Our first event of the month was an interesting talk by Adanna Osuagwu (OA 2021) on this year's Black History Month theme: Saluting Our Sisters.
Adanna spoke to pupils and staff about the inspiring Black women in her life, her decision to pursue medicine, and learning Igbo with her great-grandmother's book of idioms.
Pupils also enjoyed a co-curricular music workshop in which they learnt about the history of the steel pan and the djembe drum. The steel pan originated in Trinidad and Tobago in the 1930's using household items such as metal pans and dustbins.
The djembe drum is a West African instrument and is used as a means of communication, as well as for producing music. Pupils created their own rhythms and mimicked those of their peers.
Click the photo above to have a listen!
Sixth Form musicians were joined by Mr Young to play pieces from their favourite Black composers, including one of their own compositions.
Please do have a listen to some snippets in the video below!1. Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor2. At The Cotton Gin by Florence Price arr. Tom Young3. Thalestris by John-Ellis4. Misty by Erroll Garner
John-Ellis, Head of School, delivered a thought-provoking talk entitled ‘A Black Classicist’. Looking at references to non-white figures in the texts of Herodotus, Sappho and the Song of Solomon, he explained how translation from Hebrew and Ancient Greek into Latin had resulted in altered meanings with potentially racist implications. He concluded however that, done properly, the study of Classics can in fact be an act of anti-racism. Through accurate research, previously white-washed figures can be re-interpreted into their original ethnicity, and in so doing reveal antiquity in all its diversity.
