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This was the intriguing title for a workshop facilitated by the Institute of Commonwealth Studies. Certainly the title was intriguing enough to entice all three members of the Historycal Roots team to the University of London recently.

The advertised presence of David Olusoga as the keynote speaker was undoubtedly part of the attraction. If there is such a thing as a ‘celebrity historian’ (and we think there is) then David is almost certainly one of them. Unfortunately, thanks to the vagaries of the British transport system, he was unable to make it – a big disappointment.

To their credit, the organisers improvised a session with several of the authors who were present on the issues involved in getting a history book published. Whilst not fully compensating for David Olusoga’s absence it was nevertheless a worthwhile session.

Jyota Mheta from the BBC gave some interesting behind the scenes background to the making of ‘Black and British: Forgotten History’. He described it as ‘a landmark series’ and it’s difficult to disagree. All four episodes are still available on YouTube and they definitely repay repeated viewing. Episode 1 is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQYsewXjNlU

Another attraction of the day was the session on ‘What do young people see happening in Black British History?’ with students from the BRIT school in Croydon. The BRIT school is best known for alumni such as Adele and not somewhere you might normally associate with the study of history so it was interesting to hear the students’ enthusiastic discussion of a range of historical topics – very refreshing.

The youngsters were followed by three authors talking about their work. The most accessible was probably Miranda Kaufman who spoke about her book ‘Black Tudors – The Untold Story’. According to the blurb this ‘reveals the absorbing stories of some of the Africans who lived free in Tudor England’, Miranda did a good job of living up to the hype.

An interesting Christmas present for someone perhaps?

The ticket price included a drinks reception in the University’s Senate House which was an undeniably pleasant way to round off an interesting day.

At Historycal Roots we like to think of ourselves as ‘championing’ the work of Chineke! Who or what is (are?) Chineke! you may very well ask?

Anyone who attends concerts of so called ‘classical’ music will know that the orchestras are invariably, almost exclusively, made up of White musicians. A Black face on stage is a rarity. Audiences generally tend to reflect this. Even at the popular BBC Prom concerts the number of BME (Black and Minority Ethnic) faces in the audience can usually be counted on the fingers of both hands (sometimes only one hand might be needed).

Chineke! is an orchestra made up almost entirely of BME players. We have been to three of their concerts; twice at the Royal Festival Hall on London’s South Bank and once at the Royal Albert Hall when they appeared during this year’s Proms programme. We were sorry that their concert at Birmingham’s Symphony Hall didn’t coincide with one of our visits to that city – especially as they performed a piece by our beloved Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.

What is very noticeable about a Chineke! concert is that, as well as the very different appearance of the orchestra, the audience is also predominantly BME and, incidentally, much younger than usual for a classical concert.

This was so noticeable that we felt moved to write to ‘Gramophone’ magazine. Our letter obviously stuck a chord as it was chosen as ‘Letter of the Month’.

Do keep an eye open for any Chineke! concerts in your area, even if you aren’t particularly ‘into’ classical music the Chineke! experience may surprise you.

Generally at Historycal Roots we aim to bring forgotten Black history to light, last night it felt a little bit more like we were involved in making it. That is probably an exaggeration but attending ‘Prelude – Voices Of Black Opera’ did feel a bit like history in the making.

Our involvement with VOBO came about by accident when it turned out that our neighbour from only three doors away is the leading light in The Black British Classical Foundation (this is London where actually speaking to your neighbours is a bit of a rarity!). We were pleased to play a (very) small part in helping Vincent Osborne with the organisation of the concert at the prestigious St John’s, Smith Square.

The concert featured arias and duets from a number of well known operas by the likes of Verdi and Puccini and closed with several negro spirituals. One of the encore pieces (I regret I didn’t catch what it was) was really, spine tingly beautiful. Anyone who likes opera would have loved this event, the singing was magnificent throughout.

You can find out more about Vincent’s work at https://www.bbcf.uk

 

One member of the Historycal Roots team attended the book launch for ‘City of Wooden Houses: Georgetown Guyana’. This really is a handsome book, written by Guyanese born, London based architect Compton Davis. The book started out as part of the author’s final year dissertation but has, over a period of 30+ years, become something of a passion.

The photographs in the lavishly illustrated book, all taken by Davis himself, are stunning and they capture the rapidly disappearing wooden architecture of Georgetown, capital of Guyana. Many of the buildings pictured have disappeared since the project started in 1983, swept away by modernisation or simply neglected, falling into disrepair and rotting away in the tropical climate.

The book is available from Amazon, the price is steep at £40 but it would grace any coffee table and the written content is considerably more interesting than many of the books you might browse while sipping a cappuccino.

The event was graced by the company of Guyanese born poet John Agar and his wife and fellow Guyanese poet, Grace Nicholls. Both read poems that resonated particularly well with the mood of the evening. I managed to get a photo of John, if he looks a little startled it may be because I haven’t quite mastered the knack of approaching strangers without appearing like a deranged stalker.

A little off Historycal Roots’ normal track but a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

We don’t really offer a research consultancy service but it’s difficult to resist a challenge!

We were recently able to help someone who contacted us about his father who he believed might have served in World War One. We were able to track the soldier down to the British West Indies Regiment and shared some information about the role that Regiment played in the war (troops from the BWIR served principally in Egypt and Palestine but also in Mesopotamia, Africa and France).

We received a lovely ‘thank you’ card from the gentleman’s wife.

She wrote that: ‘he was not aware of anything about his father, all he knew was that he went to war with the British West Indies Regiment, you can imagine how happy he is to be able to tell his sons, grand children and great grands about his father. He is now trying to get a photo of him in his uniform. Please continue the good work. God bless you.’ A note like that makes the work worthwhile.

This is fairly typical example of the ‘hidden history’ of Black soldiers’ service in the ‘Great War’. We will shortly be publishing a book about three brothers who enlisted from British Guiana (as it was then) and who served in Egypt. The family have unearthed a couple of very interesting photos – it’s amazing what you can find in attics!

On Sunday, while one member of the Historycal Roots team dragged himself onto a flight to Barbados for another research trip touring the island’s cemeteries, the remaining two thirds of the team traveled to Birmingham for the final event of the ‘They Also Served’ project. What a great event it was!

There were passionate speakers (Rev Rose Hudson-Wilkin was particularly forthright in some of her comments), beautiful gospel choirs, dancing, poetry and so much more. The event was hosted by the New Testament Church of God in Handsworth, an impressive building that was, if not quite full, certainly not far off it. Our hosts made everyone feel very welcome.

We were especially keen to hear Dr Angelina Osborne speaking about the historical research that she had led on behalf of the project.

Unfortunately there was so much to pack into the evening that she had to cut her comments a little short – there was so much more to be said. We had helped Angelina with some of her research and it was a surprise and  a real pleasure to see our names among the acknowledgements.

It was a long way to go and a late return to South London but well worth it.

Visit: www.theyalsoserved.co.uk to find out more about the project’s work.

A happy customer at today’s London Radical Book Fair, hosted by Goldsmiths College, University of London:

Tears were shed today in Windrush Square, Brixton, at the ceremony to unveil a memorial to honour black soldiers who fought for Britain in the First and Second World Wars. From where I was standing I could see quite a lot of discreet eye dabbing going on, when I wasn’t busy dabbing my own.

I suspect the main emotion on display was pride. Pride that the huge contribution of black servicemen and women was finally being honoured. It was also certainly an occasion that made me proud to be a Londoner and just being there to witness the coming together of communities in a spirit of love and harmony was a truly uplifting experience.  As long as we stick together, Londoners will never bow to those who mindlessly attack us.

As one of the presenters said near the end ‘only in Brixton could you see the pomp and circumstance of a military marching band / masquerade mash up’. It summed up the whole quirky event in a nutshell.

I hadn’t realised quite how high profile this was going to be, big name speakers included: Sadiq Khan (Mayor of London); Michael Fallon (Defence Secretary); and Lord Herman Ouseley. Rousing though many of the speeches were (even Michael Fallon spoke powerfully and with conviction), it was ‘lesser lights’ who stole the show: the children from a local primary school who sung their hearts out at the end (a memorable day for them as well as for their audience); the singers of the Pegasus Opera company; the drummers and dancers from Gahu Dramatic Arts. And let’s not forget the 100 doves of peace released at the end (we were there to commemorate those who gave their lives in wars that were not of their making), who did a quick formation flight over Windrush Square before being lost among the local pigeon population (a flying, flapping metaphor for integration if ever I saw one!).

Historycal Roots took lots of photos and even tried to film the doves (to no avail, have you ever tried filming birds in flight on an i-phone?!) but will go back for a proper photo of the memorial when it’s a bit less crowded!

A very good afternoon and congratulations to everyone involved in making it happen.

The event featured on local BBC news. With apologies for the picture and sound quality (our daughter filmed the TV screen) you can see the item by clicking here (the cameraman [or woman] succeeded in filming the doves where I failed): ATT00002

It was a real pleasure to bump into Samantha Williams and her pop up multicultural book shop and library at our local ‘big lunch’ street party. She had a really good selection of books on display. Samantha seems to have very similar objectives to Historycal Roots and we look forward to having a longer chat with her in the not too distant future. Why not check her out? You can contact her at: @thisisbooklove on Instagram or Twitter.

        

At historycal Roots we are working on a project to do with pioneering black footballers. We recently visited the offices of Kick it Out for a meeting with Mark Jamieson, Media and Communication Manager, to tell him about our project and to enlist Kick it Out’s support. Mark was very helpful, made some useful suggestions and, since the meeting, has provided us with a number of useful contacts.  This is a big project which we are planning to bring to fruition in the summer of 2018 – watch this space!