Black History Month is a time to recognise the contribution to the community and achievements of those of African or Caribbean heritage, while challenging incorrect narratives.

It is part of a process not limited to a mere 31 days and is an opportunity to educate, challenge, discover histories purposefully omitted from mainstream history.

One mistaken impression is the idea that the landing of the HMS Windrush at Tilbury Docks on June 22 1948 was the first notable arrival of Black people in the UK

This isn’t true and our analysis on Black British history starts well before then. While the Windrush Generation paved the way for others from across Britain’s commonwealth countries to settle in Britain, the fact is that Black people have been in Britain since the second and third centuries, first arriving with the Romans, well over a thousand years before the first English sailors reached the shores of Sub-Saharan Africa in the 16^th century. These Afro-Romans are not the only Black people omitted from British mainstream history.

Skeletal remains of British people with African heritage have been found near York, one of Britain’s most ancient settlements. and African and Caribbean men fought in the Napoleonic wars. Documents also reveal that there were black Tudors, Stuarts, Georgians, Victorians, and Edwardians.

Few people are aware of this rich heritage and it’s important background for Newham where around 20 percent of the population is Black or mixed-race. Everyone should recognise with antecedents who reached these shores with the Romans, there may well be white residents with African ancestry.

Newham is not without modern problems — stop and search in policing, and employment discrimination against Black and ethnic minorities, for example — but this October and beyond it is provide opportunities to educate people about history, and people who defied all odds to make their home in Britain. Black History can and should be so much more than it is, and needs to take its place within the mainstream narrative of history.

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