[Imc-birmingham] Black History Month: DVD/VHS Learning Resource: "The First Black Britons"

[tony at sweetpatootee.co.uk]

Dear Editorial team

With the arrival of Black History Month, we are wondering if you will be
interested in our latest resource.

My colleague and I have produced a DVD learning resource that offers history
& citizenship teachers and students, a new understanding of the 'Black
Peoples of the Americas' syllabus. Although we are a small 'Independent', we
are making every effort to bring our resource to the attention of educators,
students and others sharing diaspora/British history and identity as a
possible addition to learning resources in schools (History & Citizenship KS
2-4), and also F.E and H.E levels.

'The First Black Britons' has been added to the Amazon.com catalogue. It is
on sale at Borders, WH Smith, HMV... Our DVD can also be purchased using
Visa online at our distributor's website <www.beckmanndirect.com>.  Those
wishing to use a purchase order should telephone our distributors: Tel:
(+44) 01624 816 585, to arrange supply and payment details


Synopsis Originally broadcast on BBC Television, 'The First Black Britons'
is a dramatic and compelling narrative brought to life by reconstructions
and a wealth of historical sources.

Black-British TV Actor/Comedian Gary Beadle (The Comic Strip Presents,
Eastenders...) presents a journey of discovery, from the Napoleonic Wars to
the grand imperial age and a struggle for equality. He visits archives,
museums and historical sites in Jamaica, Barbados, Liverpool, London and
Windsor; revealing a vital missing chapter in the making of our modern
world. The incredible hidden history of the West India Regiment. And the
unique act of Parliament that established a new class of citizen - Black
British.

With the help of Prof. Roger Buckley, University of Connecticut, (author,
'Slaves In Red Coats') we truly feel that we have met our objectives in
bringing to light a hidden history of the Americas, in the form of a
flexible and groundbreaking resource: a dramatic and compelling narrative
that meets curriculum requirements from a multicultural perspective. Our
Learning Resource centres on the hidden history of thousands of African men
(11,000+ by 1800) lifted from slavery in north America and the Caribbean, to
lead a journey to Black citizenship in the New World - as equals of White
comrades-in-arms. The West India Regiment (1795-1927):

Illustrated by a wealth of vintage photographs, prints and sketches, an
engaging narrative is brought to life by dramatic reconstructions based on
first-hand sources: Prime Minister William Pitt (the Younger), his friend
William Wilberforce, Queen Victoria, and, the very soldiers who shaped
attitudes to race and identity in Britain, Africa and the Americas - central
characters of a defining chapter in the making of our modern world.

A total running length of 57-minutes, is designed as 3 x 18" stories,
structured as follows:

Story 1 'Slaves In Red Coats': How the government of abolitionist Prime
Minister, William Pitt (the younger) secretly purchased a slave-army to
defeat French and Napoleonic forces in the Americas.

Story 2 'The Queen's Gentlemen': How Britain's first African army won the
personal favour of Queen Victoria and carved a unique status for themselves
as a new class of citizen - 'Black British'

Story 3 'The Prodigals Return'; How West India Regiment soldiers - 'the sons
of slaves' - exacted bloody revenge on the 'Chiefdoms' that sold them into
captivity, returning to West Africa to win 2 Victoria Cross medals, in a
'Boy's Own Adventure' of imperial conquest.


For further details of the resource, do please have a look at our website:
www.sweetpatootee.co.uk

The First Black Britons is having a good response from Race Equality Units,
Schools/Ed Authorities, Universities, Museums & Libraries - UK, Canada,
Caribbean, USA (the Times Educational Supplement has published a review of
the resource (magazine, 13 July 07 - page 41). The documentary is also
proving popular with mainstream audiences who enjoy good historical
narrative - well told.


If there is anything further you require, please don't hesitate to be in
touch. We hope you will find 'The First Black Britons' a useful addition to
your resources.

We look forward to hearing your thoughts

Tony T Rebecca Goldstone

Sweet Patootee 
T/F: (+44) 0207 686 5101
W: www.sweetpatootee.co.uk

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