Ways to celebrate Black History Month with your unit

Every October in the UK, we mark Black History Month. 

It’s a time for recognising and celebrating the stories of the amazing Black people who’ve shaped the world today. Often, these people didn’t get the recognition they deserved in the past, so it’s important that we continue to share their stories with young people today.  

If you want to get involved, but aren’t sure where to start, don’t worry! We’ve got lots of ideas to help you explore Black History Month with girls in your unit.  

1) Try out our Black History Month activities 

We’ve created free unit meeting activities for every section to explore and celebrate Black History Month. If you can’t fit them into October, that’s ok! They’re here for you to use all year round:  

• Hidden histories: Rainbows and Out of sight stories: Brownies.  These unit meeting activities are interactive stories which explore the life and achievements of Mary Seacole. 
• Celebrating sheroes: Guides and Unsung stories: Rangers. These unit meeting activities explore the life of Connie Mark, and celebrates the stories of amazing Black women that inspire your Guides and Rangers. 

2) Don’t be afraid to take the activities further 

Each of our activities is about just one woman’s story. But there are so many more stories of amazing Black people’s lives that girls can learn from and be inspired by. If you’ve already done our Black History Month activities, have a think about Black women that you personally feel inspired by.  

Take some time to research what they’ve achieved, and think about what parts of their story you want to share with your unit. You could even invite girls to do the same, and create a collage together with pictures of Black women that you all look up to and admire.  

3) Try out some other programme activities 

There are lots of activities in our programme designed to help girls think about ways they can include everyone. These activities are not specific to race or Black history, but might be useful prompts to help girls think about things they can do to make sure that everyone feels valued and included.  

• Uncrumpled friends: Rainbows - This unit meeting activity is from the topic Better together - an activity which explores the longer term impact of the things we say to other people. This activity links to the Rainbow Promise and asks girls to reflect on how they can be kind to everyone. You can find this activity in unit meeting activity pack 8. 
• Fairest of them all: Brownies - This unit meeting activity is from the topic Better together - an activity where girls explore discrimination and practise challenging people to be inclusive. You can find this activity in unit meeting activity pack 8. 
• Pick a card: Guides - This is a Stage 4 Reflect Skills builder activity where Guides practise taking on a new perspective to help them understand things from someone else’s point of view. 
• Equality v equity: Rangers - This unit meeting activity is from the topic Better together - an activity where Rangers explore the differences between equality and equity and reflect on what they could do in their local community. You can find this activity in unit meeting activity pack 8. 

And did you catch our new inclusion unit meeting in the latest edition of guiding magazine? Rainbows, Brownies, Guides and Rangers can learn more about diversity, allyship and empathy. They’re all part of the Know myself theme and don’t need many materials to get them ready. Download them now.

4) Check out some other resources 

There are lots of options and resources out there to support you to have meaningful conversations with young people. The Black curriculum have lots of resources, including free videos and activities.  

Last year, we also put together a big list of resources from other organisations about talking to young people and children about race and racism. Although many of these are aimed at parents, it’s a great list to be familiar with so that you can be prepared to answer girls’ questions. Hopefully it will be useful not just in Girlguiding, but in other areas of your life too.