One of the UK’s most successful children’s authors has called for Black history to be taught in schools.
Malorie Blackman, who is best known for Noughts and Crosses which was turned into a BBC drama, said that history lessons should tell “the whole truth” about Britain's role in slavery.
The esteemed writer says that adding Black history to the curriculum could stop people from being accused of “race-baiting” when calling out racism, she told BBC News.
Currently in England, teaching Black history is optional however, in Wales, schools are now including “diverse experiences of people belonging to ethnic minorities."
Speaking to BBC News she said: “For some people, they don't want anything taught that makes them uncomfortable,
"If you're talking about the history of Britain, then that history includes black people and people of colour.
"My [ancestors'] history did not start with slavery. Black people have been in this country since Roman times, if not before."
The former children’s laureate called on schools to embrace “ full history” in order to “get past this nonsense of people saying you should go back to where you came from.”
Majorie joins TV legend Lenny Henry who also wants Black history to become a mandatory part of the curriculum.
The actor and comedian, 64, says it is time to “acknowledge that Black history is part of almost every part of British history”.
Speaking to the Mirror he said: “Black history needs to be part of the national curriculum – if it isn’t, we get a distorted, inaccurate picture of Britain’s past."
The Daily Mirror campaign has also launched a campaign calling for the teaching of Black history to be made compulsory in our schools.
Black men and women have lived in Britain for centuries and notable people include a trumpeter in Henry VII’s court, a seaman in the Battle of Trafalgar and soldiers fighting for King and country in both world wars.
However, only a few people know the stories of Black Britons who shaped Britain’s history – such as 18th-century composer Ignatius Sancho, Victorian nurse Mary Seacole or the pioneering scientist who taught Charles Darwin, John Edmonstone – because Black history is rarely taught in our schools.
In 2013, then-education secretary Michael Gove removed Britain’s history of colonialism and slavery from the national curriculum’s compulsory section, effectively making teaching Black history optional.
The Mirror and sister titles across Reach, including the Liverpool Echo, My London and many more, are linking together to create blackhistoryisourhistory.com, a website featuring more than 100 stories about Black history – and Black future.
The Daily Mirror has also launched a petition calling on the Government to make Black history mandatory across all schools in the UK from ages eight to 16.
Sam Jones, founder of the Be Bold History organisation which provides training for history teachers, also backed our campaign.
He said: “Teaching black history is important, in the same way that teaching the history of India or other parts of the Empire are important, because the students that I teach need to be able to see themselves in history, otherwise it’s just the history of boring white men.
“If they can’t see themselves in history it’s not interesting to them first and foremost. And secondly, they can’t see their place in modern Britain and therefore they think modern Britain is not a place where they are welcome.
“On the contrary, modern Britain is a place where Black people and people of all backgrounds have been welcomed for millennia, so we need to tell that story.
“I support this campaign, firstly because I think it should be taught everywhere and it’s not yet. Secondly because by making it compulsory, like what happened when teaching of the Holocaust was made compulsory, funding will be made available to help train teachers and provide lesson resources.”
