Meghan Markle Is Right, British Universities Are Pale, Male And Stale

The first time I heard the name [Paul Stephenson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Stephenson_){href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Stephenson_(civil_rights_campaigner)' target='blank' rel='noopener noreferrer'}, I am ashamed to say was in my early twenties. He’s a black man from Bristol who organised a boycott against the Bristol Omnibus Company for refusing to employ black and Asian bus drivers and conductors. In reaction to this racist act, Stephenson led what is now known as the [Bristol Bus Boycott](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Stephenson_){href='https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Stephenson(civil_rights_campaigner)' target='_blank' rel='noopener noreferrer'}, which lasted for 60 days and was supported by a large majority of people living in Bristol at the time. This 1963 boycott, was one of many civil rights campaigns led by Stephenson that paved the way to the landmark Race Relations Act of 1965.

At best it is weird and worst it is disgraceful that I, nor anyone I know learned about the Black British Civil Rights activist and his work in our history lessons. When it came to learning about Black History in school, I remember a few primary school lessons featuring Martin Luther King and Rosa Parks. Then, in Secondary school, there was a double history lesson on slavery in America and we were made to watch Roots (a history channel slavery drama) in silence.

There is an urgent need for our school and university curriculums to start reflecting the diverse stories of our society and paint a more accurate historical picture that goes beyond white and noble royalty and war heroes. Where, for instance, are the British Black Panthers?

In the last few years, student activists and staff in higher education have pushed for an initiative known as Decolonising the Curriculum. Its aims are to get a more diverse teaching staff in our universities and ensure texts included on syllabuses aren’t just from authors and scholars who are male, stale and pale. The movement has had a considerable amount of support, especially online, but, let’s face it, a celebrity face or someone of influence backing your campaign can never be a bad thing - especially when it’s Meghan Markle.

This week, it has been revealed that the Duchess of Sussex visited the Association of Commonwealth Universities, a charity of which she is now a patron of and made clear both her shock and horror about the lack of diversity among teaching staff in Britain’s universities.

It’s hard not to agree with her, as recent study from Advance Higher Education found that there over 12,000 white male professors and over 4,000 white female professors teaching at British university but only 25 black female professors in the country. With statistics like those, it is hardly surprising the Duchess of Sussex reacted in the way she did.

When handed a sheet of paper that broke down the racial make-up of the country’s professors, numerous news outlets and sources claim that Meghan exclaimed: “Oh my God,” when looking at the numbers.

In fact, sources say Meghan was so horrified by the numbers, that she asked her private secretary to take a picture of the document she was shown. Allegedly, the former Suits actress then said universities should 'open a debate' in a bid to avoid 'continuing with the daily rote' because 'sometimes that approach can be really antiquated and needs an update.'

While Meghan’s actions on Decolonising the Curriculumare yet to be seen, her words of encouragement and dare I say, words of commitment to making a change, could force the country to face up to our collective historical memory loss.

History lessons usually, if not exclusively seem to focus on British war victories, as though we’ve conveniently forgotten that the British invaded multiple countries in Asia and Africa, taking political control and exploiting the population for economic gain. Colonialism is as much a part of Britain’s history as the World Wars, as is our significant participation in the transatlantic slave trade. Both need to be taught properly and given the space they deserve on the curriculum to undo the false narrative that Britain has always some sort of racial utopia.

Royals are meant to be symbolic figureheads that wave at the right moment, not real people with actual opinions. Meghan Markle, however, is both. From her articulate words about her feminist beliefs to the causes she supports, it is clear that she is royally marching the sound of her own drum.

Her support of Decolonising the Curriculum is by far her most radical act yet as a Royal. While no current member of the Royal Family has had a personal hand in slavery or colonialism, part of the Royal Family’s wealth comes from the generational wealth of owning slaves and profiting off of colonialism. As much as the Queen has a symbolic role in government, the Royal Family are modern day embodiment of colonialism. Meghan’s support for the Decolonise the Curriculum movement could force them and the rest of the nation to confront that very fact.

Meghan’s backing of Decolonising the Curriculum is not just a personal choice, but a brave political one. No doubt, she’ll face criticism, but our current education system allows white people, in particular men, to be the gate keepers and power players in education. It has created a warped view of history and the current education system doesn’t do justice to our black and brown heroes or the activists that helped shape this nation.

I hope that, with Meghan’s support, maybe, just maybe, the British education system could be on the brink of much needed change. I feel I was shortchanged both at school and at university and I hope that future generations will learn about black men and women such as Paul Stephenson early on in their lives and not in twenties, thanks to a Facebook post, as I did.