STUDENTS staff and parents at Downend and Mangotsfield schools held events to mark this year’s Black History Month.
At Downend School the theme of the events during October was ‘Celebrating Black Creativity’, with organisers asking people to share a picture and write about creations from books and paintings to music.
Among the works celebrated were Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Color Purple, and Paul Roberson’s performance of spiritual song Deep River.
Exhibitors were encouraged to include advice on how to learn more about the works, and music from vinyl records was played in the background.
Talal Khan, who is part of the school’s inclusion team, said: “Many black creatives have used different forms of creative expression to tell stories of identity.
“Their creativity is a great way to broaden our understanding of black identity. I wanted us as a school to come together and share the different forms of creativity that have inspired our understanding of black history, so that we can collectively learn from one another.”
Visitors to the exhibition included a mixture of students, staff and parents.
At Mangotsfield School an event was held jointly celebrating race equality and the International Day of Older People.
The evening event started with a presentation from South Gloucestershire Race Equality Network (SGREN), followed by Caribbean food, music from Nai Bimkudwa and a high-energy drumming session led by Zote Collective.
A highlight was the sharing of stories from the Bristol Bus Boycott by people who were involved in the ground-breaking protest in 1963 against a ban on employing non-white employees by the Bristol Omnibus Company.
Joyce Morris-Wisdom and Vernon Samuels shared their experience of their involvement in the campaign that helped bring about a law against racial discrimination.
Year 11 pupil Jasmine Ankahsaid she was “lucky” to attend the evening, adding: “It was an amazing experience and we thank SGREN immensely.”
Other activities across the school during a week of events included an interactive quiz treasure hunt based on key figures from black history, a ‘carnival faces’ glitter event and shared reading of traditional African folk tales.
Trees within the school were wrapped in the green, yellow, black and red colours of the Black History Month flag, and students worked with canteen staff to help design a menu for the last week before half term that celebrated the school’s diversity, while some Year 11 music students played DJ sets during lunch time in the canteen.
Mangotsfield School has 26 languages spoken within its community or pupils, staff and parents and celebrates a different one each term by encouraging students to learn some basics.
Last term’s language was Yoruba, from West Africa. This term the school celebrates the language of Mal, from South East Asia.