Celebrating Black History Month

Goldsmiths, University of London is celebrating Black History Month with a range of events, talks and exhibitions across campus.

At the centre of this is 60 Untold Stories of Black Britain – a photographic exhibition celebrating the lives of the “first black middle class”. The free show which runs at the Professor Stuart Hall building until 30 October has been hailed by The Londonist as a “long-awaited and highly deserved Hall of Fame for the 60-75 year-old professionals involved”.

The month also sees a new chapter for the Centre for Caribbean Studies – which is relaunching as the Centre for Caribbean and Diaspora Studies.

Established some 33 years ago, the relaunch will see the Centre continue to develop – through the work of a range of contemporary practitioners including writers, performers, oral historians and technologists – the representation and promotion of Caribbean cultural knowledge and heritage in the UK and across the globe.

Professor Joan Anim-Addo, director of the Centre for 15 years, said:

“The need for an academic home within our university system is still keenly felt by black students... We are happy to open up our hard-won and always nomadic home.”

As well as a time for change Black History Month represents new beginnings at Goldsmiths – with this year marking the launch of the ground-breaking MA in Black British Writing. Co-convened by Dr Deirdre Osborne and Professor Joan Anim-Addo and based in the Department of Theatre and Performance, in association with ECL, the postgraduate degree is a world first- nowhere else in the world can you study this field in such a richly, referenced way - in the country where the writing is produced.

As is fitting for a history month, Special Collections & Archives is also hosting the exhibition Show & Tell, an exhibition and launch of the publication Human Endeavour: a creative finding aid for the Women of Colour Index.

And alongside College events the Students’ Union has a packed schedule to mark BHM, ranging from a talk on hip-hop and Shakespeare to gigs and library tours. 

On 23 October the Students’ Union and the Department of Theatre and Performance are joining together to present Black Her-story, a literary evening featuring Laura Fish, Dorothea Smartt and Kadija Sesay.