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APPOINTED: Dr Christienna Fryar

A LEADING ACADEMIC will head the new MA Black British History programme at Goldsmiths, University of London.

Dr Christienna Fryar has been appointed Lecturer in Black British History and will be convenor of the MA programme, which will cover 500 years of black British history.

Dr John Price, Senior Lecturer and Head of the Department of History, said: “The Department of History is absolutely committed to the exciting new MA in Black British History and to widening the fields of history that we teach at both postgraduate and undergraduate levels. Making sure we have everything properly in place for the start of the programme has been paramount and that included finding the right person to lead it.

“I am very pleased that Christienna will be joining Goldsmiths and we look forward to working with her to further develop the programme which focuses upon the understudied and often marginalised histories of Black Britons. Over the next year we will be recruiting additional staff and ensuring that we have the right resources and structures in place to deliver the best possible experience for staff and students.”

The MA Black British History at Goldsmiths will be the first taught-postgraduate programme in Black British history.

Dr Christienna Fryar said: “Black British History has for too long been systematically excluded from having a meaningful presence in university history departments. I’m excited to be joining the Goldsmiths history department and to lead the new MA in Black British History, one of a growing number of ongoing efforts around the country to establish the importance of Black Studies within UK universities.

"I especially look forward to welcoming the first cohort of MA students next year and beginning our collective work of insisting that the histories of Black British people are central to the discipline of history as a whole.”

Dr Fryar has been Lecturer in the History of Slavery and Unfree Labour at the University of Liverpool since 2017 and has previously taught in the US at SUNY Buffalo State.

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