Black History Month recognises and celebrates the legacies, achievements and history of the Black community and the continuing barriers they face.
Across the month, webinars, talks and exhibitions are taking place across the University and Sheffield, with people sharing their stories and experiences.
Events
For our staff and students:
For the public:
For our staff and students
Sheffield Students’ Union events
Throughout Black History Month, the Students’ Union will be celebrating and educating about Black culture and showcasing local Black talent through guest traders, events, and socials.
Black History Month at the Students’ Union
Guest traders
Thursdays throughout October, 11.30am to 4pm at the Plaza.
Every Thursday throughout the month there will be stalls from Black business owners including food vendors Mina's cuisine and Caribbean Q'uisine.
BHM Celebrating our sisters/Matriarchs of Movement - Webinar and Discussion
Wednesday 11 October, 10-11am, Gallery Room 3 at the Students’ Union.
A focus lens on Black women enables an in-depth look at ‘misogynoir’, the intersectional experience of gender and race, whilst also celebrating what has been achieved by them despite the adversity. Additionally, recognising the creation of attitudes, occurrences, and proud moments in history with a focus on Black women helps us to see how far we've come and how far we still need to go.
The Black and Faith experience - Webinar
Tuesday 24 October, 10-11am, View Room 4 at the Students’ Union.
This webinar will explore the intersection of race and faith within the Black community. It will delve into the rich diversity of experiences, perspectives, and challenges faced by Black individuals who belong to various faith traditions. Join us and learn how to cultivate an environment that respects and embraces the intersectionality of race and faith.
Events from the Library
Library Learning and Teaching Services are working in collaboration with Students’ Union Liberation Officer, Tomás Rocha Lawrence and their team of part-time officers to organise student-facing library events and activities to coincide with the liberation priorities of our students. This work has been partially funded by a joint Arts and Humanities Research Council and Research Libraries UK grant and this year we will be running a participatory action research project called the Creative Library (Liberate the Library).
Black History Month Exhibition
Throughout October, Level One of the Information Commons.
The student exhibition space on level one of the Information Commons will host an exhibition of Black History throughout October. This will feature poetry, artwork and curated collections, all representing the lived experiences of Black students. The University’s Race Equality Interns have been invited to make submissions. This will be a living exhibition and students are invited to make submissions throughout the month.
Black History Month Reading Group
Tuesday 10 October, 7-8pm, Digital Commons, Level 1 Information Commons.
As part of their Reading for Diversity series, the Library is teaming up with BookSoc to read and discuss Zakiya Dalila Harris’s bestselling 2021 debut novel ‘The Other Black Girl’. Described as ‘Get Out meets The Devil Wears Prada’, the novel tackles the tension that unfurls when two young Black women meet against the starkly white backdrop of book publishing.
Decolonise your information searching workshop
Wednesday 18 October, 2 - 3.15pm, Information Commons Library Skills Room.
Students will be invited to reflect on the effect that colonialism and power have on knowledge production and the value placed on the information they use to inform their work.
Register for this workshop, open to University students
For the public
Off the Shelf events
The following list offers a selection of some of the Off the Shelf festival events. Please visit the Off the Shelf website to see the full festival event programme.
I'm Black, So You Don't Have To Be with Colin Grant in conversation with Paulette Edwards
Friday 13 October, 6.00pm at Millennium Gallery.
‘I’m black, so you don’t have to be,’ Colin Grant’s Uncle Castus told him. For Colin, born in Britain to Jamaican parents, things were supposed to be different. If he worked hard, his race would become invisible. The reality turned out to be very different. This unforgettable memoir is told through a series of intimate, intergenerational family portraits. Each life informs Grant’s own sense of his identity; collectively, these stories build into a poignant testimony of the black British experience.
Pessimism is for Lightweights with Salena Godden
Saturday 14 October, 7.00pm at University Drama Studio.
A collection of 30 pieces of courage and resistance, this is work inspired by protests and rallies. Poems written for the women’s march, for women’s empowerment and amplification, poems that salute people fighting for justice, poems on sexism and racism, class discrimination, period poverty and homelessness, immigration and identity.
Sufferah: Memoir of a Brixton Reggae Head with Alex Wheatle in conversation with Chris (Finguz) Morris
Saturday 15 October, 7.00pm at University Drama Studio.
In this memoir, acclaimed writer Alex Wheatle shows how music became his salvation through a childhood marred by abuse and imprisonment as a young man protesting against systemic racism and police brutality. Abandoned as a baby to the British care system, Alex grew up with no knowledge of his Jamaican parentage or family history – portrayed in Steve McQueen’s Small Axe series. He was inexorably drawn to reggae, his lifeline through the challenges of living as a young Black man in 1980s Britain.
Rediscovering Black Portraiture with Peter Brathwaite in conversation with Paterson Joseph
Saturday 21 October, 6.00pm at University Drama Studio.
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Peter Brathwaite has thoughtfully researched and reimagined more than 100 artworks featuring portraits of Black sitters. Join Peter on a beautifully illustrated journey through representations of Black subjects in Western art, from medieval Europe to the present day. Artworks include The Adoration of the Magi by Georges Trubet, Rice n Peas by Sonia Boyce, Barack Obama by Kehind Wiley and many more.
Spit Out the Myth: Three Sheffield Poets Danae Wellington, Silé Sibanda, Warda Yassin
Friday 27 October, 6.00pm at the Millennium Gallery.
In 2021, Désirée Reynolds curated Black Women Write Now for Off the Shelf with an event with Sheffield poets Sile Sibanda, Danae Wellington and Warda Yassin (then Sheffield Poet Laureate). Many people asked for poetry in print by all three poets, and in response, Off the Shelf commissioned an anthology – Spit Out The Myth – with an introduction by Désirée. At this launch, Silé, Warda and Danae (current Sheffield Poet Laureate) will read poems on migration and change, family roots, mythical tales and life in Sheffield. Désirée Reynolds will introduce the event, and Suzannah Evans will talk about the publishing process.
Who We Were; Who We Became Danae Wellington and Guests
Saturday 28 October, 7.30pm at Sheffield Town Hall.
Poetry commission, Who We Were; Who We Became, is a love song threading together the memories, faith and culture of the Windrush generation. It captures their final moments before embarking on a journey in pursuit of a new life. Danae Wellington and Darshan Gajjar have made a short poetic film around the piece that forms a window into the Caribbean immigrant story. It details the musical riddims, and the joy-making that helped newly arrived West Indians survive brutal racial violence and discrimination in post-war Britain. Join us for poetry, song, film and music at this event marking Windrush 75.
Other public events in Sheffield and online
Showroom Cinema
The Showroom Cinema has programmed a wide-ranging season of films that celebrates the diversity of Black voices in cinema.
Take a look at what’s happening at the Showroom throughout the month.
To find out what other public events are taking place throughout the month, please visit the Black History Month listings and Eventbrite.
