30 Years: Black History Month
24th October 2017 In Exploring History This month sees the celebration of the 30th year of Black History Month (http://www.blackhistorymonth.org.uk/section/news-views/). This blog post aims at celebrating the contribution that black people have made to British history and the fact that this is finally beginning to filter into mainstream British historical contexts. The Blue Plaque scheme The Blue Plaque scheme, now run by English Heritage, began 150 years ago with the first plaque erected to commemorate the poet Lord Byron at his birthplace, 24 Holles Street in 1867. There are now more than 900 plaques across London and the type of people celebrated continues to be expanded. English Heritage has recently “recognise[d] the need to increase the racial diversity of the [Blue Plaque] scheme in order to properly reflect London’s cosmopolitan and culturally vibrant history” (http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/blue-plaques/themes/londons-black-history/). Currentl...