While October is over, there’s still time to get involved in the city’s Black History Month celebrations.
This Saturday, you can join the Brighton & Hove Black History Project for a family fun Black History Bus tour across the city on board the ‘Thomas Highflyer’ bus.
The tour runs from 11am to 1pm and takes in city landmarks representing the historical contributions and stories of BME residents of Brighton & Hove with commentary by Bert Williams MBE and Suchi Chatterjee.
Visit the Black History Bus Tour event page for more details and to book your tickets. Numbers are limited.
Black History Family Day
Brighton Dome is also hosting its annual celebration of African and Caribbean culture and heritage with its Black History Family Day on Saturday.
It’s an event for the whole family to celebrate by dancing, listening to the stories and feasting!
Celebrations run from 12 noon until 5pm and entry is free. Visit the Brighton Dome website for full details.
Looking back on Black History Month
This year, we worked with the Brighton & Hove Black History Project to celebrate the legacies of a number of the city’s significant Black people through history.
These included Thomas Highflyer, Mary Seacole, Walter Tull, Sarah Forbes Bonetta, and the West Indian Soldiers at the Somme.
As well as highlighting their stories in an exhibition at Jubilee Library, we celebrated their images with a set of very popular Black History badges.
Jubilee Library also displayed a series of photographs of UK Black musicians in their ‘Black Tunes Matter’ exhibition and hosted ta ‘Black Lines Matter’ poetry event.
Brighton Museum & Art Gallery held a series of events celebrating the contributions of the Windrush Generation, including the Windrush Presence exhibition documenting and reflecting on the contribution of the Windrush generation to British culture and society.
Celebrating the legacies and contributions of our BME communities
Leader of the Council Nancy Platts, said:
“There have been some brilliant events and exhibitions to mark Black History Month this year and I’ve been very proud to be sporting the lovely Black History badges!
“From learning about the freed slave boy buried in Brighton, to Mary Seacole’s ties to our city, it’s really given me pause for thought on our heritage and what it means to be from Brighton & Hove.
“This is a city of diversity, of wonderful cultures and identities that give Brighton & Hove the very values that make it stand apart from the rest of the UK, and this Black History Month has typified that.
“To celebrate the legacies and contributions of our BME communities and to stand in solidarity with them is central to the values that make me proud of our city.
“A big thank you to everyone involved across the city in pulling all these celebrations together.”