Start The Week

The first event marking Black History Month UK took place thirty five years ago, and the re-claiming and documenting of Black British and International History has since evolved into a national movement. But how much has changed in those three decades? The historian Miranda Kaufmann has spent years uncovering evidence of Africans in Renaissance Britain. Her first book Black Tudors: The Untold Story was published five years ago and has since become a free online course. The British Nigerian poet Yomi Ṣode interweaves his native Yoruba with English slang in his debut collection Manorism. He explores what it means to grow up black in Britain and the pressure to be constantly adapting his behaviour and language. But he also shows the past works in mysterious ways by finding inspiration in the life of the 17th century Italian painter, Caravaggio. The curator Christine Checinska explores how fashion has formed a key part of Africa’s cultural renaissance in a ground-breaking exhibition at the V&A. Africa Fashion