Systemic Exclusion of Black History
Sally Weale, in the Guardian, sheds light on The Black Curriculum report which says England’s ‘white, Eurocentric curriculum’ fails to reflect UK society. November 2020.
Pic: Extract from the Westminster Tournament Roll almost certainly showing John Blanke, the only figure wearing a brown turban latticed with yellow.
The national curriculum in England “systematically omits the contribution of black British history in favour of a dominant white, Eurocentric curriculum” which fails to reflect the UK’s multi-ethnic society, according to a new report.
It accuses the current history curriculum of dissociating Britain from a legacy that has oppressed black people in favour of a “romanticised, filtered legacy that positions Britannia as all-conquering and eternally embracive of ethnic and cultural difference”.
It calls for a curriculum that redefines conceptions of Britishness and includes black history “as a body of legitimate knowledge”. It also calls for greater diversity in the history teaching workforce, and concludes: “Teaching Black history not only benefits Black students, but is beneficial to British society as a whole.”
