Black History for Every Day of the Year

David Olusoga is well known for his award winning Black and British books for adults and children. For this book he has worked with his archivist and illustrator siblings and together they have produced a remarkable information text which should have a place on every bookshelf.

The book takes us through the year with a biography or piece of writing about both famous and less well-known people and key moments in history. It is a rich and deep history acknowledging and celebrating the contributions of Black people to ancient history and through to the modern day.

What makes this book so special though is the way in which the different specialities of the Olusogas are used to make an information text which is accessible for a range of readers. There is an entry for every day of the year, so it is possible to read it from back to front one day at a time. It is also possible to look up meaningful dates (the children round my table all looked up their birthdays) – each entry is a separate, concise and erudite description so even if you only read one entry, you learn something. There are also links in each entry to other related entries so you find yourself going from one to another and building a picture of events. There are twelve timelines at the end of the book which track themes and enable you to understand the Black contribution to major events such as the World Wars or the Black Arts Movement. And the glossary and index are both so good, they are obviously the work of an expert archivist.

Throughout the book there are complex, interesting and beautiful illustrations by Yinka Olusoga and there are also historical photographs, quotations and poetry which give more context and information about the text.

This is an important and valuable book. It deserves to be read and devoured by everyone.