We asked members of the profession to tell us what Black History Month means to them, what it represents and gives opportunity to do and be part of.

He is British Nigerian, and heads ACCESS, DAC Beachcroft’s staff network for supporting and promoting the racial diversity of its employees. We are planning a series of initiatives throughout BHM to educate and inform our colleagues and encourage them to celebrate along with us, and it has really been interesting to hear our colleagues’ views on their black role models or black-inspired books/movies that had an impact on them. BHM is a reminder that the true and diverse nature of history should be taught to young people throughout the year. Karl is also a Social Mobility Ambassador for the Law Society, founded the Bristol Property Inclusion Charter (to promote diversity and inclusion in the Bristol Property sector) in November 2019 and is chair of the Bristol Property Inclusion Commission. As much as I love law and have wanted to be a lawyer since I was at secondary school there is a subject which I loved before law and still love to this day. National Museum of African American History and Culture. His sermon has valuable lessons today. A funeral held in July 1945 for two victims of the Ku Klux Klan, George Dorsey and his sister, Dorothy Dorsey Malcolm, of Walton County, Georgia, held at the Mt. For example, knowing that it was having a diverse population and immigrants such as the Windrush generation which helped build the UK to the country it is today. As I have said before, this is a wonderful profession – let us inspire it with more colour. Sometimes, the victim was a preacher. BHM to me is important not only to ensure young black people know their true background but it is important for the whole population to know a full and accurate picture of history. People celebrating Black History Month have been called on to do "a little bit more" and not treat the event as a box-ticking exercise. Thomas Chester, a black American, who was admitted to Middle Temple in 1867 was called in 1870. Black History Month usually will coincide with the 100th Day or School.

We develop policy in response to proposals for changes in the law, which come from a variety of sources, including government departments and non-governmental organisations. How many people in the country remember Barbara Blake Hannah who was the first black reporter on our screens in 1968 but whose career was cut short by racism (racist complaints from viewers which had swayed her TV bosses)? There are so many great black history heroes and black history month topics to study starting TODAY — even if it isn’t February! Create a Black History Month bulletin board of impactful African-Americans and key leaders. There are other black achievers in other professions who are almost forgotten – black sportsmen and women, black people in the medical profession, black classical musicians as a recent television programme by Lenny Henry and Suzy KIein showed.

Which is correct: Black History Month or African American History Month? My parents came from modest beginnings in life but their hard work (my dad was a plasterer and my mum was a nurse) not only gave me and my sister a good start in life but also instilled in us a strong work ethic.

A studio group portrait of the Fisk University Jubilee singers. In a sermon two weeks after MLK's funeral, civil rights leader, Wyatt Tee Walker, urged young seminarians to be hopeful and take action for making change happen. There is hardly a time when society has a conversation about the ‘black experience’ without the conversation being generated by a negative incident – be it an unarmed black person being killed by law enforcement, a black person being stopped and searched for no apparent reason other than his/her skin complexion, a black footballer having to endure racist insults, or the lamentable lack of black representation in the higher echelons of government and professional life. It is an unfortunate fact that the discourse is always preceded by negative experience. Ganendar Mohan Tagore, an Indian, joined Lincoln’s Inn in 1859, he was subsequently called to the Bar in June 1862. DAC Beachcroft’s ACCESS group is planning to do just that during October. As I write this article, I think I should make a confession.

1926 "Negro History Week" Established. Religion was no barrier for Southern lynch mobs intent on terror. The Month First Observed. Black History Month for me is an opportunity to remember, to celebrate and a time to reflect on the achievements of black (of all ethnic minorities) people through history. Corey D. B. Walker, University of Richmond, Tiffany Mitchell Patterson, West Virginia University, Assistant Professor, School of Media, Ryerson University, Assistant Professor of Secondary Social Studies, West Virginia University, Visiting Professor, University of Richmond, PhD Candidate in Religion - Historical Studies, Baylor University, Copyright © 2010–2020, The Conversation Trust (UK) Limited. Ethnic minority men were joining the Inns of Court and being called to the Bar as long ago as the mid-1800s. Sadly, many of these early achievers do not even pass through history books with an acknowledgement.

Displaying all articles. © The Law Society 2020. Proposed by black educators and students at Kent State University in 1969, the first Black History Month observance takes place one year later. Such immigrants in particular have played a key role in national institutions and treasures such as the NHS.

Black History Month actually started as Negro History Week in 1917. Put together a bulletin board with the children compiling a list of 100 African-Americans that have made a difference. BHM is for me also a time of reflection, looking at the most recent government diversity figures in the legal profession, it is a matter of some disappointment that we do not have more ethnic minorities reflected in senior judicial posts. They weren't songs of anger – but of an abiding belief in the victory of good over evil.

John (Army) Howard was Canada’s first Black Olympian and competed at the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm. History has also played an important part for me in providing role models and heroes and I think this is another great purpose for BHM. Many African Americans made education a high priority after the Civil War. Introduce the purpose of celebrating Black History month and include black leaders in your display. We are made by history.”.

Barbara Mensah is a British judge of Ghanaian descent. She became the first circuit judge of African origin in England and Wales when she was appointed to the South Eastern Circuit in 2005. Recently, a new journalism award was created, named after the UK’s first black TV reporter.

Articles on Black History Month. Perry Baptist Church Sunday.

One of the many purposes of this month is to celebrate individuals, achievements and diversity in equal measure. Black History Month for me is an opportunity to remember, to celebrate and a time to reflect on the achievements of black (of all ethnic minorities) people through history. All those who work tirelessly to increase the diversity within the profession are inspirational. They also shared with us who inspires them.

James Wallace Black/American Missionary Association. Karl Brown is a commercial property partner in the Bristol office of national law firm Clarke Willmott LLP. It was reading for example about Thurgood Marshall (the first black US Supreme Court Justice) and his work in the civil rights movement that enthused my interest in law. The precursor to Black History Month is started by historian Carter G. Woodson, the "Father of Black History." As of October 2016 she sits in the Crown Court at Luton, England. Afro American Newspapers/Gado/Getty Images. The pool of ethnically diverse judges is too small for me to single out an individual – all those who have made it to the levels of the High Court and Court of Appeal are inspirational. How civil rights leader Wyatt Tee Walker revived hope after MLK’s death, Black History Month: These trailblazing Black athletes transformed Canadian sports, Lynching preachers: How black pastors resisted Jim Crow and white pastors incited racial violence, What everyone should know about Reconstruction 150 years after the 15th Amendment’s ratification. There are quite a few black people in the profession who I respect and admire, but if I had to mention one it would be Sandie Okoro, General Counsel & Senior Vice President at the World Bank. Civil rights leader Wyatt Tee Walker addresses a crowd at St. Phillips AME Church in Atlanta. All rights reserved. This subject was actually one of the things which first got me interested in becoming a lawyer. For a black woman to have risen through the ranks in such a white and male dominated industry, despite her colour and gender, is truly impressive and should be an inspiration to young black people (both male and female) that aspire for a career in the professional sector. BHM is a chance to reflect that the pace of change has been too slow and to consider ways in which we can hasten it. I do of course also look to modern day positive examples from law such as Sandra Wallace who as well as being a leader in her specialist area of law, is also part of the top management of her law firm and is interim chair of the government Social Mobility Commission. The subject is history which is why I am thrilled to write about what Black History Month (BHM) means to me and why I think it is important. It is in part that lack of visible diversity that enabled individuals (apparently three in one day) to ask barrister Alexandra Wilson earlier this month if she was a defendant and to tell her to leave a court room until her case was called on.

White pastors joined the KKK, incited racial violence and took part in lynchings. Another thing instilled in me and my sister was a strong pride in our background and history and the importance of knowing where you have come from in order to know who you are and what path you want to take in life. But most of all I am inspired by the many black and ethnic minority men and women, boys and girls who chose to make a career at the bar and who persevere with that dream. Articles on Black History Month 2020. Civil rights leader Wyatt Tee Walker addresses a crowd at St. Phillips AME Church in Atlanta. It is only by knowing the true and accurate context for the present that we will be able to all come together in union and resolve the problems and issues in the present world. Displaying 1 - 20 of 44 articles. It’s important that we, as a profession, continue to highlight those that are role models to prospective solicitors and colleagues alike. Civil rights leader Wyatt Tee Walker addresses a crowd at St. Phillips AME Church in Atlanta. As Martin Luther King, Jr. once said “We are not makers of history. I therefore see BHM as an opportunity for black people to seize the initiative and shape the topics of conversation, from educating people (including the younger black generation) about sensitive issues such as colonialism and slavery and its enduring impact on present day race relations, to highlighting and promoting black role models whose sacrifices have made positive impact on society as a whole. In short, BHM to me means celebrating all things blackness – warts and all!