Everything you need to know about Sheffield’s Black History Month celebrations

Educate yourself and celebrate Sheffield’s Black heritage!

3 years ago

Black History Month aims to celebrate and remember the contributions of Black Britons. Although it has been celebrated nationally for over 30 years, it’s important to consider your local Black history and think about how you can support the celebrations within the Steel City.

Here’s a guide to the events taking place in Sheffield this October in celebration of Black History Month 2020.

The Lit Collective, Online Celebrations

The Lit Collective is a book club in Sheffield for young women of colour. The club held its first online festival in July 2020 to commemorate women writers of colour. They celebrated their favourite texts and literary pieces as well as the themes of joy, love and sisterhood.

For Black History Month 2020, The Lit Collective are getting involved and are hosting a range of virtual events. An array of creative writing workshops, discussions and performances will be delivered online in celebration of women of colour and their writing.

The collective hopes to champion ‘joy, home, imagination, futurity, family, sisterhood and love.’ All events are free and available online, you can check out the listings and learn more here.

Links to their Instagram and Twitter pages can be found here too.

University events, Sheffield Hallam University

Sheffield Hallam University is hosting a range of online events throughout October. There will be celebrations of Black history in virtual music and film events as well as online talks with academics.

Highlights include ‘Black History Month: Cultural Night’ in which various student societies will come together to celebrate diversity. For more detes see here.

University events, The University of Sheffield

Similarly to Hallam, Uni of are also hosting a range of online events in commemorations of Sheffield’s Black History Month.

Again, there will be a variety of virtual talks from academics on the much-neglected history made by black people around the UK, highlighting Sheffield’s black heritage.

A full listing of events can be found here.

COBO Comedy Shutdown, The Leadmill

The Leadmill is hosting a one-off comedy night of fun in celebration of Black History Month this year. Check out comics Kane Brown, Aurie Styla, Nabil Abdulrashid and Annette Fagon on 30 October, for this socially distanced event from Comedy of Black Origin (COBO).

Tickets for the event are available here.

Utopia Theatre’s Creative Hub

Utopia Theatre is a resident company at Sheffield Theatres. They have brought together over 40 African theatre professionals to offer online workshops ranging from dance to playwriting this Black History Month.

These workshops are being offered to young people of African descent. The project aims to develop the talent pool and visibility in Black African communities.

Visit their website for more details.

Here’s What She Said to Me

This play combines drama, music and poetry to tell the story of three proud African women connecting across continents and generational divides. It is being shown at the Crucible but there is also a free live stream on the 3rd of November.

For tickets go to the Crucible website.