Black History Month
We spent October working on a collaborative history project, thinking about and celebrating black history and exploring the concept of 'Action not Words'.
We produced a protest quilt. Craftivism is the act of using craft projects as a form of protest or to advance social causes. The projects involved are most often knitting, crocheting, or other forms of needlework, we have been exploring patchworking.
We have been looking at The Black Curriculum, a social enterprise founded in 2019 by Lavinya Stennett to address the lack of Black British history in the UK Curriculum. They believe that although Black History Month only happens once a year, the teaching of Black history doesn’t begin and end there. The curriculum should support young people learning about it all year round. Black History Month.
The young people of Simmons House have been researching historical figures and learning new textile skills, transferring the text and imagery to fabric. We have held discussions about our heroes whilst working on our quilt, a form of protest in and of itself.