Black History Month 2026 at The Wilberforce Institute for the Study of Slavery and Emancipation

Africa4u CIC is bringing a Black History Month afternoon to The Wilberforce Institute for the Study of Slavery and Emancipation on Monday 26 October, from 1pm to 3pm. It's run in partnership with Hull Museums and is built around education, cultural understanding and keeping the experiences and voices of African people central to the history of slavery and emancipation.

The afternoon brings together local and national speakers, community champions, historians and everyday people making a difference in Hull and across the country to celebrate Black History. Tony Tokunbo Fernandez, founder of Africa4u and the Africa4u Awards, will be MC for the session. He's joined by Anthony Lane, a London-based ADHD coach, author and mentor; Oluwaseun Odusanya, a social impact, gender equality and youth advocate based in Manchester; and Cecil Jones, a singer, songwriter and choir director who chairs the Freetown Society here in Hull.

The venue itself is one of Britain's leading centres for research into historical and contemporary slavery, and Hull's link to abolition runs deep: William Wilberforce was born in the city and became one of the most prominent parliamentary campaigners against the transatlantic slave trade. Today the Institute works at the intersection of historic enslavement and modern forms of exploitation, tying historical research to contemporary questions of human rights and social justice. The afternoon sits right in the middle of that, bringing together voices from across the country to talk through the history and the people behind it.

It runs from 1pm to 3pm at the Institute, in Oriel Chambers, 27 High Street, HU1 1NE, and entry is free.