Black History Month
Welcome to Lambeth Black History month 2008. Hopefully we've managed to pull together another great programme.
Books of course feature highly in Lambeth's Black History Month celebrations and we have appearances by Levi Roots and Verna Wilkins. Film is big on the programme this year with a showing of the classic Jimmy Cliff film - 'The Harder they Come' and new work from Germany in 'More than Skin Deep'. Mixed in with this is Carnival and writing workshops, Black History walks, evenings of culture and poetry - hopefully something for everyone.
The young peoples programme is brimming with events, storytelling and drums, puppetry, dance, authors, debate and, new this year, Family Black history classes.
The full brochure with details of all events is available. To book tickets please call 020 7926 1075 or email blackhistorymonth@lambeth.gov.uk.
To avoid disappointment please book for all events.
Black History Month Design Competition
Design a costume for an African king or queen. The design could be traditional or contemporary.
Ages 6 -8 years, 9 - 11 years, 12 years and over.
Three prizes will be allocated to each age group:
First prize: digital camera, second and third prize: gift vouchers
Please return your completed entry to any Lambeth Library before 31 October 2008. Competition rules are available for you to download.
Black History Courses
This year we're really pleased to be running a number of courses with funding from Lambeth Adult Learning.
Creative Writing and The Fighting Spirit with Ayshah Johnston
Ayshah Johnston, novelist and Caribbean historian, will lead creative writing workshops around themes of war, resistance and personal conflict. Feel free to bring photographs, as the course will also examine archive photographs and articles to stimulate discussion and help kick-start the creative flow.
Workshops will run for 5 sessions with a presentation/performance at the end of BHM.
Starting Monday 6 October
Ending Monday 10 November
Times: 6.30pm – 8.30pm
Location: Waterloo Library
Freedom Trails Black History Course with Historian S I Martin
Join local historian and writer, S I Martin, on a guided walk around North Lambeth and Clapham, looking at the area’s extraordinary links from the slave trade and to the abolition campaign to the visit of Cetawayo the King of the Zulus or CLR James residence. Visit the sites of houses that belonged to famous black residents and discover the extraordinary story of the African Academy, home to schoolboys from Sierra Leone and Jamaica from 1802.
S I Martin's walks and maps are also available as downloads.
Enrol on this course, which is an absolute highlight of the month, and connect with Lambeth Black history. Start at Durning Library for the North Lambeth Black history walk, and continue on subsequent weeks at Clapham Library for the Clapham and the Abolition walk and final workshop to draw together the history that surrounds us.
There are limited places so please be sure to book early.
Saturday 4 October Durning Library
Saturday 18 October Clapham Library
Saturday 25 October Clapham Library
Start time for each week 11am
Black History Course for families – Jump up and Wave!
Jump up and wave! A riot of colour: an Art and Drama workshop on the history of the London Carnival. Learn the history behind the Notting Hill carnival as you and your family create your own masquerade band.
Calling all Grandparents, Parents, Daughters, Sons, Cousins, Aunts and Uncles – don’t miss this fantastic opportunity to learn and enjoy the spirit of Carnival!
Monday 27 October
Tuesday 28 October
Wednesday 29 October
Time: 2 – 4pm
Location: Carnegie Library
To register for a place on all courses contact Marie Ayoola on 020 7926 1075.
Visit our events calendar to find out about the launch of Black History Month.
Do you remember Olive Morris?
Did you know Olive Morris? Lambeth Council has one of its main buildings named after her and yet Google finds little or no information on her. Can you help? Do you know more than Google?
Although the Internet delivers very little information, Olive was a key figure in Lambeth's local history. She worked with the Black Panther movement; set up Brixton Black Women's Centre, was a founder member of The Organisation of Women of African and Asian Descent (OWAAD) and was central to the squatter campaigns of the 1970s. She died tragically young in 1979 at age 26.
Award winning researcher and artist, Ana Laura Lopez de la Torre, has linked up with Lambeth Archives to correct the Internet knowledge gap by creating a living archive of recollections on Olive Morris.
Go to the Remembering Olive Morris Weblog to contribute your own knowledge of Olive Morris.