Black culture is going digital. People are creating a mass of gigabytes of news, opinions and ideas. Commerce rules in the Black History Month 365 listings. The Voice, Black newspaper, aims to inspire youth, parents and teachers with History supplements.

Black political history features in many archives. Patrick Vernon OBE, founder of Every Generation Media, tweets that politics are essential parts of Black British culture. The Hackney Museum’s current exhibit says it all in ‘People Power: Black British Arts + Activism in Hackney 1960s-2000s’.

Furthermore, the digitised Bernie Grant MP archives at Bishopsgate Institute honour the rebel politician. Indeed, “Nobody Benefits from Hidden History, That’s The Beauty of the Black Cultural Archives” said Paul Reid, director of the BCA centre in Brixton, the historic first landing of post-war West Indians.

But information professionals ignore Black digital  production. Town and school librarians and researchers for the National Archives are yet to grasp its merit.

Fortunately, digital Black cultures are important representations of British Culture. Embedding them in the treasure troves of knowledge may be difficult but do-able. Here are some thoughts on how and who must do it. Read more 

Poster: People Power, Hackney Museum until Jan 2017