The Migration Museum is proud to support the Local History Hub’s first ‘Local History Day’ for schools. A day for young people to explore the people, places, stories and objects connected to their local area. 

In this blog post, our Learning Manager Tia Shah explores why teaching local history is such a great way of engaging young people on the topic of migration – and highlights some digital resources to get you started.

 

Learning about local history is one of the best ways to get young people curious about the past. It allows them to uncover stories hidden in the places they see every day, highlighting that history exists all around us. 

By exploring physical traces of the past in the buildings, statues and roads around them, and learning about the people who once lived in our communities, students can gain a personal connection to history. They can also see how their stories, their families, and their lives are part of shaping the world around us. Exploring local history can foster a sense of belonging and pride in where we live, and an understanding of our place in the world.

Sharing local histories is also a great way of exploring the topic of migration. Whether this is learning about why the demographics of your school have changed over time, why your local high street has lots of Indian and Chinese takeaways on it or investigating why people settled in your local area – migration stories are all around us.

Big historical events can be brought to life through a local lens – like the departure of the Mayflower from Plymouth in 1620 or the legacy of the Romans in Colchester. 

At the same time, forgotten stories of internal migration can be shared – like the seasonal journeys of the ‘Kent Hoppers’, who moved from cities to Kent for the hop harvest every year,  or the ‘Herring Girls’ who followed herring down the coast from Scotland to East Anglia. All of these stories reveal just how profoundly migration has shaped communities in the UK. 

When it comes to exploring these stories, local museums are an invaluable resource at your fingertips. Often free and supported by dedicated learning teams, they offer rich opportunities to step beyond the classroom to discover local history, through workshops, exhibitions, and even local walking tours. 

Alongside this, there are plenty of digital resources which make it easy to bring local history into lessons in engaging and accessible ways. 

Here are some resources to get you started:

• Migration Stories North West: Learning and Teaching Resource
• Telling Our Stories, Finding Our Roots: Devon’s Multicultural History 
• Colourful Heritage 
• Local History Hub: Our Homes Our Stories
• Camden Migration History Resource Pack
• Migration and the History of Birmingham
• Migration Museum Story Disc Activity

Find out more about Local History Day