Last evening, on Friday 23rd October, a Black Heritage Month event took place at Manchester Museum in the Kanaris Theatre.
Taken by Chitalu Chipepo on IOS iphone 7
The event aimed to not only celebrate the many Black communities but to honour them and recognise the sheer impact they have on creating spaces for Black students and colleagues to thrive.
During the event, a selection of refreshments were available as seen below:
Shortly after, a welcoming speech was given by Professor Toni Haastrup followed by a moving, thought-provoking spoken word performance by Dr Manny Oladipo called ‘Black and Brilliant’.
Then all present in the room were asked to give a moment of silence for the death of Professor, Dr Jason Arday ( known for being the youngest professor at Cambridge University and his thorough research on race and the higher education system)
Additionally, a panel discussion took place with Professor Charlene Gallery, Dr Manny Oladipo and Joshua Okiduwa Osemudiabhen. Throughout the duration of this panel, many topics such as community support, growing up in a PWI (predominantly white institution), code-switching and prioritising advocacy for Black and Brown organisations were discussed.
One of the questions that came up in the panel discussion that really got me thinking was one directed towards Professor Charlene. The question posed was ‘Why is it important for students and colleagues to see a Black Leader?’ to which she responded ‘representation’ and went on to talk about how it’s important because they understand the path you’re walking as well as other factors.
As a College student who is black, I wholeheartedly agree. Looking back on my high school experience, during year 8 or perhaps year 9, a new teacher came in to teach Spanish and she was also black. That representation of having a teacher who looked like me in an educator role meant everything to me as I no longer felt as isolated as I did before and I felt understood on a deeper level.
The event as a whole lasted from 16:00pm-18:00pm and it was an insightful experience to be able to understand what Black History Month is truly about. The message that can be received from this event is that it shouldn’t take Black History Month to speak on diversity and other racial issues, it should just be talked about.
A bag containing informative booklets on BHM was given to people who attended:
To find out more about this event and others happening soon, you can go to this website:
