Every February, Black History Month is celebrated across the world. This year, Snap has partnered with the Black Cultural Archives to unveil hidden stories of Black British and Black people in the UK through augmented reality.
It's very likely that you have never heard of Mary Seacole, even if you were born and raised in the UK. This British nurse lived and served in the 1800s during the Crimean war. The statue of her saw opposition for 12 years before it was built in the gardens of St Thomas's Hospital, in London.
But few Britons know that. Less than a third of them (32%) can recognize famous historical black figures, according to research conducted by Snap, the Black Cultural Archives and Research Without Borders. In comparison, 63% of Brits say they recognize similarly important famous white figures.
A new immersive experience, called "Hidden Black Stories," is aiming to change that. It is using Snapchat's augmented reality lens to preserve and champion the histories of African and Caribbean people in Britain. "The opportunity to recognize these stories through cutting edge AR technology that reaches younger audiences is both exciting and powerful. British History is full of incredible Black people and hidden stories that deserve to be told," Lisa Anderson, interim Managing Director for Black Cultural Archives, said in a statement.
Virtual statues for underrepresented figures
Snapchat has created a series of lenses that highlight the underrepresented historical Black figures that played a role in the events memorialized by some of the famous monuments of London's Trafalgar Square. Users just need to point their phones at certain spots to discover more about George Ryan, Bill Richmond and Tom Molineaux.
Ryan was a Black sailor who fought for Britain at the Battle of Trafalgar. He is said to be the person depicted on Nelson's Column. Whereas, Richmond was a British boxer, born into slavery in 1763. His protégé, Tom Molineaux, was said to have won his freedom in a boxing match.
Users can also get familiar with the history of the sculpture of Mary Seacole thanks to Snap's Landmarker Lens. This statue saw a lot of opposition and was finally erected in 2016, after a 12-year campaign. For those unable to travel to London, Snap has also launched a national Lens that brings Nelson Mandela's statue to life in front of users, wherever they are.
These past few years, several organizations have turned to immersive technology to highlight the contributions of Black and Brown people throughout history. This is the mission of the Movers and Shakers of NYC, an edtech startup founded in 2017. It has since launched Unsung, an app that uses augmented reality to tell the stories of four Black women singers, and the Monuments Project, a mobile app that places digital statues of important women, people of color and LGBTQ+ icons in the real world.
More recently, the company has released Kinfolk to help middle school educators and students across the United States to take a deeper dive into Black history. It has created virtual monuments of overlooked historical figures like Ida B. Wells, Pauli Murray and Bayard Rustin that can be placed in public spaces. "[Thanks to immersive technology], we could make hundreds of monuments for the cost of what one monument could be and put them anywhere in any size with or without permission," Glenn Cantave, co-founder and CEO of the nonprofit Movers and Shakers, said to The Hill.
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