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Witness History: Britain's Black Schools

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Britain's Black Schools

08/11/2021 GMT

BBC World Service - Witness History, Britain's Black Schools

The alternative schools for black British children set up to counter racist attitudes.

Racist attitudes in the school system in 1960s Britain led to black activists setting up alternative schools for newly immigrant children from the Caribbean.

In 1960s mainstream schooling in Britain was failing many black immigrant children.  A disproportionate number were being sent to schools for those with low intelligence. Black educationalists like Gus John and others set up supplementary Saturday schools for black children to try to mitigate the problem. Claire Bowes has been hearing how some police and headteachers tried to shut them down.

Photo: photo of an early black supplementary school courtesy of the George Padmore Institute, London.

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