Black History Poem – by Dr Sheine Peart

Black history, Black history, why is it such a mystery?

With contributions to science and contributions to arts, with so much energy, where do I start?

We aren’t one voice, we’re more of a choir, with revolutionary poets like Benjamin Zephaniah

From blood banks to light bulbs and traffic lights too, wonderful scientists like Charles Richard Drew

Dr Maggie Aderin Pocock and Maya Angelou, all of them Black, all the way through

Black people are here, Black people are there, Black people have always been everywhere

Enriching the planet and changing our lives, children, husbands, daughters and wives

To reclaim the narrative we assert our voice, we want you to listen, but you have a choice

You can replicate years of omission and oppression, or build a new future, a positive expression

A place where realties can freely unfold, as they silent are heard and truths can be told

To edit us out dishonours us all, it makes a farce of human testimony and makes us look small

So.. Black History is History, it’s yours and it’s mine; let’s share the complete story and unite by design.

- Dr Sheine Peart (October 2024)