Sheffield Anti-Racist Education (SHARE)

SHARE is a group of Sheffielders working together to advance anti-racist education in our city.

[Sheffield Anti-Racist Education (SHARE) @share_sheffield]

A big thank you to the speakers, attendees, caterers and helpers at our 'Winning Alliances for Anti-Racist Education' conference. Lots of great discussions and plans for the future. Also many thanks to Sheffield NEU, Roots & Futures and Sheffield Museums Trust for their support.

[William Dalrymple @DalrympleWill]

So our history national curriculum on Empire was overseen by @michaelgove? What could go wrong?
https://t.co/G5R0gxddrw

[Archaeo - Histories @archeohistories]

A fragment of the ancient brick wall from the famous Ishtar Gate, covered in cuneiform writing and dating to around 604-562 BC, is currently housed at the Pergamon Museum in Berlin...

The Ishtar Gate was a massive entryway that led into magnificent ancient city of Babylon. Ancient Babylon was located in modern day Iraq, and was at its greatest from 604-562 BC. The city was home to more than 200,000 people during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II. The gate was built for Ishtar, the goddess of love and war, and was one of eight fortified gates that led into one of the greatest ancient cities of the world. The Ishtar Gate sat at the end of the Processional Way, a beautiful street paved with bricks that stretched over half a mile leading toward the city. The great Babylonian King, Nebuchadnezzar II, built the gate in 575 BC to welcome visitors to magnificent city. The Ishtar Gate was covered in beautiful burnt and glazed bricks that featured images of dragons, lions and young bulls. The colors of the bricks were vibrant aqua blues and greens and yellows. The gate was more than 38ft high. It also featured an inscription with the words of Nebuchadnezzar saying, 'I placed wild bulls and ferocious dragons in the gateways and thus adorned them with luxurious splendor so that people might gaze on them in wonder'.

In 1899, German archaeologists began excavating the ancient city of Babylon, which stood in remarkable condition, including the Ishtar Gate, discovered in 1902. This gate, one of eight constructed at various times, symbolized Babylon's glory. Standing 12m high, much of the walls was still intact. Excavation led to the reconstruction of the Ishtar Gate, considered one of archaeology's most spectacular achievements. Over 200 local workers unearthed the site, extracting tons of soil and tens of thousands of fragments, enough to fill 900 boxes. Archaeologists meticulously restored the animal figures on the gate using the best-preserved brick fragments, replacing missing pieces with modern replicas. Thousands of enamel pieces were carefully assembled at the Old Near East Museum in Berlin to recreate the majestic Ishtar Gate.

The inscription of the Ishtar Gate is written in Akkadian cuneiform in white-glazed and blue glazed bricks, and was a dedication by Nebuchadnezzar to explain the gate’s purpose. On the wall of the Ishtar Gate the inscription is 15m tall by 10m wide and includes 60 lines of writing. The inscription was created around the same time as the gates construction, around 605–562 BC.

Translation :

"Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, the pious prince, appointed by the will of Marduk, the highest priestly prince, beloved of Nabu, of prudent deliberation, who has learnt to embrace wisdom, who fathomed Their (Marduk and Nabu) godly being and pays reverence to their Majesty, the untiring Governor, who always has at heart, the care of the cult of Esagila and Ezida and is constantly concerned with the well being of Babylon and Borsippa, the wise, the humble, the caretaker of Esagila and Ezida, the first born son of Nabopolassar, the King of Babylon, am I."

Reconstructions of the Ishtar Gate and the Processional Way are still some of the premiere objects on display at the Pergamom Museum's Vorderasiatisches Exhibit, or Exhibit for the Ancient Near East. The exhibit has 270,000 pieces that were unearthed by the German archaeologists working in the early 20th century in the ancient cities of Babylon, Assur, Uruk, and Habuba Kabira. Iraq has since requested that these priceless artifacts be returned. Mohammed Aziz Selman al-Ibrahim, an archaeologist, and official of the antiquities and heritage department of Iraq's ministry of culture, called for its return.

These antiquities have not been returned and continue to be displayed in Berlin. As, Germany contends that its excavations were legal, but modern sympathies about bad old days of colonialism make this a grey area.

© The Archaeologist

#archaeohistories

[History Reclaimed @History_Reclaim]

Jeremy Black reviews Sudhir Hazareesingh’s 'Black Spartacus: The Epic Life of Toussaint Louverture', examining the Haitian Revolution, the career of Toussaint Louverture, and the challenges of Haiti’s transition from revolution to independence.

Read the article in full: https://t.co/TAweYOUroC

#HistoryReclaimed #BookReview #SudhirHazareesingh #JeremyBlack #ToussaintLouverture #HaitianRevolution

[Brendan Cox @MrBrendanCox]

An absolutely awful attack- but totally predictable.

You’ll now see people who have driven hatred of Muslims condemn the attack & feign surprise at how such a thing could happened.

But if you create an atmosphere of hate you share responsibility

https://t.co/5dUx5kguFV

[Sam Dalrymple @SamDalrymple123]

When Bengal Was The Richest Place in the World

In the early 1700s, Bengal was one of the richest places in the world. Generating 5% of global GDP, its capital Murshidabad had more wealth than the British aristocracy combined.

[Kehinde Andrews @kehinde_andrews]

"Why Black Studies? Where's the Whites Studies professor?" 🙄 I opened up the emails from the trolls in the new @makeitplainorg podcast. Endless fun dealing with the madness! Also reflected on the mediocre White men fight to be PM of the UK. Watch now: https://t.co/udh9YFX1be

[Stand Up To Racism @AntiRacismDay]

‘It was so terrifying’: care workers tell of being trapped at home by Belfast mob’.

“Someone who is rioting doesn’t know that the person they are targeting is actually looking after their mother or their granny,”

The targets of a racist pogrom.

https://t.co/HURLOiBWgA

[Auschwitz Memorial @AuschwitzMuseum]

11 June 1938 | French Jewish boy, Jacques Aizik Yamniak, was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine.

He was deported to Auschwitz from Drancy on 7 March 1944. He was murdered in a gas chamber after the arrival selection.
---

▶ Ruins of gas chamber and crematorium III: https://t.co/LQFeX1T7Bj

[Taj Ali @Taj_Ali1]

It’s worth remembering that while racist thugs were setting homes on fire last night in Belfast, ordinary citizens were running into those same burning homes to help those affected. There are good people looking out for their neighbours.

[The Voice Newspaper @TheVoiceNews]

#BelfastRiots

In a statement, the family of Stephen Ogilvy said that they do not want this "terrible tragedy to be used to divide people or fuel hostility".

"We have many migrants who make a deeply valuable contribution to our country, including in our healthcare system and hospitality sector and we depend on them to make our country work."

[Stand Up To Racism @AntiRacismDay]

BBC reporting Reform UK MSP calling for protests, despite last nights racist pogroms in Belfast.

Reform, the whole far right & fascist Tommy Robinson want division & violence.

We must stand together to defend our neighbours, workmates & communities.

https://t.co/xBgWAFmC4k

[The Voice Newspaper @TheVoiceNews]

#YourVoiceMatters

Breaking the silence around Black baby loss

After experiencing stillbirth herself, Dr Julie Hammond examines baby loss in Black communities and the urgent need for greater awareness about the issue

➡️ Read commentary here: https://t.co/iOOTmIrNih

[Zoom Afrika @zoomafrika1]

Meet Dr Wendy Okolo, At age 26 she obtained a PhD in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington, becoming the first black woman to obtain this qualification at the university. She was born and raised in Nigeria where she attended St Mary’s Primary School and Queen’s College in Lagos.

She is an award-winning Aerospace Researcher Engineer focused on flight dynamics, vehicle controls, and systems health monitoring in the Intelligent Systems Division at NASA Ames Research Center. Dr Wendy Okolo is also an avid supporter of changing the narrative of underrepresentation in STEM, particularly for young girls, career woman, and people of color.

[Kehinde Andrews @kehinde_andrews]

“It shows the community that they’re not valued, their academics are not valued, the effort that they put in is not valued" One of students on the axing of Black Studies at @MyBCU.
Thanks to @melissasigodo for the story
https://t.co/ZNLCU1u97t

[Melissa Sigodo @melissasigodo]

The Black studies course at Birmingham City University is set to be axed leaving 5 Black staff members at risk of redundancy. Students have written to vice chancellors raising concerns that the plans appear to contradict the uni’s own DEI aims.
https://t.co/lYZwNe3ao6

[Tanita Tikaram💙 @tanita_tikaram]

The pretence that you are holding these awful people to account while continually platforming them & their hateful divisive politics makes the BBC slightly more vomit inducing than Reform . That’s quite an accomplishment.

[The Black Curriculum @CurriculumBlack]

This #MondayMotivation, we honour Akala, artist, educator, and cultural thinker whose work continues to challenge the histories we were taught to accept. 🌍

Through his writing, music, and public speaking, Akala reveals that the story of Britain cannot be separated from empire, race, and class. He reminds us that education is not neutral; it reflects power, perspective, and the stories that are too often left out.

His work pushes us to question what we’ve been taught, confront uncomfortable truths, and recognise how deeply inequality is rooted in both history and the present.

Akala’s voice urges us to see that Black history is not an add-on; it is foundational, interconnected, and essential to understanding the world around us.

His legacy is one of clarity, courage, and truth-telling; reshaping how we learn, think, and engage with history.

#TBH365 #AntiRacismInEducation #Akala #DecoloniseEducation #BlackBritishHistory #TheBlackCurriculum #EducationMatters

[Alan Lester @aljhlester]

1/2 The historically illiterate Vance and Hegseth cannot grasp that Britain has a sizeable minority of black & brown citizens not because we’ve been invaded by alien immigrants but because white Britons invaded much of South Asia, Africa and the Caribbean

https://t.co/WgbY9OO0gR

[Archaeo - Histories @archeohistories]

The Caribbean island of Barbados built the most intensive sugar plantation economy in the Western Hemisphere on the bodies of enslaved Africans, achieving a death rate so catastrophically high that the island's enslaved population never once achieved natural population growth across the entire 200 year duration of British colonial slavery, requiring continuous human importation simply to prevent total labor force collapse.

Barbados became England's first significant Caribbean sugar colony in the 1640s, and the model of plantation organization developed there between 1640 and 1700 was subsequently exported with deliberate intent to Jamaica, South Carolina, and every other territory where English planters sought to establish sugar or rice cultivation. The Barbados Slave Code of 1661, the first comprehensive slave code in English colonial law, legally defined enslaved Africans as real estate rather than persons, a classification that made them inheritable property and denied them any legal standing to seek remedy for any treatment whatsoever. This code was adopted almost verbatim by South Carolina in 1696 and became the template for slave law across the American South.

The labor regime on Barbadian sugar plantations was specifically designed around the logic that it was more economically efficient to work enslaved people to death and replace them through the slave trade than to moderate labor intensity sufficiently to allow population maintenance through natural reproduction. Contemporary plantation management documents from the 17th and 18th centuries record this calculation explicitly. The average life expectancy of an enslaved person on a Barbadian sugar estate after beginning field labor was estimated by contemporary observers at seven to nine years, nearly identical to the figure recorded in Saint Domingue.

When Britain abolished slavery in 1833, Barbadian planters received compensation payments totaling 1.7 million pounds for the 83,000 enslaved people they had legally owned. The enslaved people received a mandatory apprenticeship period of unpaid labor lasting four years before any form of freedom took effect. Barbados became a republic in November 2021, removing Queen Elizabeth II as head of state, but no formal reparations discussion between the British government and Barbados has produced any financial commitment from London.

© Past Archives

#archaeohistories