At WM College we celebrate the culture, history and vibrant diversity of Black African & Caribbean communities within Camden through courses we offer exploring culture and history, black history resources and free events for all our learners.
To celebrate Black History Season WM College welcomed guest speaker Natty Mark Samuels from African School to share, educate and dive into the beauty of Ancestral African art, that may have been lost or forgotten about in modern day history. With open invites to students and staff, attendees were gifted with a well-rounded and informative history lesson.
According to Natty Mark Samuels website, ‘This Cultural Educational project provides teaching in African Studies, to the general community, focusing on pre-colonial sub-Saharan societies.’ He also highlighted that ‘the purpose of his courses is ‘to enhance literacy levels, as well as cultural knowledge’. With a heightened awareness of the Afro-Caribbean experience over the past 2 years, it has been important now more than ever to showcase the positive attributes of Africa, something that has be missing in mainstream media.
With paintings, music and textiles being included in the sessions, Natty Mark Samuels shared how African art has surprisingly had a major influence on European art, particularly with the likes of Picasso and other world-famous artists that are studied throughout Europe. Samuels also highlighted some eyebrow-raising facts; popular bohemian homeware that are currently on trend have been heavily influenced by African Fibre and textiles.
Although Black History Month will end in the coming weeks, the richness of the knowledge will continue and introduce a new norm; studying African history and, quite rightly so, leave positive impact for many years to come.
We’re passionate about exploring and continuing education focused on black history at WM College and have investing in acquiring more resources and books on the topic for our library. For the remainder of Black History Month we are displaying new acquisitions either by black authors or explorations of black history, see full list of books here. We have also taken this cultural celebration into the classrooms with our ESOL learners studying 12 Years A Slave by Soloman Northup in their monthly book club.
Natalie Da Silva
Learning Centre Assistant
Discover more history and culture topics on our Humanities and Culture courses here.