Town halls fly the Black History Month flag as October's events begin

The Black History Month⁵ flag is flying from Hove and Brighton town halls and will stay up all of October, Brighton & Hove City Council¹ said.

The council has picked a theme for the month. Rather than notable figures, it is recognising Black residents “whose contributions are part of everyday life, yet too often go unseen”: volunteers, teachers, nurses and carers, and the community leaders and organisers who bring people together.

Councillor Mitchie Alexander, the council’s cabinet member for communities, equalities, public health and adult social care, said the theme was “an opportunity to celebrate those among us, who are working every day to support, strengthen and shape Black communities.”

She also pointed to the Civic Leadership Programme, which the council launched in July to get more Black and Asian people into civic roles, including elected posts and leadership jobs. Its first meeting was on 1 October, the day Black History Month began.

The council has gathered a list of events around the city. Tonight, Monday 5 October, AFLO. the poet hosts STATUS FLO: Black History Month at 8pm at Brighton Dome^3,4, with Maureen Onwunali. Onwunali is a Dublin-born Nigerian poet and a two-time national slam champion.

In May 2026, Brighton & Hove Museum repatriated 45 objects to the Khama III Memorial Museum in Botswana. On Wednesday 7 October a talk at Brighton Museum tells their story. It comes with the premiere of a new short film and a panel discussion with Bert Williams MBE and Suchi Chatterjee of Brighton & Hove Black History.

Hove Museum (26 October) and Brighton Museum (27 October) run free drop-in storytimes, and Brighton Dome’s Family Day Take Part follows on 7 November.

BARCO’s takeover of The Wing at the Brighton Centre on 10 and 11 October is on the list too, with free tickets. We covered it on Sunday.

If you’d rather stay in, local libraries have a special selection of books to pick from, and eBooks and eAudiobooks are on BorrowBox.