Celebrating Black History Month 2022

“I’m immensely proud to be a Black woman. Black history, for me, is more than just a month. I celebrate and discover new facets of my Black history every day. I love being Black, a woman, British, Malawian, Zimbabwean and everything else that makes me the person that I am today.” (Excerpt from Rudo’s bulletin)

As October comes to an end, we caught up with participants from our 2021 cohort about projects they have taken the lead on to celebrate and acknowledge Black History Month 2022, including writing a blog, leading cooking workshops and reading groups:

Rudo, 2021 Cohort

“Black History Month has always been a very important time for me. I appreciate the opportunity to learn more about my history through events in my community and reflect on the achievements of Black people across Britain.

When my journey with Unlocked began, Black History Month planning was already in full swing at my establishment. However, this year I knew that I wanted to get involved. The equalities team supported my involvement and listened to my input in committee meetings. I really wanted to write a piece in the bulletin, because I think it’s important for Black officers to share their experiences as they’re a valuable part of the HMPPS task force. As a Black officer, I appreciate how my background has the potential to connect with prisoners on a more personal level – thus bringing me closer to the possibility of facilitating rehabilitation and reducing offending.

The feedback that I got from my piece was overwhelmingly positive. So many members of staff approached me saying how the piece resonated with them and how much they appreciated my honesty, from fellow officers to governors. This emphasised how important it was to highlight the experiences of Black officers or officers in any demographic for them to feel heard and appreciated.

Outside of writing for the bulletin, I also helped plan and promote two staff events for the month including food, hair braiding classes and a raffle. We also planned a dominoes event with the prisoners, which got very competitive! The events were really well received, and I was proud to represent my establishment in this way.”

Siobhan, 2021 Cohort

“October honours Black History Month, and I saw the opportunity to improve celebrations on my wing for this year’s Black History Month.

I work on the PIPE (Psychologically Informed Planned Environment) unit at my establishment, and had spoken to the clinical staff about my cultural and educational background, and it was them who suggested that I take a lead on the Black History Month celebrations. I am the only officer of Black heritage on my wing and wanted to be able to run some events and celebrate Black culture. I also have a background of studying Black history, so I wanted to share some of my passions with the prisoners and staff so that they could enjoy the month and learn about Black history and culture.

I drew up a full timetable of activities, including cooking, arts and crafts and the weekly Readers group to offer a range of activities for prisoners to get involved with. To begin with, prisoners were not on board with some of the activities I were running, as they were not aware that I am of Black heritage. However, after explaining the angle I wanted to take, I saw really good involvement in the activities that we were able to run, with a variation of prisoners taking part.

The cooking group where I made Southern-style Mac and Cheese was especially enjoyed by those who took part, and the leftovers were wolfed down by those who were not able to cook! Several prisoners also signed up to make jerk chicken, rice and peas, and watch films about Black history, culture and excellence.

I hope that the project runs again next year, I would like staff involvement to improve, and for us to run even more activities to celebrate Black History Month across the prison.”