This petition is to call for British Black History to be made mandatory throughout schools in the UK. Many people today do not know that black communities have been in the UK from the beginning and as the growing population of people of colour and mixed children continues, it is a shock that it is not part of our education system.

In Primary school and First Year of secondary education, we are taught of Black History in American and the slave trade that occurred there. We are taught the names of Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr., yet many people have never heard the names of Ignatius Sancho and Stuart Hall. They have never heard of the slave trade that occurred in Britain.

It is only fair that children be educated on the heritage of black and brown people and make it part of the curriculum. The history of POCs have been erased in our country and it is not right, people in our country are not being taught about the racism that occurred here, e.g. the murder of Stephen Lawrence, and that is still occurring here making people believe that the UK is exempt to racism when that is not the case.

As well as teaching black history, it is important to teach black culture (this will include all races and culture, including Asia). If we are taught different religions in our RE classes, we can be taught different African and Asian cultures in our history classes. By teaching our children at a young age, it will bring awareness to the oppression, discrimination and lack of protection that these community face in their day to day life in the hopes of making this country a more understanding, knowledgeable and equal one.