How will these resources help you?

Because of how most of us were taught British history at school, most people are unaware that there were Africans in Britain before the ‘English’ arrived. In fact, our school education might lead us to believe that the first generation of Africans to settle in Britain did so in the 20th century but examples of African settlers can be found throughout British history. For example, Ancient Rome is typically seen as an empire of white Europeans but it was always multicultural, and North-African and Middle-Eastern people certainly came to live in Roman Britain.

As you will see, the difficulty of teaching this topic, even for those with the intention to incorporate Black British history into their curriculum, is the lack of titles devoted exclusively to Afro-Romans. However, emerging evidence has meant that interpretations of the past are now regularly being challenged, with more and more resources coming to market. This is an opportunity for you and your classes to piece together the information available to create your own richer curriculum. Black History is part of British History and we must aim to teach our young people a history of Britain that is rounded and accurate.