On Monday 1st February, we were privileged to host award-winning writer, historian and broadcaster, David Olusoga for our first online Minerva Lecture. Over 4,500 Bromley High School pupils, parents, alumnae and other members across the GDST community registered to hear Mr Olusoga’s talk, Black & British.
We were given an extremely interesting overview of Black British History from the time of the Romans right up to the present day. Mr Olusoga gave numerous examples to help to illustrate his argument about how Black people are a part of British History (both in terms of Britain itself but also its Empire and Commonwealth). He stressed that although there were still gaps in the historical record, there was plenty of evidence of Black people in British History but that people were just not always very good at seeing them. Such examples can be found from the Tudors and Stuarts to the coats of arms used by the football teams of Manchester United and Manchester City. He hypothesised that some aspects of Black British History have made people uncomfortable, which is why more time has not been dedicated towards it, both in terms of the scholarship and the school curriculum. David ended by saying that there was probably still much more to discover and that is what made History so exciting, when it was still developing and being encountered.
There were numerous poignant questions from the audience (such as the practicalities of including more Black History in the school curriculum and how justice might be found now for the victims of slavery) as well as ones about what it was like to work with the BBC and should we have a bank holiday like MLK day in America.
“A huge thank you to Mr Olusoga for his thoroughly thought-provoking, talk which encouraged all of us to think more carefully about what we see when examining History.”Ms Charlie Nicholls, Head of Classics Department & Head of Minerva Lecture Series
Bromley High School’s Minerva Lectures are a series of high quality lectures delivered by outside speakers to broaden student horizons and provoke thought and discussion. Speakers are often academics, scientists, experts in various fields.
Our next Minerva Lecture will be ‘Mental Health: A Whistle Stop Tour’ by Rachel Knight on Friday 5th February.
Watch the Minerva Lecture now: