5 Course conclusion

This course has provided you with some examples of stories of the past that you might have been unfamiliar with.

We hope that during this course you have enjoyed learning about the case studies that explored Haiti, France, South Africa and Britain. These selected examples give some perspectives on how people’s experiences in the past have been affected by contemporary ideas of race, and the political, legal and social implications of racial categorisation. You have seen how people of colour resisted racism and discrimination throughout history. This is an area of scholarship where important research is underway, because these stories have often been missing from the traditional, and colonial, narratives of the past.

Through the activities in each session, you have examined a range of sources that historians use regularly in order to piece together our understanding of the past, including

• images
• newspaper reports
• memoirs.

These activities, alongside the links to further resources, were designed to help you develop your approach to learning at a distance, and to improve your confidence as an independent learner.

This course draws from some of the materials that you can study in the History degree at the Open University [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] .