A series of lectures will be held at the University of Glasgow in October as part of Black History Month (BHM) in Scotland.

Organised by the Glasgow-based Coalition for Racial Equality and Rights (CRER), BHM is a celebration of the culture and heritage of the black community and its contribution to society.

The programme of events, launched at the Hunterian Museum at the University of Glasgow, includes four lectures at the University – detailed below.

Professor Anton Muscatelli, Principal & Vice-Chancellor of the University of Glasgow, who spoke at the launch, said: “The University of Glasgow is proud and pleased once again to support and participate in ‘black history month’.

“The next four weeks are about reflecting on the past, looking to the future, and in the course of these reflections, to uncover  the ‘Hidden Legacies’ of black people who have made a difference to our lives. 

“It’s equally an opportunity to reassess our attitudes and perceptions of today: it’s a chance to blow away any misconceptions we perhaps still have of who we are and the nature of our relationship with different ethnicities, different communities.
“As a university we remain committed to building an international inclusive university which strives to create community in diversity, because we recognise that such diversity is enriching and broadens the learning experience for all.“

This year’s BHM has once again expanded beyond Glasgow, with events taking place in Stirling, Edinburgh, Dundee, Lanarkshire and East Lothian. The wide variety of events includes lectures, workshops, exhibitions, films, music, dance performances and many more. 

Jatin Haria, Director of CRER said: “I hope that the month long celebrations will provide a unique opportunity to educate, document and acknowledge the positive achievements and contributions that black and minority ethnic people have made in shaping Scotland, UK and the world’s history. “

The full programme of events for Black History Month 2010, can be downloaded from the website www.crer.org.uk  

The lectures taking place at the University are:

Colour and Prejudice in British Cinema in the 1950s
Dr Christine Geraghty, Professor of Film and Television Studies at the University of Glasgow, Scotland
Wednesday 20th October, 6-7.30pm
Gilmorehill Cinema, 9 University Avenue

Immigration was a hot political topic in the 1950s and, for British cinema, battling against the rise of television and the dominance of Hollywood, the experiences and treatment of black people offered stories of prejudice and friction which were contemporary and controversial. In this talk, Christine Geraghty, will use extracts from films like Sapphire and Simba to show how dramatic events on the streets of London and uprisings on farms in Kenya were made into detective stories, romances and social problem pictures which uneasily grappled with change at a political and social level. 

The Archaeology of the Slave Ship
Dr Jane Webster, Senior Lecturer in Historical Archaeology at Newcastle University
Friday 22nd October, 6-7.30pm
Room 433, St Andrew’s Building

This paper will explore the work of maritime archaeologists who have excavated the wrecks of ships once engaged in slave trading. It will also look at ongoing projects hoping to discover further wrecks. Only a handful of vessels has been found to date, but as this paper will also show, there is more than one way to ‘excavate’ a slave ship, and to uncover information about the transportation of ‘human cargoes’ over the long history of the Transatlantic slave trade. 

Glasgow’s Contribution to the Campaign to Abolish Slavery in the United States
Saturday 23rd October 2010
10.00am - 12.00pm
St Andrew’s Building, 11 Eldon Street, Glasgow G3 6NH
Admission free
Bernard Aspinwall will relate how Glasgow and the West of Scotland made significant contributions to the abolition movement including support for American anti-slavery societies, hosting American campaigners, and assisting in the amelioration of freed slaves. It is a much neglected story which deserves greater recognition.

C.L.R. James: Marxist, anti-imperialist… and Test Match correspondent for The Glasgow Herald?”
Dr Andrew Smith, is Senior Lecturer in Sociology, within the School of Social and Political Sciences
Monday 25th October, 6-7.30pm
Room 433, St Andrew’s Building, 11 Eldon Street, Glasgow G3 6NH
This talk aims to provide a straightforward introduction to the work of CLR James: historian, activist, novelist and mentor to many of the most important figures in the movement for decolonisation in the twentieth century. It argues for a greater recognition of James’ wide-spread intellectual interventions, and for the need to see the unity between these. In particular, it focuses on the easily overlooked and surprising relationship between his anti-racist writings and his writings on sport.
 

For more information contact Stuart Forsyth in the University of Glasgow Media Relations Office on 0141 330 4831 or email stuart.forsyth@glasgow.ac.uk or Cecilia Boccorh at CRER on 0141 418 6530 or email Cecilia@crer.org.uk

First published: 29 September 2010

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