As we enter October, we are reminded that all over the world people are making a special effort to focus on the historical experience of black people. There are voices that question the need to focus on the history of one section of the global community, but this is missing the point, as human history is black history. 

The earliest fossil records of Homo Sapiens, the species of human that colonised and dominated the world over the last 200,000 years have been found in Ethiopia. All modern human beings are descendants of these people. This can challenge many pre-existing concepts of ancestors. The oldest complete human skeleton found in Britain, Cheddar Man, dates back 10,000 years ago. This Mesolithic hunter-gatherer has had his DNA analysed to provide us with the ability to reconstruct his skin pigment, hair, and eye colour. Cheddar Man was black, giving us a striking visual link to the original human colonists, who would have moved into Europe 30,000 years earlier. This shared heritage means the story of any racial group is the story of our own and this becomes even more relevant as in the last 600 years, once isolated global communities became increasingly interconnected through the developments of trade, empire, and communications. None of the national, racial, or religious groups that humanity has created over the centuries have existed in total isolation and many groups’ stories have been influenced and dominated by others.

This is why Black History Month is so important. History is a human creation and as such, is as flawed as the people who created it. Choices have been made to neglect and forget elements of our human story. Frequently the experience of black people has been amongst these aspects of the past that have been forgotten. Black History Month gives us the opportunity to rectify this. We can find out about important but forgotten historical figures such as Marcus Aurelius Antoninus "Elagabalus" (an African Roman emperor), Joseph Bologne (a composer, musician, professional horseman and specialist swordsman in pre-revolutionary France) or Katherine Johnson (an American mathematician whose calculations of orbital mechanics as a NASA employee were critical to the success of the first space flights). It is hard to believe that the richest person in History, the medieval West African Emperor Mansa Musa, is a figure unknown to many people. This is the result of sections of our historical story being overlooked.

More worryingly, there have been periods in the past when the historical record has been deliberately subverted or destroyed. False narratives about ‘the lost cause’ of the Confederate States of America, or the ‘benign and civilising’ nature of European empires, have left the harm done to colossal numbers of people hidden from the collective memory. Heroes of the past can also be responsible for terrible crimes. Wealth and power can result from exploitation as well as invention and enterprise. Such false narratives need to be exposed and the truth of the past, no matter how uncomfortable, shared with the people who live in countries that have benefited from past injustices. The wealth of our own nation, from which we benefit today, is directly linked to the Caribbean, India, and Africa.

Black History is everywhere because it is our history. Some people do not want to remember the full story, and this makes it even more important that we do remember it. The writer Caryl Phillips wrote to his nephew in 2011, to advise him on his GCSE options. The nephew was unsure of whether he should study GCSE History or not. Phillips had witnessed the historic fall of the Twin Towers and urged his nephew that in a world where such things could be done by one group of people to another, an understanding of the past was vital. He wrote 'remember History is not a dull subject which involves merely memorising dates and remembering the names of dead Kings and Queens. It is a vital, contested narrative, peopled with witnesses to events which touch both head and heart. It is the most important school subject because not remembering is indeed the beginning of madness, both individually and collectively.'
To avoid the risk of collective madness and to find stories that will hopefully touch both head and heart, I urge you all to expand your knowledge of Black History this October.

Mr Stoten