Black History Month UK 2026 runs throughout October. This year’s theme, Honouring Our Communities, is about the people who hold communities together, often without recognition. It’s a theme that sits close to home for us.
Throughout October, communities, schools and organisations across the UK mark Black History Month, honouring the contributions of Black people to Britain’s past, present and future. At Baytree, we’ll be joining in, and towards the end of the month, we’ll be sharing more about how we’re celebrating here. Keep your eyes peeled.
Where Black History Month UK began
Black History Month UK was founded by Akyaaba Addai-Sebo, a Ghanaian-born educational consultant who came to the UK as a refugee in 1984. Inspired by the African-American observance of Black History Month in the United States, he wanted to create something similar in Britain, a platform to promote knowledge and understanding of Black history and achievement.
With support from the Greater London Council, the first official Black History Month event took place on 1 October 1987. October was chosen partly because it’s when African leaders traditionally gather to discuss important issues, and partly because it marked the start of the UK school year, a deliberate choice to reach young people early.
This year’s theme: Honouring Our Communities
This year’s theme looks at something often taken for granted, the people who shape, support and sustain their communities. Not a place or a postcode, but people: volunteers who give their time without expectation, teachers who shape futures beyond the classroom, nurses and carers who offer dignity and compassion, community leaders who bring people together, often without recognition.
This theme is not simply about place or postcode. It is about people. Their work may not always be recorded, but it is felt, in relationships, in support systems, and in the spaces where people find belonging.
Black History Month UK
That description could just as easily describe Baytree. Our own community, the volunteers who give their time every week, the staff who show up for the women and girls we support, and the women and girls themselves, who build each other up as much as we support them, is exactly the kind of everyday, often unseen contribution this year’s theme is asking us to notice.
How we’ll be celebrating at Baytree
Later this month, we’ll be sharing more about how Baytree is marking Black History Month, honouring the people in our own community whose contributions, like those the national theme points to, often go unseen. Keep your eyes peeled for more details.
