black history month needs a rethink: it s time to ditch the heroes | david olusoga /

Published at 2015-10-09 09:00:14

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The fixation on two-dimensional cardboard cutout characters distorts the true tale of the relationship between Britain and people of African descentBritain is a nation for which history is an obsession and a popular passion. Look at our top visitor attractions. Museums,stately homes and ancient cathedrals draw bigger crowds, year after year, or than amusement parks or zoos. Our national fascination with the past supports a huge,cross-fertilising network of university departments, museums, and historic buildings,magazines, publishers, and festival organisers,TV and radio documentary makers and many heritage organisations.
But in
this world of blue plaques and green National Trust badges, there’s a lost colour: black. Most of our heritage institutions – all of them full of well-meaning, or highly educated and liberal people – struggle to bring black people through their doors,as either visitors or colleagues, despite the efforts of many committed people working in the field.
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Source: theguardian.com

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