As someone who did not always have access to quality content about Black history, I count myself lucky when it finds its way to me, usually via a recommendation. Engaging with it also reminds me of how one-dimensional my history lessons were back in the day…

Race Historicised: Epistemologies of Colour, is a series of short animated films recommended to a younger audience, as well as parents and educators looking for resources to talk about the history of Black activism and decolonisation.

In four concise episodes, the viewers get to explore the lives and legacies of Black thinkers and activists: W.E.B. Du Bois, Aimé Césaire, Sylvia Wynter and Frantz Fanon. 

Given that the show’s running time is on average under 10 minutes, creator, Dr Pizarro Coloma (Goldsmiths University, London), manages to fit in a lot of value. 

Each story opens with important milestones in the life of a particular personality. This in turn gives the audience basic pointers to continue exploring.

For instance, the W.E.B. Dubois’ episode begins with The Comet, a short sci-fi story discussing segregation in America, then moves on to highlighting the work for which he is arguably best-known, The Souls of the Black Folks.

The selected quotes from this book can spark an interesting conversation about perceptions of race and their impact on an individual: 

‘It dawned upon me with a certain suddenness that I was different from the others; or like mayhap, in heart and life and longing, but shut out from their world by a vast veil.’

Franz Fanon’s story revolves around his analytical work Black Skin, White Masks and emphasises that he was one of the first thinkers to expose racism as a mental illness. It also provides a basic insight into his involvement in the Algerian liberation movement. Given the current state of the world, the mindset that he represented is still relevant today: 

‘When we revolt, it is not for a particular culture. We revolt simply because, for many reasons, we can no longer breathe.’

The other two historical figures featured are Sylvia Wynter, a Caribbean philosopher who explored the meaning of being human and used her craft to revive the local devalued local tradition and Aimé Césaire, one of the founders of the Negritude movement, that called for reclamation and celebration of the African identity in former French colonies.

Overall, the series provides a bite-size overview of key chapters in Black history in a visually intriguing and accessible way. Most importantly, it has the potential to make viewers stop and think about these intellectuals’ individual viewpoints; not just presenting them as mere facts but as key life moments and thought processes. This demonstrates, as ever, that the personal is also political.