Criteria for inclusion

The following is a guideline of the criterion employed:

• Items concerned with the international development of Black and Asian histories. An exploration of how colonialism has impacted upon the development of national identity for those nations included in the geographical radius of the collection.
• Items concerned with international political struggles of Black and Asian histories. Issues such as the civil rights movement, the impact and consequences of apartheid and the fight for independence under colonial rule.
• Items connected with the contexts of Empire, slavery, abolition, ‘race’, racism and anti-racism. The open access Black History Collection contains a substantial repository of nineteenth century British Parliamentary papers. They are arranged according to the following topics - Colonies, Emigration and the Slave Trade.
• Items associated with local and West Midlands based Black and Asian histories and how this contributes to a wide discussion of the Black and Asian British experience. Material pertaining to local Black and Asian histories can be found in the Birmingham Collection and archival collections. Consult a member of staff on the fourth floor of the Library of Birmingham for further details.
• Selective studies in diaspora and the culture of migration, including biographical texts relating to key individuals and/cultural movements.
• The geographical radius of nations intended for inclusion in the Black History Collection includes histories of African nations, all three nations of the Indian Subcontinent and all Caribbean nations connected with African heritage.

Page last updated: 29 September 2023