KAREN BROOKE

A Little Bit About Me

My core background is in education, designing and delivering bespoke accredited courses and I am well known across the prison service for delivering a unique Black Self Development Programme. I am a qualified trainer and my specialisms’ are Black British History, School Curriculum Decolonisation, Black British Culture and Cultural Identity.

My interest in Black British History grew from a confusion throughout school when presented with the African American Civil Rights Movement and Enslavement as a definition of Black History. I was fortunate that my parents sent me to a Saturday School that supplemented my Eurocentric education. I learned that there were Black Roman Emperors (Septimus Severous) and one of the most overlooked facts in British history telling is that the Ancient Egyptians were Black Africans .

Over the years I have worked in different educational settings - Primary & High Schools, Pupil Referral Units, Prisons, Secure Mental Health Units & within the Community.

I am currently focusing my work around decolonising the school curriculum. This is in response to the black men I taught in prison who said that if they had known more about their black history and where they fitted into society they would not have been in prison.

To each and every young black man whom I’ve had the privilege of working with over the years in prison I dedicate this work.