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Current Events Linked to Our Past

The History department are using this page to share educational resources and articles on current events that have a link to our past.

The 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising

Wednesday 19th April 2023 marks the 80th anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, one of the largest forms of Jewish resistance to take place during the Holocaust. The 80th anniversary gives us a chance for a moment of reflection of Poland’s rich Jewish history. For centuries, Poland hosted the world’s largest Jewish population. This rich tapestry of life was nearly destroyed by the Nazi and their collaborators with the murder 3.3 million Polish Jews during the Holocaust.

To find out more please use the following links:

Centre for Holocaust Education:

https://holocausteducation.org.uk/2023/04/13/reflections-on-the-80th-anniversary-of-the-warsaw/ 

Holocaust Memorial day Trust:

https://www.hmd.org.uk/resource/19-april-1943-the-start-of-the-warsaw-ghetto-uprising/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Warsaw+Uprising&utm_source=HMDT+Newsletter+updated+%28GDPR%29&utm_campaign=7eb2dfe309-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2019_09_05_04_04_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_41fa301d47-7eb2dfe309-510609335

Holocaust Memorial Day 2023

Finding my Family: Holocaust - A Newsround Special
In this Newsround special, Holocaust survivor Steven Frank takes his teenage granddaughter Maggie on a journey to learn about his experiences during the Holocaust. First, they visit Amsterdam to learn about his happy family life there before the war, and what happened to Dutch Jews during Nazi occupation. Next, they travel to Terezin in the Czech Republic, where Steven was held, to learn about the horrors of life inside concentration camps. 
Finally, the pair travel to Auschwitz to learn about what happened to members of Steven's family who didn't survive the Holocaust.

Follow the link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/46932823

Remembrance 2022: World War One: What would you have done?

Travel back in time to discover the heroes and history behind Armistice Day:

https://armistice-day.bbcrewind.co.uk/#/

Black History Month 2022: The black British soldiers who were deliberately forgotten

The black British soldiers of the First World War have often been forgotten. People from across the British Empire signed up eagerly to play their part in the First World War, but black recruits were not given the same opportunities as everyone else. Black units were barred from fighting on the Western Front because, it was feared, allowing colonial soldiers to fight alongside and against white Europeans would undermine British colonial rule. In Africa and the Middle East black units did fight only because their enemy on those fronts was also non-white.

Though black units played a vital role in Allied victory, after the war their contribution was deliberately forgotten in an attempt to protect the British Empire. In this episode of IWM Stories, Alan Wakefield looks at who these men were, what they did, and why they've been forgotten.

Watch the video from the Imperial War Museum here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6D5oJsNSCk

The Battle of Cable Street

It is 80 years since the Jewish community of East London and its allies blocked the streets in order to prevent Oswald Mosley and his British Union of Fascists marching through.

The Fascists were subjected to a humiliating defeat as the police found themselves unable to clear a path.

The Battle of Cable Street, as it has become known, is the most popular anti-fascist victory to have taken place on British soil.

This multimedia website looks at the history of 4 October 1936 and its subsequent commemoration. In order to do this we have used a variety of primary and secondary sources, including interviews with those involved.

HOPE not hate brings you this small resource not just to inform of an interesting historical episode but to allow visitors to draw some of the timeless lessons that can be learnt from it, and how the HOPE not hate campaign links to our shared heritage of Cable Street.

http://www.cablestreet.uk/

Black History Month 2022: Black Tudors

For Black History Month 2021 the History department are teaching a lesson on Black Tudors to Year 8. The lessons and resources can be found on the History Curriculum Site: https://stanboroughhums.wixsite.com/curriculum/bhm

 

In addition to this the BBC has a children's series, our Black History Heroes, celebrating inspirational and history-making figures from the past 200 years: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m000wfhl/our-black-history-heroes

 

Queen Elizabeth II has died

Queen Elizabeth II, the UK's longest-serving monarch, has died at Balmoral aged 96, after reigning for 70 years.

She died peacefully on Thursday afternoon at her Scottish estate, where she had spent much of the summer.

The Queen came to the throne in 1952 and witnessed enormous social change.

Her son King Charles III said the death of his beloved mother was a "moment of great sadness" for him and his family and that her loss would be "deeply felt" around the world.

Read the report here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-61585886

Watch Newsround: https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/news/watch_newsround

A tribute to Queen Elizabeth II: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001cgxk/newsround-our-queen-a-newsround-special

US Abortion Laws: What does overturn of Roe v Wade mean?

The US Supreme Court has opened the door for individual states to ban or severely restrict the ability for pregnant women to get abortions.

In 1973, the court had ruled in Roe v Wade that pregnant women were entitled to an abortion during the first three months of their pregnancy, while allowing for legal restrictions and bans in the second and third trimester.

Now the court has overturned that earlier ruling, effectively making it possible for states to ban abortions earlier than 12 weeks.

Abortion will not automatically become illegal in the US - but individual states will now be allowed to decide if and how to allow abortions.

Read the report here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-61804777

LGBTQ Pride Month 2022: Why is learning about LGBT history important?

For LGBT teenagers Lilly, Oliver and Liv, it's really important for everyone to be able to learn about how LGBT people were treated in the past, and what's led to the changes that we see in the world today.

For hundreds of years LGBT people were treated very badly, and could be arrested or lose their jobs just for being gay.

But events like the Stonewall riots in 1969 helped spark the fight for gay rights around the world.

The three teenagers have been sharing their experiences and who inspires them with Sue Sanders (co-founder of LGBT History Month), Michael Cashman (one of the founders of charity Stonewall and an actor who played Eastenders first ever gay character) and Lady Phyll (co-founder of UK Black Pride and Executive Director of human rights charity Kaleidoscope Trust).

Watch the report here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/news/watch_newsround

LGBTQ Pride Month 2022: Politics In Art: ‘The Arc Is Long’

“Art should be something that liberates your soul, provokes the imagination and encourages people to go further” – Keith Haring
2022 sees the 50th anniversary of the very first Pride March in the UK in 1972. A popular slogan of the early Gay Rights Movement (the idea of the ‘LGBT’ community was some way off) of the time was “the personal is political”, and art is probably the most individual of pastimes. So it seemed logical, as we have a National Curriculum link to our theme every year, to choose Art for 2022.

We then looked for five artists (one each to represent the L,G,B,T and ‘+’ of the community) who had used their talents for “political” ends, or expressed their orientation through their work and decided on our Five Faces for 2022. Keith Haring‘s dancing figures are a perfect example as they were used to draw attention to the growing AIDS crisis of the early 1980s. Doris Brabham Hatt and Fiore de Henriquez both fought against fascism in the 1930s. Jean-Michel Basquiat began as a graffiti artist and Mark Aguhar‘s life “and mere existence was an act of confronting white hegemony”.

Finally, as this year’s anniversary is one on a continuing and often winding journey towards full equality, which has suffered many setbacks while still moving forwards, we took ‘the arc is long’ as our tagline, from Dr Martin Luther King jnr’s quote “The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice”.

“To make people free is the aim of art; therefore art for me is the science of freedom” – Joseph Beuys

Mark Aguhar

Keith Haring

Doris Brabham Hatt

Fiore De Henriquez

Jean Michel Basquiat

The Falklands War: 40th Anniversary of the South Atlantic conflict

The Falkland Islands are known as a 'British Overseas Territory' - a self-governing group of islands in the South Atlantic Ocean, which has the Queen as its Head of State.

The UK government takes responsibility for its defence, and its people, the majority of whom are native born Falklanders, of British descent.

Although the islands are very far away the territory has been under British rule since 1833.

Though the vast majority of islanders see themselves and their islands as British, this has long been disputed by Argentina, which maintains its claim to them instead.

The country believes the islands rightfully belong to it.

So, 40 years ago the islands were invaded by Argentinian forces - keen to take the archipelago back from Britain.

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Newsround reports the following: https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/60798914

Ukraine Invasion

@Mrfitzhist has posted the following: For obvious reasons, the situation in Ukraine hit peak interest in school. Students keen for answers/reassurance. Tip of the iceberg but the ‘conflict at a glance’ looks to the geography, history/politics of the dispute. Hopefully it provides accessible insight.

Link: https://mobile.twitter.com/mrfitzhist/status/1496924060428742659?cxt=HHwWhsC52Y-gksYpAAAA

 

GCSE Students will be able to recognise parallels with the Cold War Era. John Simpson asks whether the Ukraine invasion is a new Cold War?

Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-60515342

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Newsround reports the following: https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/60417806

Remembrance 2021: The meaning of the poppy on Remembrance Day

During the First World War, millions of soldiers saw the poppies in Flanders fields on the Western Front. Some even sent pressed poppies home in letters. Over 100 years later, the poppy is still a world-recognised symbol of remembrance of the First World War, and millions of people choose to wear a red remembrance poppy in November. But when did this tradition start? What is it about the poppy that captured the public imagination so profoundly? And why do some people see the poppy as a controversial symbol? First World War Curator Laura Clouting tells us about the history of the poppy. 

Watch the video from the Imperial War Museum here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cXxOs_Fwrs

LGBTQ History

Individuals throughout history have lived radical private lives outside the accepted sexual and gender norms of the time. However, LGBTQ history is often hidden from view. Expression of same-sex love and gender non-conformity has been constrained by both repressive social attitudes and criminal persecution. The few first-hand accounts made of LGBTQ experience were often destroyed for self-protection.

By uncovering the LGBTQ stories that have survived, researchers can start to represent the true diversity of sexuality and gender in the history of England. Find out more about the lives of England’s LGBTQ people and their important place in the stories of English Heritage sites: https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/learn/histories/lgbtq-history/

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Remembrance 2020: Veterans on WWII

For Remembrance Day this year the History department would like you to listen to WWII veterans on their experiences during the war and their journeys home. All archive footage used in these films is copyright AP/British Movietone unless identified otherwise: https://vimeo.com/showcase/veterans

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Black History Month 2020: Apartheid

For Black History Month 2020 the History department are teaching a unit on Apartheid to Years 8 and 9. The lessons and resources can be found on the History Curriculum Site: https://stanboroughhums.wixsite.com/curriculum/bhm

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How do pandemics end?

We are in the grip of a pandemic like none other in living memory. While people are pinning their hopes on a vaccine to wipe it out, the fact is most of the infections faced by our ancestors are still with us.

Follow the link to find out how some of those pandemics came to an end, giving us clues as to how our future may unfold.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/resources/idt-876f42ae-5e44-41c0-ba2d-d6fd537aadfe

 

VJ Day 2020

The 75th anniversary of VJ Day (Victory over Japan) will be recognised on 15 August 2020 commemorating the end of the Second World War. Follow the links below to learn more about VJ Day:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/33945717

https://ve-vjday75.gov.uk/vjday/

Statues and History - An update

Edward Colston's statue has been replaced by a sculpture of Black Lives Matter protester Jen Reid. Below are links to two articles on this interesting development:

Guardian

Independent

Black History Timeline

Britain’s black history month has been running for over 30 years. Yet it took the toppling of the statue of a 17th-century slave trader for many people to discover how deep the legacy of slavery runs throughout the country.

For all of us to understand where we are, and how we got here, it’s clear we need to understand our history. And that must include the contribution of Africans and their descendants to the story of Britain, and the world. These timelines celebrate some of those stories: of world-shaping individuals and momentous events.

This is not about creating a separate history; it is about adding to the history we are already familiar with. A story which shows that, from the Romans onwards, Africa’s story has been intertwined with Europe’s and others around the world. It’s a story well worth knowing.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2020/jul/11/black-history-timeline

The NHS

On July 5 2020, it will be 72 years since the NHS and social care system was established.

2020 has been the most challenging year in NHS history. This year, the birthday is an opportunity to recognise, reflect and remember. Find out more about the NHS birthday here.

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How did the NHS revolutionise British medicine?
This resource covers the roles of Beveridge, Bevan and Attlee in the establishment of the NHS after the Second World War. It also considers opposition to the NHS and the challenges which it faces today.

The NHS

Windrush Day

On June 22 every year, the UK celebrates Windrush Day to honour the British Caribbean community. The observance was first introduced in 2018. You can find out more about Windrush Day here: https://www.windrushday.org.uk/

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Work through the PowerPoint to learn more about Windrush.

Windrush Day

Statues and History

Should monuments of controversial historical figures be removed, or does this make us victims of history rather than subjects who can understand and engage with it?

Statues and History

Black Lives Matter

What is the ‘Black Lives Matter’ Campaign?
Why are people protesting?
What’s the history behind the protests?
Why does it matter?
What can we do?

Black Lives Matter

Covid-19 The History of Pandemics

Throughout history, nothing has killed more human beings than infectious disease. Covid-19 shows how vulnerable we remain – and how we can avoid similar pandemics in the future.

An interesting BBC Article on the History of Pandemics:

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200325-covid-19-the-history-of-pandemics

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