Documenting London's Black History Timeline

This timeline has been created to show the types of objects, documents, and photographs that the Museum of London has in its collection to document London’s Black history.  As the timeline is based on the collection, it is not a comprehensive chronicle of Black history, but it does highlight many of the challenges and achievements in London’s Black community since Tudor times.

Once the timeline is launched, you will find four thematic bands: life in Black London, discrimination, struggle for rights, and achievements.  Your lesson can follow just one band or you can explore the interrelation of the events and people over time.  For lessons with a particular citizenship focus, concentrate on the issues presented in the struggle for rights and discrimination themes. 

• Using the timeline as an introduction to the ‘London Calling’ performance or unit of Black history study
• After reviewing London’s Black history, ask students to prepare a similarly themed timeline for another area in the UK or the UK as a whole
• Ask students to ‘fill-in’ events on the timeline, such as larger national or world wide events and consider how these impacted London’s Black communities
• Conduct a lesson that focuses on the objects as documentation and ask students to propose what the Museum should be collecting today to allow us to continue documenting London’s Black history