Topic Summaries

In this poem, Agard reflects on the way history is taught in schools where the focus is often on white European figures and events, while the contributions and history of Black people and Caribbean cultures are overlooked or distorted. He adopts a playful tone contrasting the traditional Eurocentric curriculum with the diverse stories of Black history. Through this, he compels readers to acknowledge the difference between ‘history’ as a school subject or agreed-upon perspective and ‘my history’ or personal, more inclusive reclamations of the past. The poem alternates between descriptions of colonial narratives framed with the repetition of “dem tell me,” highlighting the authoritative nature of what is taught, and italicised descriptions of what “dem never tell me” in which Agard highlights unsung heroes from Black history.