‘Black Tudors’ Art-History Collaboration Lecture

On Wednesday 4 November our 4s historians took to the Lecture Theatre instead of their regular history classroom for a slightly different lesson. Devices were put away and no writing or paired discussion was required, simply an open and engaged mind.

In the first of a couple of planned art-history collaboration lectures, the girls listened to Ms Beales, Head of Art, talk about representations of black people in Tudor England. Inspired by Miranda Kaufmann’s relatively recent (October 2017), original and enormously relevant work Black Tudors: The Untold Story, which the girls subsequently went onto explore extracts and stories from, the lecture proved to be a resounding success!

Of particular pertinence was Amelia S’s comment that “I learnt lots that I didn’t know, for example I never knew that there were any relationships with people of different races until the slave trade started.”

A huge thank you goes to Ms Beales for hosting this fascinating lecture, and we are very much looking forward to the next one on Elizabeth I’s use of symbolism in her portraiture, taking place on Wednesday 18 November.

Here's what our 4s students had to say about Ms Beales insightful lecture:

"I really enjoyed the lecture on Wednesday, it was very interesting and something I had never experienced before. Mrs Beales was a great teacher and spoke very clearly, and didn’t put too much information on a page at once." – Heidi P

"I learnt lots that I didn’t know, for example I never knew that there were any relationships with people of different race until the slave trade started." – Amelia S

"I liked how Ms Beales brought the lecture into another subject (art) which is really nice to have such a good connection with the two subjects." – Mary B

"I loved the presentation and the way Ms Beales kept us engaged and interested throughout the whole lecture." – Holly B