As part of activities to mark the celebrations of Black History Month 2025, SEM organised a residential weekend for 20 women from the Sheffield & District African Caribbean Community (SADACCA), to Hadrian’s Wall, Northumberland National Park.
SEM’s CEO, Dr Maxwell Ayamba BEM explained that the visit to Hadrian’s Wall including the Roman Vindolanda and Museum was of historical importance to the women due to the history of the Black presence in the landscape.
He noted that celebrations of Black History Month should take into account the historical presence of people of African ancestry in Britain and their contributions. Dr Ayamba pointed out that in recent times, there has been a drive to decolonise museums in order to position them as spaces of belonging of shared heritage, and that is because museums house archeological artefacts and histories of past civilisations.
It was therefore against this backdrop that such a visit to Hadrian’s Wall which was strengthened by Britain’s African Roman Emperor, Severus Septimius and the African legionnaires stationed at the Roman Vindolanda is considered important in the lives of the women to experience this extraordinary history.
Dr Ayamba noted that although some of the women might have heard about Hadrian’s Wall, but have not had the opportunity to visit. For example, filming of the BBC series ‘Black and British: A Forgotten History’ in 2016, a consultant to the series pointed to the BBC team archeological evidence of African soldiers stationed at the fort of Aballava on Hadrian’s Wall.
Thanks to the Northumberland National Park, its Volunteer Rangers took the women on a guided historical walk to Hadrian’s Wall built in AD122 and a ride on bus AD122 around the villages.
On the Sunday, the group visited the Roman Vindolanda to see the ruins of the Roman settlement where the African legionnaires were also stationed, later visiting the Vindolanda Museum. The women saw the plaque of Britain’s African Roman Emperor, Severus Septimius on grounds of the ruins. This shared cultural heritage of the English landscape and people of Africa heritage was the more reason why this trip was organised by SEM to enable the women as part of activities to commemorate Black History Month to experience this forgotten history as some of them are part of the Windrush Generation aged over 60 -90 years and have lived in England for decades but with little knowledge or visited Hadrian’s Wall or the Vindolanda Museum and Roman Ruins to learn about its history.