Black History Month Scotland 2025: Resistance & Resilience

As October comes around, remembering the activist roots of Black History Month in Scotland is crucial: far from a performative talking point, the month has long functioned as an opportunity to reflect on the past and plan for the years to come. “Scotland's Black History Month began in 2001 with the anti-racist movement, building solidarity from common experiences of racism and fighting for a better future for all of us,” says Amy Rich, Communities and Campaigns Officer at Coalition for Racial Equality and Rights (CRER). Such sentiments are especially weighted this year, amid the ongoing violent rise of the far right. From tours to exhibitions, talks to screenings, 2025’s Black History Month Scotland offers hope and strength in the fight for justice, both in Scotland and internationally. 

This year, CRER’s programme cover art features the work of Glasgow-based artist Christian Noelle Charles. Against a layered green backdrop, two open hands reach upwards. “From my series Reaching Hands, the print Growing Opportunities explores the profound act of forging one's own path. Inspired by discovering new trails in nature, the work depicts fingers transforming into pathways – a metaphor for creating possibility where none is readily given,” says Charles. Such creative pulls speak to both the political and the personal. “This act holds a poignant weight for me as a Black individual in a systemic society, serving as a testament to the resilience required to grow your own way forward.”

This resilience is rooted within this year’s programme. At City Arts Centre on 10 October, Dr Maryam Ohadi-Hamadani presents Visualising Resistance in Art and Black Power Across Britain, sharing recent research on anticolonial movements and the network of Black artists and activists campaigning in the 60s and 70s in Scotland, alongside the rest of the UK. Screening at the Burrell Collection on 23 October, in an event titled From Belize to Scotland, BAFTA-nominated documentary Treefellers shines a light on the 900 Belizean lumberjacks who left British Honduras in 1942 to fell trees in Scotland. At the Tron Theatre, on 24 October, activist Stella Dadzie joins CRER to discuss her new book, A Whole Heap of Mix Up, which collects her personal, political and creative writing, offering a vital insight into Black women’s lives and activism in Britain. 

While Scottish exceptionalism often pushes aside Scotland’s role in empire and enslavement, CRER understands the importance of acknowledging the country’s past. On 4, 18 and 31 October, Nelson Cummins, Curator of Legacies of Slavery and Empire, will lead tours reflecting on the collection of Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, exploring how its history has been shaped – and continues to be shaped – by colonial endeavours.  

Meanwhile, at Strathclyde Students’ Union on 6 October, History and Future of BME Teachers in Scotland sees Mary Osei-Oppong – a retired teacher and author of For The Love of Teaching: The Anti-Racist Battlefield – join a panel of teachers reflecting upon their experience of teaching in Scotland, while also discussing how we may create a more just education system. As Rich notes, “Throughout Black History Month, CRER sets out to broaden understanding and knowledge around the achievements and resilience shown by African, Caribbean, Asian and other adversely racialised communities in Glasgow and across Scotland and the ways in which these communities have deep and rooted ties to Scottish history.” But the programme also looks beyond Scotland. At City Arts Centre on 17 October, in The Return of Sudanese Cinema, James McCune Smith scholar Umloda Ibrahim explores the history of Sudan’s film industry. Sudan’s brilliant cinematic output has long been overlooked; unpacking both its colonial and post-independent eras, Ibrahim will provide the past context to its present success. 

Outwith CRER’s programming, Black History Month Scotland offers a number of brilliant events. On 25 October at Dovecot Studios, In Progress sees Sekai Makache present tapestry designs – inspired by 17th century Scottish paintings of the Greco-Roman prophetess, the sibyls – and explore the sibyls’ African roots. In Berwick-Upon-Tweed’s Paxton House on 4 October, academic and food historian, Dr Peggy Brunache presents Consuming History, a cooking event celebrating Caribbean food and its history of joy and resilience. For bike-lovers, MOUR (Migrants Organising for Rights and Empowerment) offers a cycling tour of Glasgow on 10 October, exploring Black cyclists alongside the city’s colonial history. 

“Black History Month seeks to be a starting point to celebrate and educate on our histories, and a call for sustaining this year-long in Scotland,” Rich tells us. Black history isn’t confined to October; rather, taking pause to reflect and connect aims to enable us to hold this history all year round.

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Black History Month Scotland takes place at venues across Scotland, 1 Oct-1 Nov, full programme details and tickets at blackhistorymonthscotland.org