Peterborough city centre to celebrate Black History Month this weekend

Peterborough will celebrate Black History Month (BHM) with a showcase event in Cathedral Square this weekend.

The day-long celebration will run from midday to 7pm on Saturday October 14 and follow a ‘Celebrate Our Sisters’ theme.

Saturday shoppers will be treated to a mix of live music and poetry readings while learning more about the benefits and need for greater racial integration and tolerance. A variety of food stalls will also be on hand.

Bernadetta Omondi is chairperson of the Peterborough Black History Month Committee. She explained why the celebration of black culture is integrally important to the city as a whole:

“Our culture and heritage is beautiful,” she said, proudly, “and it’s beautiful to share that with other communities.”

The origins of Black History Month date back to 1926 when the editor of the Journal of Negro History, Carter G. Woodson, established African Caribbean celebrations in the United States.

Bernadetta believes passionately in BHM’s core mission of providing opportunities to focus awareness on the events of history and identify lessons that can be learned.

“Let’s celebrate the impact of black culture in the past and in the present,” she noted, “and also remind us that there is hope if we come together.”

BHM has been celebrated across the UK for over 30 years, each year growing from strength to strength. In 2013, the Peterborough Black History Month Committee was formed by five local activists who saw the need to continue fostering awareness and promoting knowledge of black history, culture and heritage.

Bernadetta remembers those early years well:“Black History Month used to be done in compounds and peoples homes - and that was it.

“My history is bigger than a compound or a house, and that is why I took Black History Month into Cathedral Square.

“Since then, from 2013, we’ve been having it at Cathedral Square, the Millenium Centre and Caribbean Community Centre.”

Though keen to point out that black history is “not just a month”, Bernadetta firmly believes it is a “good thing” that society focuses more on black history at this time of year:“Learn our history and let me learn your history,” she implored, “then it can become our history.”