Black History Month 2023 is a really exciting time of year when we can celebrate and shine a light on the rich history and culture of black people, in the UK and around the world, that may have previously been hidden.

Shouldn’t Black History have been recognised and repositioned by now as history, and given the space it deserves- nay requires- for the curriculum to be a true reflection of history? Of course! But this doesn’t have to mean that we can’t also dedicate time in our curriculum during the month of October to focus specifically on celebrating and learning about black history and culture that, for so many years, was sidelined, ignored, and re-written.  

As teachers, we’re constantly being pulled in multiple directions with our attention having to go to multiple different tasks, all of equal importance, all at once. As such, it can be easy to fall into the trap of focusing on more well-known significant individuals and events from Black history, since they are what we’re most familiar with, the most confident in teaching about, and can be the most efficient to resource.  

Here at Prospero Teaching, we want to help you go beyond the stereotypes and expose your students to the lesser learned about individuals and events from Black British history. We have compiled a list of exciting people, events, and subjects that you could teach about during the month of October, as well as some resources and ideas of how to teach these across the curriculum.

These Black History Month 2023 resources are also great all year round for when you’re looking to add a new perspective to a unit or subject that you already teach.  

Additional Resources for Black History Month 2023: 

• Black History Month UK website: https://www.blackhistorymonth.org.uk/section/news-views/ 
• Melody Triumph, Places: Important Sites in Black British History 
• Jamia Wilson, Young, Gifted and Black 
• David Olusoga, Black and British: A short essential history 
• Alison Hammond, Black in Time: The Most Awesome Black Britons From Yesterday To Today 

As well as exploring the ideas and resources suggested here, we would highly recommend speaking to your students, prior to planning your Black History Month learning, to see what they would like to learn about during this month. We can’t think of a better way to get them excited and engaged in their own learning and would love to hear about the suggestions they come up with, so do please let us know in the comments! 

If you’d like to read more about Black History Month, take a moment to read these scholarly articles from Nadena Doharty and LaGarrett King which seek to discuss the origins of Black History Month, how it is implemented and the teaching that happens at this time, and the impact that it can have on students. 

For more from Prospero Teaching, head over to our website to register with us, check out our library of blogs, or find out about the CPD courses that we have coming up, or enroll in our online on-demand courses.