Birmingham ready for Black History Month celebrations

Birmingham's celebrations for Black History Month will be launched through a free event of live music and dance.

Running through October, other activities will include art exhibitions, talks and tours.

Saturday's launch event will allow people to also find out about influential Black figures, the city council said.

It will end with a screening of the film Barrel Children, marking 75 years of Windrush.

Visitors will need to get tickets for the movie which tells the stories of families left behind by Windrush, the authority added.

Other events in the city during October include:

Images taken by the photographer Vanley Burke along with material from his personal archive will show his history and "the Black British experience".

The communities of Birmingham feature as part of his experiences and the exhibition will be held until 4 November at Soho House.

Dr Miranda Kaufmann will host this talk at Aston Hall on 12 October.

She will share stories of the people enslaved at a plantation in Barbados by Lady Sarah Holte, third wife of Sir Lister Holte, who lived at the Hall from their marriage in 1755 to her death in 1794.

On 14 October, the tour from Soho House will showcase Handsworth's food history from Georgian treats to flavours from around the world

Visitors to the Mailbox until 29 October can discover who and what was Dorcas through the lens of textile crafts, fashion and Dorcas Clubs, organised by Craftspace.

Such clubs allowed groups of people, usually based in a church, to provide clothing to the poor and Windrush descendent Rose Sinclair drew on the story of her mother's club for the exhibition.

The arcade host a special market with stalls throughout on 7 October along with displays of African drumming

More events to mark Black History Month in Birmingham can be found here

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