Inspiration: an interview with Lorna Stewart, chair of black history for the University of the Arts
Lorna Stewart, the chair of black history, for the University of the Arts has managed to produce some extremely successful black history events. The black 100 plus was by far the most engaging and innovative; it also created the feeling that black people could actually be proud of the achievements that certain people are doing today.
The black 100 plus, was a photographic exhibition which profiled the lives of 100 black people, who are successful in their field of work but who do not receive the recognition that they deserve. The exhibition gave people the chance to really understand the important work that black people are doing and for the participants to have an educational experience. The exhibition was displayed in the London College of Communication.
The idea for this project came from a dinner party. Lorna and her friends were discussing the most successful people in the world, and none of the people who were mentioned were black. Furthermore, when Lorna proposed six black people, they were rejected as no one knew who they were. Lorna was set a task by her friends, to name 100 black people and when she started to struggle as she got past 50, she knew there was a problem and thought of a way to address it.
“The idea behind black 100 plus is very simple, there are lots of black people in the community who we don’t know, they do amazing things and they are inspirational. It was literally going out and finding those people and saying lets find out about your life. Let’s get a biography about your life so we can inspire our up and coming people, you know the youngsters and the adults, and to really address the issue that black people are under achievers. I don’t believe that for a minute; there are lots of situations within our society that give the impression that we are underachievers” though clearly this is not always the case.
The impact on the young people who attended the event was immense: “The young people were the best. They stopped, they looked at the exhibition and said well I didn’t know, so and so was a black person or that we had black people doing this and that. The whole idea behind black 100 plus, was to say to young people, you know about Malcolm X, you know about Martin Luther King but you can not relate because of the generation gap. These are people in your history; you probably read about and know nothing else about. Well let us create a situation where you have modern day achievers, here and now, which you can actually have a conversation with. We got those achievers here, and the young people here, let them talk and the inspiration was unbelievable”.
What a remarkable achievement; encouraging young people to fully engage with the fact that they to can be successful if they apply themselves. The black history consortium is made up of people from all ethnicities and cultures. The group is formed of academics, university staff, students and external people who got together in order to educate the entire community about black people. The group was formed as direct result to the universities need to engage different members within the academic environment. In the past the universities approach had not been workable, due to: “The biggest problem that I could see with the strategies that they were making, they were not actually consulting with the kind of people who could make the difference. So there was a lot of talk about what could take place and what could be done, but no interaction with the people who would do it”.
Throughout the month of October; the black history group also put on a fashion show which displayed the work of talented black designers. An event with Dawn Alexander Walker; the first black woman to become the face of Oil of Olay and owned the first black business in Britain. The ‘building a monumental enterprise’ event designed for young people getting into business. Another event saw the launch of a new book written to describe the life and times of the first black auctioneer in this country. All of the events have enabled people to start realising the contribution that black people make to this society and have allowed people to become inspired.
Being such a source of inspiration to many others, Lorna illustrated her motivation.
“I have this whole thing about inspiration, a lot of the time we look to people to give us our inspiration. I’ve been lucky as I have not had to look to a person; I get up in the morning, hear the birds singing and get inspired by that. You can do, be or have anything in this world. Nothing is beyond your achievement; nothing is beyond your ability. Believe in yourself, do not be afraid to make mistakes and treat everyone equally. Do not discriminate against them, because you do not agree with their thoughts or their views. Strive for what you want, achieve and live your life on purpose. Do not do things by accident, like you fell into that situation or job. Strive for it, be on purpose, and aim high. The inspiration is to always hold onto something that you believe in; whether they are kind words, or an event. You have to be inspired by something, and live you life on purpose”.