Celebrating Black History Month

Black History Month is an international annual month recognising and valuing the inspirational individuals and events from within black communities. 

Since 1987, Black History Month has been celebrated every October in the United Kingdom.  

For this year's Black History Month celebrations, LJMU is involved in a range of events:

Black Germany: Before the Second World War Exhibition
Monday 7 - Friday 11 October at Aldham Robarts Library

Based on groundbreaking research, Black Germany employs a number of biographies, accompanied by photographic images, in order to look at the largely forgotten development of a Black Diaspora in Germany from the 1880s to 1945. 

Further information about this event is available from a.keil@ljmu.ac.uk

Making Visible the Invisible: Inside the Forgotten Lives of Black Germans 1884 - 1945 
Thursday 10 October, 6.00pm at Kuumba Imani Centre, 4 Princes Road, L8 1TH

Dr Robbie Aitken, Reader in History at Sheffield Hallam University, will be talking about the people featured in the exhibition Black Germany: Before the Second World War. 

Further information about this event is available from a.keil@ljmu.ac.uk

Black Liverpool 
Wednesday 16 October, 5.00 - 9.00pm at Phase One, Liverpool

An evening of engaging discussion, authentic food and performances from the black community. Organised by JMSU. 

Meet the author: Rose Thomas 
Wednesday 23 October, 2.00 - 4.00pm at Aldham Robarts Library 

Local author Rose Thomas will talk about her 2018 novel Bess: Now That I Have Found the Words. 

Bess, young, black and part of a new generation growing up in post-war Liverpool, faces age-old racism amidst new opportunities for work, and personal, social and sexual exploration. Returning to Liverpool from her home in London, Bess ponders her early life, from innocent au pair to a middle-class family through to becoming a call-girl in the local clubs in the 1970s, to a rebirth in consciousness following the Toxteth Riots of ’81, and the joys and troubles of her life in between.

This event is presented in collaboration with Writing on the Wall and is open to the public as well as LJMU students and staff. 

There are multiple copies of Bess: Now That I Have Found the Words available in the LJMU libraries. 

In partnership with JMSU, the libraries have also selected 12 black scholars and writers to be featured on posters in the libraries throughout October. In addition to this, the libraries are ensuring BAME authors are well-represented in their Leisure Reading Collections as part of their ongoing commitment to diversify the library collections. 

Alongside these events, we will be celebrating Black History Month on our social media channels and in our other communications, including on digital screens right across campus.