Is The UK's Black History Curriculum Outdated?

When I think back to my time in secondary school, Black History Month (BHM) was always a predictable cycle—centered on the slave trade and American heroes like Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks. In English class, we read Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, and in PE, we dabbled in African dance. It felt like the same old narrative, lacking inspiration and connection to the Black British experience I was living.

But then there was my tutor—an English teacher, black man, coincidentally sharing my surname and a passionate about literature. His enthusiasm for showing us our potential was a breath of fresh air in a space where we often felt unseen. He introduced us to a range of black writing and voices from the global majority through fiction and non fiction, and moving image that I had never seen before, including Ian Wright’s autobiography. At the time, reading wasn’t my thing, but reading about a Black man, an Arsenal legend who had grown up nearby and played for Crystal Palace, made all the difference. What topped this experience off was Ian Wright visiting our school, sharing his story in person. It was powerful. It wasn’t the history lessons that left an impression—it was my tutor’s vision to show people like me in books, on TV, and in sports.

Years later, as a teacher, I found myself tasked with teaching Black History during tutor time. When I opened the starter pack, it felt like déjà vu—it was basically the same content I was taught years earlier. But I knew I couldn’t do my students the disservice of giving them an unrelateble story. Like my tutor before me, I decided to focus on Black role models from the UK—Black soldiers in World War I and II, Mary Seacole, and the resistance movements that led to the birth of the Notting Hill Carnival and the Brixton riots. I wanted my students to know that Black people have contributed to British life in countless fields—from sports and culture to science and politics—and that our history is not just about suffering but about resilience, creativity, and achievement.

In recent years, I’ve seen more progress in how Black curriculum is taught. Lavinya Stennett, the founder of The Black Curriculum, an organisation committed to addressing the lack of Black British history in the nation’s curriculum has made great effort to provide great content from the Windrush generation to popular Black authors. The work happening in this space is shifting and reclaiming the narrative. But for me personally, it all came home when I moved into higher education and met historian Dr Oliver Ayers and Professor Nicole Aljoe that my understanding of Black history in Britain was completely transformed. What blew my mind was the presence of Black people in Britain as far back as Roman times. There is evidence that people of African descent lived and worked in Britain since AD 43, when the Romans invaded and established Londinium, a diverse city on the banks of the River Thames.

A recent study in Southwark even revealed the remains of adults of African descent who had likely traveled from the southern Mediterranean. And it doesn’t stop there—historians have unearthed fascinating evidence of Black Tudors. It’s estimated that around 300 Black people lived in England and Scotland during the Tudor period, working, intermarrying, and contributing to British society. By the 18th century, England had a Black population of around 15,000, living mostly in major port cities but also in smaller towns and villages. Many worked in domestic service, but others, like Charles Ignatius Sancho, were entrepreneurs and respected figures in their communities. Sancho, born on a slave ship in 1729, became a British abolitionist, writer, and composer, running his own grocery shop in Westminster, yes i said Westminster!

This rich history of Black Britons during the 17th and 18th centuries has been further illuminated by the Mapping Black London project, a recent groundbreaking initiative by Northeastern University London. The project has unearthed over 3,000 records from the London Metropolitan Archives, revealing the lives of Black Londoners from 1560 to 1840. These records, which include baptisms, marriages, and deaths, paint a detailed picture of Black individuals not only as servants but as business owners, tradespeople, and active community members across the city. The parish of St. Katharine by the Tower, for example, was a bustling hub of Black life before it was demolished in the 1820s to make way for the docks. People of African, Caribbean, and Asian descent were baptized, married, and lived full lives there—long before the narrative of slavery became the central story.

What makes this project even more remarkable is how it dispels the myth that Black people were confined to certain areas or limited to servant roles. The Mapping Black London data reveals that Black individuals lived all over the city, fully integrated into the daily life of London. It challenges the idea that Black history is somehow separate from British history. In reality, Black Londoners were contributing to society in diverse ways, living and working alongside people from all walks of life.

Can you imagine if I had been taught these stories in school? That Black people existed in Britain before the World War 1, that they were entrepreneurs, soldiers, tradesmen, and even respected members of society? It’s a missed opportunity that these stories aren’t more widely shared in our curriculum. Black people’s contributions to the UK go back hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Yet, this rich history is often reduced to a single narrative of oppression and struggle.

Discovering this hidden history has had a profound impact on the students involved in the Mapping Black London project offering a deeper sense of belonging. The project has allowed students and researchers to trace the footsteps of these historical Black Londoners and reconnect with the city’s true, diverse history.

That’s why I’m excited to announce that we’ve secured funding to bring the story of Charles Ignatius Sancho and other Black Britons from the 17th century to a wider audience. These stories need to be told—not just during Black History Month but throughout the year.

So, is Black History Month outdated? Perhaps it is, in its current form. But that doesn’t mean we should stop celebrating Black history—it means we need to broaden our scope, tell the full story, and integrate these narratives into the fabric of British history itself. Black history is British history, and it’s time we started treating it that way.

Stay tuned—there’s so much more to come.