22 November 2024

Free Black Beauty educational resources launched

Redwings and the University of East Anglia (UEA) are marking the one-year anniversary of the publication of their special fundraising edition of Black Beauty with the launch of a package of free educational resources.

The activities, which encourage students to explore the world of Black Beauty and the life of the world-famous book’s author Anna Sewell are downloadable here.

Nicola Knight, Redwings Head of Communications and Campaigns, said: “Anna Sewell’s Black Beauty shone a light on the life, challenges and feelings of working horses in the 19th century.

“As one of the largest horse welfare charities in the UK and the guardian of  Anna Sewell House, we want to further Anna’s legacy to foster a new generation that respects and cares for animals.

“The publication of a special fundraising edition of the book with the UEA this time last year was a huge part of that and we’re so excited to have collaborated with our friends at the UEA again to create these free resources.

“If you’re a teacher or home educator wishing to discuss animal welfare, literature or history, we hope they will support your lesson planning or at-home activities.”

The package includes resources about Norfolk, where Anna was born and spent most of her life; horses, including amazing facts about these incredible creatures and their relationship with humans; a session on Writing for Social Justice about the impact of Anna’s disability on her writing, and more inspiring works to foster budding writers, amongst others.

One of the slides from the Black Beauty resources

Our education resources are free to download!

View image gallery

Profound lessons to teach us

Professor Thomas Ruys Smith, from the UEA, said: “Anna Sewell’s extraordinary book captured the world’s imagination when it was released in 1877. Black Beauty still has profound lessons to teach us in the 21st century – about empathy, kindness and the power of one person’s imagination to change the world.

"We hope these resources will go some way to educating young people about the power of words.”

Dr Daisy Heywood, from the UEA, said: “It’s been wonderful to collaborate on these resources with Redwings.

“Black Beauty will forever stand out as an example of the ways care and empathy can develop through fiction. Anna Sewell’s story can teach us how to see the people, places and animals around us through new, kind eyes.”

An animation voiced by Dame Joanna Lumley, produced by Meantime Media in conjunction with the UEA and the Arts and Humanities Council, and a special edition of Redwings podcast, Sounds of the Sanctuary, about Anna Sewell are also available to watch and listen to here.

And you can buy a very special fundraising edition of Black Beauty, complete with foreword from Dame Jacqueline Wilson, here.