7 Little Things You Should Really Do This Week To Celebrate Black History Month

What to read, play, and watch.

1. Check out the Barnardo's Black History Month Calendar.

http://www.barnardos.org.uk/black-history-month-2016.htm

To celebrate Black History Month, Barnardo's has released a series of photographs showing the faces and telling the stories of some of the black children it has helped over the past 150 years. It includes a photograph of John Lewis, who was the first black child to be admitted to the Barnardo’s boys home, in 1874.

2. Take some time out and listen to this brilliant interview with Akala.

VLADTV / Via Youtube

Akala is both talented and smart, and in this interview he discusses a range of topics including slavery, black culture, hip-hop's influence on the world, and what it means to be mixed-race in today's society.

3. Visit the Black people's involvement in the First World War: Public Workshop.

IWM and The Centre for Hidden Histories / Via Imperial War Museum

If you are in the London area you should head over to Imperial War Museum for a public workshop on black people's involvement in the first world war that looks at their experiences and focuses on how their contributions are remembered in Britain today.

4. Check out the Black Power Film Festival.

Centre for Research in Race and Rights / Via eventbrite.co.uk

The Black Power Film Festival is a screening of films that celebrate black power. It's a chance to watch award-winning films like Black Panther Party: The Vanguard of the Revolution, a 2015 documentary that charts the rise and fall of the Black Panther party; The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975, a 2011 film that examines the evolution of the Black Power Movement in American society; and Revolution ’67, a documentary detailing the six-day revolt against poverty and police brutality in Newark, New Jersey, in 1967.

You can also buy all three of these films on Amazon, just in case you can't make it to Nottingham for the festival.

5. Listen to A Seat at the Table.

Saint Records / Via Columbia

We are not worthy of this work of art from Solange – the tracks, the visuals, the brilliant verse from Lil Wayne on "Mad", everything is glorious. The album is a perfect narrative of the pain and joy of black womanhood.

After listening to the album, read Bim Adewunmi's views on it and then check out this article for a list of lyrics that make the perfect Instagram captions.

6. Check out Black in the Day.

Black In The Day

Black in the Day, the brainchild of Tania Nwachukwu and Jojo Sonubi, is a visual archive of the black experience in the UK, and they are having a scanning party at Dark Sugars, a black-owned chocolate shop on Brick Lane, London, on Friday 14 of October.

If you can't make it to the party, head over to the Black in the Day website and check out some of the beautiful pictures submitted or submit your own.

7. Grab a copy of gal-dem magazine.

gal-dem

For a year, gal-dem has been providing an online space for women of colour to write and showcase they talents. And to celebrate the website's first birthday, a print magazine has been launched. The magazine is the first independent magazine written by women of colour in the UK and you should definitely grab a copy and support all the magic that went into it.

This is a weekly series for Black History Month. If there’s anything you think we should include next week, please comment.