Evidence library

The survey published by Intercultural Youth Scotland aimed to gather the opinions and perceptions of young BPoC on themes surrounding Black History Month celebrations within their local communities and Black History teaching in schools for The UN Decade for People of African Descent 2021.

Key findings

• There is an overwhelmingly strong demand for positive education around Black History to turn away from the brutality of our history, and to focus more on the contributions that Black people have made to the world historically.

• 86% of respondents feel extremely negative when being taught Black History.
• Young Black people in Scotland lack the opportunities to explore Black history in as much qualitative depth as they need, and not enough is being done to address this.
• 45% of respondents feel extremely positive when being taught Black History by a person of colour, while only 6% feel any sort of negativity in this regard.
• There is a common feeling among young BPoC of being presented with a history that centres on slavery and dehumanisation, when there is a high demand to focus on Black History with a positive outlook.