday 1st October 2020)

Black History Month #umsubhm2020 is going to be on a whole different level! We are going to make sure that it’s more involving as it will be led by students and societies, informative through diverse conversation corners, educational as we will explore community outreach and fun as we will indulge in dance, poetry, paying homage to music of black origin, and sampling global cuisines inspired by black people and culture. 

There will be three main themes: Community Outreach, Conversation Corner Series and Celebration (The 3 Cs).

Community Outreach

We shall be embarking on an outreach programme to the high schools in Manchester to talk about issues like the history behind Colonisation and Slave trade, the Pan African Congress that happened in Manchester, encouraging students especially black students to venture into STEM programmes, and education on the Windrush.

Conversations Corner Series

This theme is a series of panel discussions that will bring together different black representations to discuss pertinent topics and share the varied and synonymous experiences we have in our different backgrounds. Some of the topic areas will be Black and sexuality, the meaning of Pan Africanism, Black people and higher education, the legacy of Britain in slave trade, black capitalism and its exploitations and racial polarisation and its impact.

Celebration and Exhibitions

To celebrate the black culture, we will be exploring different forms of art, from paying homage to music of black origin, dance, art and exhibitions, poetry/spoken word, fashion, to global cuisines inspired by black culture.

Black Diversity and Representation

To make this year’s BHM inclusive, we will be engaging different black representation throughout the university and in the case that we do not find these groups on campus, we would reach out to other universities. These groups include Black Africans, Black British, African Americans, Caribbeans, Black LGBTQ+ community, Afro-Arabs, Africans from the greater Europe, Afro Asians and Africans from Australia.

We certainly understand the COVID19 has brought some uncertainty on hosting physical programmes. Due to the uncertainty of the situation in October, we plan to have both physical and virtual programmes so that whatever happens in October, we shall implement that which is feasible.

Everybody is welcome to be part of this great month!

Carol Tiriongo, SU Activities and Development Officer
Yueru Du, SU Liberation and Access officer