Black History Month 2020

The Legacy of Sam King goes to Southwark Schools

The Legacy of Sam King project went into four Southwark based schools during Black History Month 2020. Greatly impeded by the pandemic, this project was
delivered digitally using Zoom to take the program into the socially distanced classrooms of Kingsdale Foundation School, St Saviour’s and St Olave’s Church of
England School, Sacred Heart Catholic School, and University Academy of Engineering South Bank.
The initial plan was to engage with 3 schools. However, Black Heroes Foundation shortlisted 4 rather than 3 schools. This was due to the healthy response and expressed interests received from schools to participate in the project. Each school was invited to select 15 students to be involved in the project. The
programme of activities included students watching the Sam King’s documentary and participating in 3 workshop sessions. Watching the Sam King’s documentary provoked thoughts and generated discussions around the issues of political activism and the positive contributions that people of colour have made in the UK. The
students created characters and stories based on themes, found voices of the characters and then created and shared the scenes. This was facilitated by the Project Facilitator and Dramaturge Jennifer Farmer.

What did you enjoy about the Legacy of Sam King’s workshops?

“Talking”
“I was amazed how committed the students and teachers were, and the wealth of
knowledge they had about political activism”
“The interaction, the fun, the final piece being created. It was such an interesting project. It could have gone in so many directions but the piece being developed is so current and important to the girls”.
“Interactive, theme games”
“The collective group work and sharing your ideas to influence and implement change”
“The interactive activities”
“The way we got to share our opinions on different topics”
“Discussions”
“The creativity of the young people and how they took ownership of their ideas”
“The way we got to share our opinions on different topics”.

Jam Board outputs: Who are your current heroes, what qualities do they have that make them heroes?