We recognise the importance of Windrush Day on Saturday 22 June. The day marks the 76th anniversary of the arrival of the Empire Windrush at Tilbury Docks in 1948 with many Caribbean passengers onboard and acknowledges the sacrifices and contributions both the Windrush generation and their descendants have made to British Society.
Westminster colleagues and students get free tickets to the British Library's Beyond the Bassline exhibition
We have joined up with The British Library to create the Beyond the Bassline exhibition. Running until 26 August 2024, it documents the 500-year musical journey of African and Caribbean people in Britain.
Curated by Dr Aleema Gray at The British Library in collaboration with Mykaell Riley, Reader, Director for the Black Music Research Unit (BMRU) and Principal Investigator for Bass Culture Research at Westminster, Beyond the Bassline follows a three-year partnership to research, foreground and reposition six centuries of African musical contributions to the UK.
(Event) Black History Year: Racism in the Beautiful Game, Thursday 27 June
As part of our Black History Year event programme, we'd like to welcome you to join us for Racism in the Beautiful Game.
At this event, we’ll be joined by Marcus Gayle and Kadeem Simmonds to talk about racism in football. Marcus is a former professional footballer and current Club Ambassador at Premiere League club Brentford FC and Kadeem is a sports journalist who was the first Black person to be Sports Editor of a daily national newspaper.
In conversation, they’ll offer us their unique perspectives on how racism has affected ‘the beautiful game’ and what work football’s clubs and its organisational structures are doing, and should be doing, to combat racism in the present.
Further information and resources
About Black History Year
Our Black History Year (BHY) showcases our commitment to Black lived and living experiences by reflecting the richness of our University – past and present. BHY is a product of the BME Colleague Network.
It's a celebration of Black history, stories, lives, politics, creativity, and achievement. And it is a chance to learn from, and share space with, amazing Black historians, musicians, executives, writers, artists, thinkers, academics and our own alumni.
To this end, we seek to educate, enlighten, inspire and create community – in our organisation and beyond.
Our events programme
The Black History Year steering group curates cultural content and the Black History Year webpages are a place for sharing stories of our colleagues, students and alumni as well as a link to media news, podcasts and programmes that highlight Black voices in arts, culture, politics, social discourse and more.
If you wish to suggest any event ideas, new stories or articles, we would love to hear from you. Please email us at [email protected].
To find out about other events and news, please visit the Black History Year webpage.
Black History Year Create, a decolonised student-focused initiative
The Black History Year (BHY) initiative has allowed us to run many events with prestigious speakers to share their knowledge and insight on topics such as industry-specific resilience, creativity and wellbeing.
Whilst the BHY event programme has sparked inspiration and has opened up new routes of collaboration with an extremely connected online community, BHY colleagues wanted to create an initiative specifically for Black students to address disparities in this population. Rather than a one-off event, they wanted a longer-term grassroots initiative to be able to measure cognitive distance travelled, offer support, and create journeys for these students.
What was born from this is a six-month, intensive career-defining programme called ‘Black History Year Create’.
The aim of the programme is to engage with and provide opportunities for Black undergraduate students across the University, focusing on three tenets: building confidence, visibility and individuality as they prepare to transition out of Westminster and into the world of work or further study. This initiative is led with a decolonised approach, taking into account tokenism, microaggressions and systemic racism.
For more information, contact [email protected]
Black History Year Beyond Books is an initiative to explore identity through media
The BHY Beyond Books initiative was launched in April 2023 to provide a space for colleagues, students and the public to critically review representations of Blackness in the media using discussions and performative dialogue.
The series continues with book and film reviews and is an opportunity to delve deeper into the contributions of Black people to society by exploring the nuances of contemporary Black culture through art and literature. For more information, contact [email protected].
Black History Year Researchers Network, an initiative to support Black researchers at the University
The BHY Researchers Network was launched in June 2023 to support Black researchers with research skills development.
Research (UKRI 2020-2021, HESA 2020-2021) shows that, overwhelmingly, Black and racially minoritised researchers are less likely to be Principal Investigators, Fellows or Co-Investigators. Similarly, they are less likely to obtain grants, even when calls are firmly centred on their areas of expertise.
To address these issues, BHY, with support from the Research Development Team, is holding a series of events to support Black researchers with the knowledge and skills they need to compete for grants, publish quality papers and deliver impact. To join the BHY Researchers Network or for more information, contact [email protected].
Black Lives Matter Commitment Plan
Our Black Lives Matter Commitment Plan 2024 is coming soon. Look out for this on the colleague intranet and Student Hub news in late June. University of Westminster Black Lives Matter Commitment Plan 2023.
Read more about Equality, Diversity and Inclusion at Westminster.
