Recommended Watching for Black History Month (UK)
The month of October is Black History Month in the UK! If you want to learn but prefer watching and listening to reading there here is a list for you. These are just things I’ve watched that I’ve learned something from. Feel free to add anything else!
Britain’s Forgotten Slave Owners (Part 1 / Part 2) - 2 part documentary about, well, Britain’s slave owners, but also quite importantly exposes how British slave owners were paid reparations for their loss of human property.
Fighting for King and Empire: Britain’s Caribbean Heroes - About the people from the Caribbean who fought for us in WWII.
Windrush: Arrival - About the post-WWII wave of West-Indian immigrants. This is the first of a 4 part series broadcast in 1998, which marked 50 years after the arrival in Britain of the MV Empire Windrush. This part features a clip from ‘West Indies Calling’ which I have listed further down. (1h)
Windrush: Intolerance - This is about the 1958 race riots in Notting Hill, Teddy Boys, and the murder of Kelso Cochrane. These are some of those things that we from west-indian backgrounds in the UK know about from our families that lived through those times when there was alot of racial tension, but that you might not have even heard of if you’re outside of that. You might know Notting Hill today as a pretty aesthetic place where rich white people live in pastel-coloured houses and hipsters go to get coffee, but back then it was working class whites and Black Caribbean immigrants. When we have the Notting Hill carnival there every year it’s interesting to see how the people there for the carnival are so different from the people that can afford to live there now. Gentrification. That’s as much as i’ll say about that here. (1h)
Handsworth Songs (1986) - Filmed during the 1985 riots in Handsworth (Birmingham, West Midlands) and London, and released a year after. This one’s a bit eerie. (1h)
Injustice - Documentary about the struggles for justice by the families of people that have died in police custody in Britain. (1h, 38min)
Black British Film
the last 2 have links to bfi player, so those you have to subscribe for (you can get a 1 month free trial though. and this might be uk only but I don’t know sorry). If anyone can find free illegal links to these feel free to add those.
Babylon (1980) - Drama about Black Britain in the 80′s: reggae and sound system culture, racism and police violence featuring Brinsley Forde from Aswad. (1h, 31min)
Young Soul Rebels (1991) - Film about late 70′s London. Centred around 2 best mates who run a pirate radio station and explores things like racism, tensions with police, and homophobia (particularly in the west-indian community). (1h, 45min)
Pressure (1975) - Drama film centered around the experiences of a black child of Trinidadian immigrants living in Britain. Directed by Horace Ové. This is important because it was the first feature-length fiction film directed by a Black film-maker in Britain. (2h)
“Baldwin’s Nigger” - A conversation with writer James Baldwin about the black experience in America and how it relates to the Caribbean and Britain. Filmed in London. Produced and Directed by Horace Ové. (1969) (43min)
West Indies Calling (1944) - Film made during the Second World War in which a group of West Indians, led by Una Marson and Learie Constantine, assemble at Broadcasting House in London. They describe how people from the Caribbean were supporting the war effort. Una Marson (1905-1965) - Jamaican feminist, activist and writer - was the first Black female broadcaster at the BBC. (14min)
Akala - Oxford Union Address on Black History - Talks about ancient African empires, The Haitian Revolution, and how Black History is/should be taught, among other things. Akala is a rapper, poet, educator, and someone I have alot of respect for. (2015) (1h, 16min)
Artsnight - George The Poet (s2, ep15) - On Black Culture. George The Poet is exactly what he says he is. There’s a good bit (in my opinion) about 10 minutes in about dub poetry, the SPG and tensions with the police in the 80′s with dub poet Linton Kewsi Johnson. (2015) (29min)
OK that’s all I can think to add. If you want to add something you’re more than welcome! Happy Black History Month!
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