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Black Heritage Today – the ultimate BHM month guide was self-founded by Barbara Campbell, who, having studied elements of black history realize there was a lot that we did not know as a people. When the bank refused to lend her start-up money, Barbara cashed in her Life Insurance policy to launch her company ‘Barb Wire Enterprises’.

How many other people can honestly say they are THAT committed to ‘revealing the unspoken’ history of her community.

 

Launched in 2003 the Heritage mag proved popular but it was highly dependent on advertising revenue, sponsorship or individual sales. In 2008 the recession hit and it proved very difficult for the Heritage publisher, who had started out printing 70,000 copies nationwide.  The print run came down to 50,000 copies, then 30,000 and lower

in order to survive. The website was launched two years ago to accommodate those who could no longer get their hands on the hard-copy except via posted subscription.

 

Barbara once told me: “People think I am funded because the magazine was of good quality in terms of presentation and content, but I’ve never been founded. When I ‘was’ approached by a potential funder they wanted me to change things and make the mag so mainstream. They wanted to include anyone who could be deemed ‘ethnics’ including the Irish and the Chinese. I said no. I knew my target audience (black people of African Heritage/Descent) who subscribed to the magazine knowing it was going to edify them and reveal astonishing feats of accomplishment that had never been documented in mainstream history would not appreciate the mix and nor would I. So I said no, and lost £8k per annual issue. Every issue - even though it’s only one issue per year – has been a struggle since 2009.”

 

The mag nearly didn’t come out last year, but the publisher managed, somehow, to pull something out the bag and it was worth sweating for. Visit: http://issuu.com/barbaracampbell9/docs/bht2011 to see a back issue for yourself!

 

The publisher didn’t produce this for herself, but for those interested in their history.

Recently, the Minister of Education tried to take Mary Seacole out of the National Curriculum. Barbara was one of those who protested, spread the word and wrote to Mr Gove demanding that Miss Seacole stays. What that showed many of us was that we COULD rally as a community to save something regarded as important. I think Black Heritage Today is Important and that is why I am appealing to you to help us save this historical purveyor.

This Year (2013) is The 10^th Anniversary of the Black Heritage Today magazine. Wouldn’t it be great to celebrate this milestone?  Not only with a special edition, but to also be invited to a party event to mark this important birth DATE. 

 

 

Long term: