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Catherine Johnson: Black History Month

Language: English
Genre: Activism, History, Identity
Age group: 9-11, 12-14
Audience: Children, Young People
Topics: Anti-racism

Join author and screenwriter Catherine Johnson for a fantastic event about writing historical fiction. Catherine has written many brilliant novels based on real people, such as Race to the Frozen North and Queen of Freedom: Defending Jamaica. In this event, Catherine showcases some of the research behind her historical novels, and discusses how history can be an excellent source of inspiration for pupils’ own creative writing.

If you only do one thing...

We know time is tight so here is just one activity you could do with your class before or after watching the event.

Plan an expedition (LIT 2-02a, SOC 2-09a, SOC 2-04a)

Expeditions like the ones Matthew Henson took require a lot of planning. Split into groups to plan a modern expedition – giving each group a different type of terrain (e.g. rainforest, mountains, the dessert). Ask them to consider what they’d need to take, what the key dangers are and what they’d do in an emergency. This idea has been taken from our Read Woke resource on Race to the Frozen North. You can find the full resource via our Read Woke resources below.