Black Panthers Talk

After half term, the ACS (African Caribbean Society) hosted an interactive talk about the Black Panthers movement in the UK and more specifically, the Mangrove 9, a group of protesters, most of whom were leading Black Panther members, who made legal history by exposing the reality of police racism.

Toga, who is a Grecian (Year 13) pupil and president of the ACS, presented the talk to Second and Third Form (Year 7 and 8) pupils and had this to say:

“From our own pupil-led ACS discussion groups we sensed a real lack of knowledge or awareness of civil rights movements/ Black power organisations in the UK. I wanted to teach the younger parts of the School about the work of the British Black Panthers because this was one of the more inspiring stories within Black British history. Their win in the Mangrove 9 case at the Old Bailey was the first case in which a judge acknowledged that there was evidence of institutional racism within the MET police. This was also one of the first Old Bailey cases to have Black jurors. Inspired by Steve McQueen’s recent film on the Mangrove story, I wanted to teach pupils about this significant moment in Black British history and the revolutionary Black Panther movement – not only to educate, but also to inspire and encourage the implicit values of courage, empathy and advocacy.”

This was a great opportunity for pupils to learn more about Black British history, as well as have some insightful discussions about race, as a continuation of celebrating Black History Month. The sessions were run as part of the new Learning for Life programme at Christ’s Hospital.