#TBH365
Teach Black History 365 / To Be Honest 365 is a campaign we’ve been running since our launch in 2019. It aims to ensure that Black history is embedded in the national curriculum.
A history
In December 2019, we gained a meeting with senior leadership from the Curriculum Team within the DfE as part of our campaign (see photo), to galvanise some much needed support and discuss how to embed Black history in the national curriculum. They directed us to speak with the Secretary of State for Education.
Half a year later, in June 2020 after a 22 day long campaign that was targeted at Gavin Williamson, we received two letters from the Secretary of State for School Standards, Nick Gibb - outlining that he acknowledges our work as the root of tackling racism but failed to outline the next steps to embed Black history.
So why TBH365?
Being excluded from the national curriculum and relegated to Black history month, sends the message that Black people are not valued, their contributions to Britain are irrelevant, and their stories (outside of slavery and Windrush) are not important. This impacts ALL students and results in:
- a lack of understanding about the communities around them and a sense of belonging
- an impaired sense of identity and low self esteem
- a distorted view of history
The Black Curriculum wants to see Black British histories being taught from reception through to A Levels across the entire national curriculum, in a mandatory way, especially via narratives that do not centre slavery. Learning Black history should not be a choice, but a fact of education.We aim to improve a sense of identity in every young person in the UK through an education that adequately represents the full picture of British history, including Black people’s contributions to the nation.We also seek to make Black histories mandatory on examination boards so academies, private schools and other educational institutions are obliged to teach it.
But first, we need to be HONEST and confront the problem face on - a Eurocentric curriculum is limiting and does not reflect the multi-ethnic country we live in.
So this is why we are campaigning to #TeachBlackHistory365 and deciding #ToBeHonest365.
Our mission does not stop there, which is why we need your ongoing support to make changes in the national curriculum by lobbying ministers!Watch a short clip below of a focus group we ran last year February, (2019) to understand people’s opinions on the way Black British history is and has been taught in schools - calling for some much needed changes!