Black History Month at Teddy Hall
11 Oct 2023
St Edmund Hall is celebrating Black History Month during October 2023.
Black History Month 2023 will be an opportunity to recognise and celebrate the contributions of Black people to society throughout history, including here at Teddy Hall and Oxford University.
Our programme will once again bring together events, resources and initiatives for the general public, staff, students and alumni.
College Events/Initiatives
In Conversation with Jacqui Gitau: Talk and Q&A
Thursday 2 November | 17:30-18:30 | Doctorow Hall, St Edmund Hall
All are welcome to attend – JCR, MCR, SCR, staff and members of the public and university. Booking not required.
Jacqui Gitau is an activist, family support worker and both founder and co-director of AFiUK, an organisation set up to serve the interests of African and other ethnic minority families where the parents were born and educated overseas, while their children have been born in the UK, often creating a clash of cultural identities for all concerned. AFiUK supports a local youth club, homework and tutoring schemes, maternity support groups, and cultural mixing events such as culinary sharing and cross-cultural parenting training. Jacqui holds a first degree in Community Family Development and a Masters degree in Childhood Studies.
The evening will consist of a Q&A between Jacqui and St Edmund Hall’s EDI Fellow, Steve Smith, followed by questions from the audience.
Library Collection celebrating #SalutingOurSisters
This Black History Month, we are helping our readers to take part in ‘Celebrating our Sisters, Saluting our Sisters, and Honouring Matriarchs of Movements’.
Come down to the Library to learn about some of the inspirational Black women in our collection. You can read about, and explore the books of women including…
- Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- Emma Dabiri
- bell hooks
- Audre Lorde
- Maya Angelou
- Bernardine Evaristo
- Zadie Smith
Blind Date with a Book is now open to all students, staff and Fellows!
Tell us a little bit about what you like to read, and request a fiction, non-fiction, or surprise, and you’ll receive a mystery book by a Black female author.
Email library@seh.ox.ac.uk, or speak to James, Emma or Heather in the Library.
Celebrate a Sister Board!
As Black History Month continues we are asking for our readers’ help…
Is there are Black woman whose work you’d like to see (or see more of!) in the Library? Or someone you think people should know more about?
Then grab a post-it and add her name to the Library’s Celebrate a Sister board!
We will then do some research (and some book buying!) to put together a display about the Black women you’d like to see saluted, celebrated, and honoured in the Library.
Suggestions are welcomed from all the Hall community: students, staff and Fellows.
And of course you can always come down to the Library to have a peek at the names up there so far!
Staff Bookshelf for Black History Month
The Library are delighted to announce a new Staff Bookshelf, as part of the Hall’s celebration of Black History Month 2023.
We have purchased a selection of titles from the Black History Month Reading List, specifically for staff to borrow. Books can be borrowed for up to a whole year (!) and you can just sign your name on the sheet, and then return the book either to the Porter’s Lodge or to the Library itself.
Head down to the staff room to see what you might enjoy!
PS. Remember that the Library is for you to borrow from too! You can sign up for a Book Blind Date, have a browse of our huge range of books (it’s not just text books, we promise) and come to James, Emma or Heather with recommendations and requests.
Black History Month Coffee Morning
Friday 27 October | 10:00-11:00 | Old Dining Hall
All are welcome to come together over coffee and cake to chat about and celebrate the achievements of black women who are or have been an inspiration to you. Tea, coffee, and cake will be provided but please bring your own mug.
The Library will have a selection of themed books on offer to borrow and donations are welcomed to our chosen charity Jewins Women2Women.
Black History Month.org
Black History Month Poetry Competition 2023
The Black History Month Poetry Competition is open to all across the UK. To take part, simply submit a poem about a pioneering black woman, explaining why she is an inspiration to you, to poetrycompetition@blackhistorymonth.org.uk by 15 November 2023. More information available here.
Visit the Black History Month website for more resources and news.
Oxford University
University of Oxford Annual Black History Month Lecture
Tuesday 31 October (17:00-18:30)
Event type: Lecture
Hosted by the University, BME Staff Network and Mathematical Institute
Free event – open to all
Hosted by the University, BME Staff Network and Mathematical Institute. Dr Christienna Fryar, writer and independent historian of Britain and the Caribbean, will deliver ‘Ann Pratt, Mary Seacole, and Questioning British History’ – telling the stories of two mixed-race Jamaican women and questioning the fraught relationship between British history and Black British history.
Register now and find out more
St John’s Black History Month Lecture 2023
Thursday 26 October (17:00)
Event Type: Lecture
Hosted by St John’s College, Oxford
Free event – open to all
Professor Hakim Adi with be talking on ‘Defending the History of African and Caribbean People in Britain’
Hakim Adi was the first historian of African heritage to become a professor of history in Britain when he was appointed Professor of the History of Africa and the African Diaspora at the University of Chichester, a position which he held from 2015–23. Professor Adi is also the founder and consultant historian of the Young Historians Project.
Black History Month and Oxford
Visit Oxford’s Black History Month round-up for a full list of events taking place around Oxford.
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