Schools, Departments and Professional Services across Royal Holloway are preparing a range of events and activities to celebrate Black History Month this year. Below you can get a glimpse of the range of activities planned, with more to come. We will add to this list with more information (including dates) as the month progresses.
Please contact equality@royalholloway.ac.uk if you would like to add any events or activities to this list.
An Audience with Baroness Doreen Lawrence
Staff and students are invited to join the Royal Holloway Black and Global Majority Staff Network as we chat with anti-racism campaigner, education advocate and Labour Peer Baroness Doreen Lawrence OBE. We’ll discuss her thoughts on racism, talk about her charity The Stephen Lawrence Day Foundation, and explore her hopes for the future. Guests will also have the opportunity to ask questions.
Thursday 21 October 2021, 1-2pm
The event will be hosted on MS Teams.
To join An Audience with Baroness Doreen Lawrence please click here.
Multifaith Chaplaincy
We are delighted to invite you to our Chaplaincy Lecture: ‘God is not a White Man’ by Chine McDonald at 6.15pm on Wednesday 13 October.
"What does it mean when God is presented as male? What does it mean when — from our internal assumptions to our shared cultural imaginings — God is presented as white?" Chine McDonald addresses these questions in our annual Chaplaincy Lecture, based on her recent book. Chine is Head of Community Fundraising & Public Engagement at Christian Aid.
All are welcome. For more details and to book your free ticket, please visit Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/165917314153
Reading groups within EPMS will come together to run a joint reading group session. Tuesday 19 October 4-5.30pm (online) Contact: lizzie.coles-kemp@royalholloway.ac.uk
The School of Perming and Digital Arts is organising a range of activities throughout the month of October. These include
- A weekly Readalong of David Harewood's new Memoir, Maybe I Don't Belong Here on the following Thursdays, lunchtime:
Thursday Oct 7, 1 - 2pm
Thursday Oct 14, 1 - 2pm
Thursday Oct 21, 12 - 1pm (held just before Doreen Lawrence event - see below)
Thursday Oct 28, 1 - 2pm
Contact shzree.tan@royalholloway.ac.uk if you are interested in volunteering as a reader for these events. The David Harewood readalong sessions will be held via Teams (link embedded), but there is a possibility of David Harewood himself appearing in person in Egham on one of the days - watch this space as things develop!
The School of Humanities will be collaborating with the School of Performing and Digital Arts on a series of events to celebrate the work of our Black writers in the English department (staff and students) and other events focused on reframing history.
The Library has a Twitter thread on Sarah Parker Remond, abolitionist, women's rights campaigner and public speaker. You can access this on the Library Twitter Account. Colleagues in the Library will also be promoting the recording "An Abolitionist Abroad": Sarah Parker Remond, which draws on research and material held within the Royal Holloway and Bedford College archives to tell the story of her remarkeable life. The Library will also be promoting the following reading lists, which have been compiled from recommendations from staff and students at Royal Holloway, and include a mix of histories, biuographies, fiction and poetry to explore: Black History Month reading list and the Black Lives Matter: Race Equality and Intersecrtionality reading list.
You can access a Black Literature Timeline developed for the British Library by Social Work student Gaverne Bennett. This literary timeline explores the history of Black literature and writing in Britain through around 50 texts. It includes works by writers living and working in Britain, as well as titles first published here and authored by people who were born in former British colonies in Africa, the Caribbean and Americas.This is part of a wider project in the School of Law and Social Sciences to address race inequality.
If your School, Department or Professional Service is organising an event for Black History Month 2021 please email equality@royalholloway.ac.uk if you would like us to include information on this this page.