Celebrating Black History Month with Vision Redbridge Culture and Leisure
Exhibitions
Into the Light Exhibition
Throughout October
Black dancers have been present in British ballet from at least the 1940s onwards but the presence and contribution of these pioneers has been largely forgotten. Into the Light: The Pioneers of Black British Ballet exhibition at Redbridge Central Library aims to change this by celebrating the lives of these trailblazers.
Funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund. Brought to you by Libraries Connected and Oxygen Arts’ Black British Ballet project.
Kassandra Gordon, Contours of Belonging
Throughout October
Award-winning jeweller Kassandra Gordon has worked with Redbridge residents to create a multimedia exhibition that uses jewellery as a lens to explore the profound impact our environments, heritage and migration has on our sense of home and belonging.
Mister Geez Billboard Commission
Throughout October
Street photographer and local Redbridge artist Gerald Marie-Nelly (Mister Geez) unveils his new billboard outside the gallery at SPACE Ilford.
Black History Portraits
Monday 14 October to Friday 1 November
This exhibition explores black presences in 19th and early 20th-century, through British studio portraiture. As a curated body of work, these photographs present new knowledge and offer different ways of seeing the black presence in Victorian Britain.
Djofray Makumbu, Snap!
Friday 25 October to Friday 1 November
Capturing the joy of London’s Congolese community in the 1980s and 90s
Djofray Makumbu captures the essence of the era in a series of portraits of family and friends taken from old photo albums. His paintings convey the energy and joy of a community coming together through a shared language and culture.
1 to 8 October
9 to 15 October
16 to 22 October
23 October to 1 November
Children Events
1-15 October
28 October – 3 November (Half Term)
Untold Histories Black people in Essex before the Windrush
A short film with Genealogist and Historian Kathy Charter which explores the untold story about Black people in Britain before the Windrush, with an emphasis on East London and Essex.
Please watch the short film below or via youtube.
Redbridge Museum & Heritage Centre events
Essex to Ethiopia: Sylvia Pankhurst
During Black History Month, Redbridge Museum & Heritage Centre will be highlighting Sylvia Pankhurst’s strong connections to Ethiopia through the launch of a new website .
Sylvia Pankhurst lived in Woodford from 1924 – 1956 and is best known as a suffragette and political campaigner. She fought for Ethiopian independence after it was invaded by Fascist Italy in 1935. An early supporter of the Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie, Sylvia edited the New Times and Ethiopia News from her Woodford home for many years before moving to Ethiopia in 1956.
Memories of Windrush
Redbridge Museum & Heritage Centre has made a film which explores the memories and experiences of the Windrush generation who settled in the London Borough of Redbridge. Watch the video below or via youtube.
Schools
Black History sessions for Schools at Redbridge Museum
Redbridge Museum offers education sessions for schools including ‘Suitcase Stories’ which looks at migration from the Caribbean into Redbridge from the 1960s; and ‘We Were Not Alone: Commonwealth Contributions to the Second World War’.
Find out how to get involved on our Schools at the Museum page.
Black History sessions for Schools at Redbridge Libraries
Reading and Resources
Digital Reading Collection (Libraries Consortium)
Libby Collections for Black History Month
For Black History Month, we’ve two collections on Libby that explore Black history and experience, and celebrate the contributions and achievements of Black people throughout the past and the present.
For more Black History Month events please visit Discover Redbridge.