Black History Month, 2012

Black History Month was developed in the UK by Akyaaba Addai Sebbo, working on as a Special projects Officer with the Greater London Council in 1987. While it was modelled on the US Black History Month (where it is also known as African-American History Month), is celebrated in October in the United Kingdom rather than in February as in the U.S.A., Canada and Berlin.

Head of a Mulatto Woman by Joanna Boyce Wells

Basics

• Date: Friday 26 October, 2pm-6pm
• Add to your Google calendar
• Venue: 'Map' Room LG13 (Oxenham Room) on the Lower Ground Floor at 26 Bedford Way, WC1H 0AP, London (UCL Geography Department)
• Cost: Free
• Etherpad: TBC - may be created on the day
• Twitter hashtag: not set, you can communicate with us on @wikimediauk
• Participants: Wikipedia newcomers, anyone with the interest in the topic, anyone from a Black Cultural organisation interested in Wikipedia or Wikimedia UK
• Registration: Sign up below or here
• Any questions: Daria Cybulska on daria.cybulskawikimedia.org.uk, 0207 065 0994

About the event

This year, to coincide with Black History Month, Wikimedia UK in conjunction with The Equiano Centre, UCL is organising an event on 26 October in London. The event will explore some of Black Culture histories and work on adding the information to Wikipedia (including biographies on some of the figures of African and Asian heritage living, travelling or working in Britain at this time).

The event is especially aimed at new Wikipedia editors, who might be intimidated by the job of editing the Internet's primary source of basic information. Representatives from Wikimedia UK will be on hand to show you how the site works and answer questions.

Anyone working for a Black Culture related organisation is also welcome to attend - we will be discussing how you could cooperate with Wikimedia UK in the future.

We are hoping to attract new editors interested in the topic, and network with Black Culture organisations who may be interested in finding out more about what Wikimedia UK does.

Please do sign up below if you are a Wikimedian interested in taking part. A registration page can also be found HERE.

Topics for the editathon

Equiano Centre conducts many research projects, some focusing on the Black history in Britain in 20th cent. The presence of Black people in Britain before the Second World War is often neglected in mainstream history. During the interwar period Black people were settled in various places around the country and included a diversity of nationalities and occupations, from dockworkers, domestics, writers, artists, doctors and students. There was also a presence of people of African and Asian heritage based in London during this time who were involved in political activism such as anti-colonial and anti-racism campaigning. These could be an interesting area to focus on during the event. Staff from Equiano Centre will be present at the event, and will provide some resources to support the editing.

Interested participants

• Daria Cybulska (talk) 12:03, 31 May 2012 (UTC)
• --Iopensa (talk) 10:35, 13 June 2012 (UTC). With WikiAfrica we can also contribute to the communication of the event.
• Leutha (talk) Keen to take this forward
• Charles Matthews (talk) 13:03, 17 October 2012 (UTC)
• Gordo (talk) 07:03, 19 October 2012 (UTC)

Venue

• Map Room at the Geography Department at UCL.
• 20 desktop computers included.
• Internet provided - guest code for the wi-fi arranged
• Refreshments provided (3:30pm for tea and biscuits)
• We’ve booked a projector for the room next to the map room which has an wall screen for projectors
• Flip charts and pens
• Reserved extra books from UCL libraries to supplement our collection so there should be a good range of secondary resources on the resource table

Programme

The workshop material will include special attention to researching and referencing, including

• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online (which is free access with a UK library card);
• Google Books;

and use of appropriate templates.

Further sources

• [1]
• http://www.black-history-month.co.uk/
• http://www.blackhistorymonth.org.uk/

Coverage

• Promoted on the Equiano Centre website