Black history lessons should be taught in all schools, campaigners demand

Campaigners are urging the government to make the teaching of black history compulsory in primary and secondary schools in the wake of recent Black Lives Matter protests.

The Black Curriculum group has written to education secretary Gavin Williamson and asked him to review the national curriculum with a view to making the lessons mandatory.

"We feel that it's vital for young black people and young black students in Britain to see themselves reflected in a curriculum where they're being shown in a positive light, in a capacity other than slavery," said spokesperson Eleshea Williams.

"We feel that this would be great for their sense of identity, their sense of belonging, but also the way that they interact with their white classmates and the way that their white classmates can interact with them."

Protesters in Bristol on Sunday toppled a statue of 17th century slave trader Edward Colston, while in Oxford this week there have been renewed calls for a statue of controversial 19th century colonialist Cecil Rhodes to be removed from Oriel College.

Campaigners have described Rhodes as "the founding father of apartheid in southern Africa".

"I'm not amazed that people of colour and BAME history are omitted from the British curriculum," said Laura Stewart, an Oxford University postgraduate student who helped organise the "Rhodes Must Fall" protests.

"What's more important is that people who are not black need to be amazed and somewhat concerned because there's a breadth of information that is essentially being kept from you."

Part of the letter to Mr Williamson reads: "Learning black history should not be a choice but should be mandatory.

"Our curriculum should not be reinforcing the message that a sizeable part of the British population are not valued."

In a statement, a Department of Education spokesperson said: "Racism in all its forms is abhorrent and has no place in our society.

"Schools already play a significant role in teaching children about the importance of having respect and tolerance for all cultures.

"Black history is an important topic which schools can teach to children of all ages as part of the history curriculum.

"Schools can utilise resources from a range of organisations and sources to support teaching Black history."

The campaigners have demanded a face-to-face meeting with the education secretary and say they want a response by 22 June, which is Windrush Day.

The Windrush scandal saw hundreds of Caribbean immigrants living and working in the UK wrongly targeted by immigration enforcement.

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It came as a result of the government's "hostile environment" policies spearheaded by Theresa May when she was home secretary.

A furious backlash broke out over the treatment of members of the Windrush generation, named after a ship that brought migrants to the UK from the Caribbean in 1948.

Commonwealth citizens who arrived before 1973 were automatically granted indefinite leave to remain.

However, many of them were not issued with any documents confirming their status, which then led to many long-term UK residents being denied access to services, held in detention or removed despite living legally in the country for decades.

Race and Revolution: Is Change Going to Come?

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