gypsy traveller history month

Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month

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What is Gypsy, Roma and Traveller history month? 

Gypsy, Roma, Traveller History Month (GRTHM) celebrates the richness that Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities bring to peoples everyday lives here in the UK, and the many and varied contributions they have made to British Society.

GRTHM started in Brent in 2001. With endorsement from Parliament in 2007 GRTHM went national in 2008 and is now celebrated throughout the UK each June

The aims of the GRTHM are to:

• Promote knowledge of the  Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History, Cultural and Heritage
• Disseminate information on positive Gypsy, Roma and Traveller contributions to British Society
• Heighten the confidence and awareness of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people to their cultural heritage.
• Celebrate Gypsy, Roma and Traveller culture and heritage

National organisations and community groups organise events across the U.K. to celebrate our history and heritage many of which are featured on this website search Gypsy Roma Traveller History month to find more resources and articles you can use for your school or other educational setting

2020 will be different this year due to Covid19 but to find out what we’re doing online click here 

Main photo  © Alison Chapman 

Celebrating Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month

by Cally Emmerson | May 17, 2021 | Carer News

Throughout June, we’re supporting Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month and celebrating their diverse communities.

What is gypsy, roma and traveller history month.

The month takes place every year in June and raises awareness of the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities in the UK. Gypsies, Roma and Travellers (GRT) are the largest ethnic minority community in the European Union with over 12 million people across the EU and around 300,000 in the UK. They are often marginalised and suffer extreme levels of prejudice and discrimination. Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month was established in Britain in 2008 as a way of raising awareness of these communities and their contributions to society, and to offset negative stereotyping and prejudices.*

The month offers us all the chance to raise awareness and explore the history, culture and language of GRT communities as well as to challenges myths and prejudice and offer a balanced debate about the issues facing these diverse communities in the UK today. It also celebrates the richness that Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities bring to our everyday lives through their many and varied academic and artistic achievements.

Who are Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Communities?

GRT communities are diverse, many of whom can be tracked back to the movement of nomadic groups from North India around 1200 years ago. These are most commonly referred to as Roma, Romani, Rom and Gypsy. These groups arrived in the UK around the 1500s, where they joined a host of other indigenous travelling groups, such as Irish Travellers, Welsh Kale, Scottish and English Travellers.**

Watch the animated video below showing the history of Gypsy, Travellers and Roma communities.

Get involved

Friends Families & Travellers are a registered charity working for the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities and have provided these informative downloads.

• Learn about the history of Gypsy Roma and Travellers here
• Learn useful words and phrases in Irish Cant, Scottish Cant and Romani Dialect here
• Take a selfie with this poster here and post on social media.

We know there are many carers within the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities, but they often aren’t aware of the carer support available, so we’re working closely with Friends, Families and Travellers (FFT) to reach these hidden carers. If you’re from the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities and looking after someone who couldn’t manage without your help, get in touch with us , or ask FFT to give us your contact details and we will call you.

In the UK, The Equality and Human Rights Commission (2018) notes that the average lifespan of a person of GRT background in the UK is ten years less than that of the UK national average. The Commission also highlights that GRT mothers are twenty times more likely to experience the death of one of their children than mothers generally in the UK. ***

We are here for all carers including ethnically and culturally diverse communities. Contact us if you need support, would like information or to connect with other carers.

* www.globaldimension.org.uk ** Open Society Foundations *** www.bcu.ac.uk

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Teaching Gypsy, Roma and Traveller history

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Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people are the largest minority ethnic group in some communities (and therefore in some schools) in the UK. Yet the past of Gypsy, Roma, Traveller people may rarely be part of history lessons. The result is that pupils of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller heritage may not encounter their past in history classrooms and myths and stereotypes may take root in the minds of others. 

History teachers may not teach these histories because they lack knowledge about the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller past; they may lack cultural understanding and therefore be reticent to teach what could be sensitive and emotional material; and they may be very short of curriculum time. This webpage is designed to support teachers in this position to teach Gypsy, Roma and Traveller history. 

Important context

The Council of Europe Strategic Action Plan for Roma and Traveller Inclusion (2020-2025) found that: “Many of the 10-12 million Roma and Travellers in Europe suffer from extreme poverty and exclusion. The existence of widespread anti-Gypsyism reinforces and aggravates their economic and social deprivation. These inequalities persist despite ongoing efforts at national, European, and international level to tackle anti-Roma and anti-Traveller prejudice, discrimination and crimes and address further their inclusion.” (p.7) and proposed the “Promotion of the teaching of Roma and Traveller history and the Roma Holocaust and inclusion in school curricula and textbooks, also through training of trainers and teachers” (p.20) as part of the solution. 

On 1 July 2020 the Council of Europe (of which the UK is a member) set out seven ‘Principles and proposed actions for including the history of Roma and/or Travellers in school curricula and teaching materials ’. The first of these states:

Teaching of the history of Roma and/or Travellers and its inclusion in national school curricula and teaching materials should:

• include a balanced and contextualised teaching of Roma and/or Travellers’ history, reflecting both their national presence and historical context and their common history as a people present in Europe for centuries; 
• include information about the contribution of Roma and Travellers to the national economies, in particular trade, metalwork and other handicrafts, as well as animal husbandry, and refer to various aspects of Roma and/or Travellers’ history and culture, such as storytelling, literature, religion, music and traditions, as well as the asymmetric social progress and unequal access to social rights they have experienced.

Teacher subject knowledge

• Prof Becky Taylor, University of East Anglia, has recorded this podcast about the history of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people in Britain  (see also part 2 ). In it she also addresses matters of cultural understanding. Also recommended is Prof Taylor’s general European survey: Another Darkness, Another Dawn: a history of Gypsies, Roma and Travellers  published by Reaktion Books in 2014 
• A Short Animated History of Britain's Gypsies, Roma and Travellers called Roads from the Past  from Travellers’ Times. It gives a short overview and is useful for teachers and pupils. 
• Ensuring Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children do not feel unseen in the history classroom  - Teaching History article by Richard Kerridge and Helen Snelson
• Our Migration Story: Romani Gypsies in 16th century Britain  from Runnymede Trust
• Gypsies: an English History by David Cressey (OUP: 2018) is an excellent place to start for an overview of what is known about Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people and communities in England from Tudor to modern times.
• Eve Rosenhaft podcast: Romani History
• A text for gaining general awareness about contemporary communities is: 'Gypsies, Roma and Travellers, A Contemporary Analysis' by Declan Henry (Critical Publishing: 2022) 

Teaching resources

• Secondary:  Do Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children see themselves in your history classroom?  - Helen Snelson and Richard Kerridge, 2022
• Primary:  Promoting Gypsy, Roma and Traveller heritage in your primary history curriculum - Matthew Flynn ( Primary History 89)
• Celebrating Gypsies, Roma and Travellers  (PowerPoint slides, 4MB) - A display resource for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History month in June – or for any other month of the year.
• No Place to Be: A Graphic History of Gypsies and Travellers in Modern Britain (PDF, 29MB) - Gerardo D’Ambrosio & Becky Taylor
• Life before the Romani Genocide  - images and descriptions about life for Romani people in the 1920s and 30s.
• The Friends, Families and Travellers website has a teaching resources section, and their Gypsy, Roma & Traveller History Month page has an education pack as well as previous years' materials.

Other useful web-links for history teachers

• Council of Europe: Roma and Travellers - Culture and Education
• Council of Europe: Roma history factsheets
• Crystal’s Vardo Teaching Materials and Information
• Gypsy Roma Traveller History month resources
• Gypsy Traveller History in Scotland
• Heritage from Travellers’ Times, including photo stories and oral histories
• Holocaust Memorial Day Trust: Roma and Sinti People
• Mapping the Histories of London's Travellers
• Oral History: English and Irish Gypsy Traveller Communities
• Robert Dawson Gallery - a vast array of images
• Romany Genes - a web portal for a lot of Romany history online
• Roma Stories Oral History Project
• Romani Herstory: a digital archive
• Romany and Traveller Family History Society
• The Traveller Trust ‘Good Practice guide for improving GRT children’s educational outcomes’ (April 2019)
• Travellers’ Times Oral History films
• Gypsy Roma Traveller History Education Pack
• BESTROM Project -  explores the cultural contribution to Europe’s public space/s of its Romani minorities (Roma, Sinti, Manouche, Gitanos, and others) .
• CoE webinar report: the case of Roma history - with links

Attached files:

• Celebrating Gypsies, Roma and Travellers - a display resource 4.24 MB Powerpoint presentation
• No Place to Be: A Graphic History of Gypsies and Travellers in Modern Britain - Gerardo D’Ambrosio & Becky Taylor 29.05 MB PDF document

GRT History Month 2022: How we got on

The month of July offers us at the Traveller Movement a perfect time to stop and reflect on the experiences of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month which takes place in June each year. Below we have compiled some of the highlights of the work our education team has been undertaking in June, as well as showcasing some amazing work and contributions from across the country.  

For this year’s history month theme, the Traveller Movement wanted to bring to the forefront a significant Gypsy, Roma and Traveller artist each day. From the incredibly talented Elijah Vardo, the creator of the art used on the Traveller Movement’s Education Website, to the stunning creations of Robert Czibi, and even the performance successes of big names like Michael Caine and Charlie Chaplin.

Remembering that Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities have made invaluable and unique contributions to the culture here in the UK and around the world is exceptionally important. As our movement grows to secure greater rights and fairer treatment for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities, the place of art in collective activism cannot be ignored and is undeniably powerful.

Our education team is regularly asked for educational resources to support teachers and schools in delivering good quality and accurate information about Gypsy, Roma and Traveller cultures, especially during Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month. As an organisation we focus on national and local policy as well as advocacy support for those who find themselves in complex situations and need support.

However, Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month gives us a welcome opportunity to focus on celebrating our identities and heritage, rather than focusing in the difficulties and prejudice the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities face. So, this year, with help from staff at Portsmouth City Council , we collated a list of Roma and Gypsy role models with linked resources to demonstrate the incredible successes of individuals in our communities.

June is not just Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month, famously it is also Pride month where members and allies of the LGBTQ+ communities come together in a variety of ways to celebrate their communities, increase their representation and campaign for the important work still to be done to progress LGBTQ+ rights at home and internationally.

In many ways there are significant shared experiences between the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities and the LGBTQ+ communities, as both sets of communities still struggle for mainstream representation that is proportionate, fair and representative. At the Traveller Movement we strongly believe that standing together and supporting our mutual calls for equal treatment and protections in the form of human rights for LGBTQ+ people is the right thing to do, because together we are stronger.

June was also an important time to reflect on those Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people who are also LGBTQ+ and to celebrate their identities and promote greater acceptance of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller LGBTQ+ community members. As Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people, we know the hurt and dehumanisation that comes with experiencing racism. We are therefore in an ideal place to recognise and challenge the prejudice and shaming that some of those in our communities still display when interacting with LGBTQ+ people, particularly intersectional Gypsy, Roma and Traveller LGBTQ+ people. Once again, the Traveller Movement stands proudly as an ally to LGBTQ+ communities and welcomes all.

For support and guidance for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller LGBTQ+ people, please visit our website .

On 23 rd June individuals and charities from across London came together to celebrate Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month together with live music, refreshments and venue provided by Mayor of London at London City Hall . Speaking at the event Dr Debbie Weekes-Bernard, the Deputy London Mayor, remarked about the rich culture, contributions and belonging of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities in London.

After contributions from the leaders of London’s Gypsy, Roma and Traveller organisations we enjoyed performances from members of the communities, with Tina from the Traveller Movement singing both traditional and more well-known Irish songs, and a superb performance by a Roma band.

We want to thank the Mayor of London and all those at London City Hall for welcoming us again. For more information about this event, please visit the City Hall blog about this amazing event.

In 2021, the Traveller Movement launched its first recipe book. The recipe book idea was born out of a community Facebook group which saw over 100,000 people join to share traditional and family recipes from their Gypsy, Roma and Traveller backgrounds. Recipes include Colcannon, Herby Dumpling Stew and Gypsy Tart as well as many others. We saw a significant rise in sales in the lead up to and during Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month as people across the country celebrated the rich traditions, culture and importantly food, of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities.

Amongst those purchasing recipe books were schools, who used the recipes to make delicious food in class, learning about the history of the food and the culture of the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people who eat this food, or at least grew up eating this food. We are delighted that this community born project can now impact on new generations of Travelling and non-Travelling alike.

You can order your own cookbook by visiting our website .

Each year we continue to use Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month to continue to raise awareness of the adversities faced by Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities by offering free training to a limited selection of organisations. This year the Traveller Movement provided education focused training to the teachers’ union NASUWT as part of the Equalities Day, as well as NALDIC , a national subject association for English as an additional language. It was a pleasure to work with these organisations who, amongst others, are working to ensure the inclusion of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities in their work.

Towards the end of June, we visited the University of Portsmouth Library to see the displays put together to mark Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month. Near the entrance a collection of books by Gypsy, Roma and Traveller authors had been displayed. Displays of work and art created by Gypsy, Roma and Traveller individuals was being shown. The purpose of this work was to show the impact of negative stereotyping on Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities and to provide a much-needed realistic view of who Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people are. The work challenged those attributes of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people which are commonly misunderstood, providing witty answers to assumptions of criminality by offering over simplistic and truthful answers, demonstrating the unconscious bias of those who view Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people through a false and narrow lens.

We would like to thank Annabel Tremlett, a social care lecturer at the University of Portsmouth for the tour and for organising much of the work on display. It was also a pleasure to see some of the background of Annabel’s work following the lives of Roma families in Hungary. The work offered a simple but centrally important theme demonstrating the humanity of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities, breaking down the barriers which too often ‘other’ our communities.

Related news

I’m Not Allowed to Play With You Anymore

Education Website Launch Article

Gypsy, Roma and Traveller access to Further Education

Schools of Sanctuary

Resources for gypsy, roma and traveller history month (june).

Gypsy, Roma and Traveller pupils are statistically some of the most vulnerable of any identified group of pupils in the UK. Not only do they have some of the highest rates of student absence ( Department for Education ), but they are also 10 times less likely to attend university than their peers ( The Centre for Education and Youth ). In a study by the Traveller Times , one in five young Travellers have felt they had to leave school due to bullying whilst 2/3 said that they had been bullied by teachers because of their ethnicity.

Outside of school more broadly, Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities are constantly demonised in the media and public in such a way that the rhetoric and narratives have become normalised whilst the same discourses for other minority groups are more commonly criticised.

Why is it important for Schools of Sanctuary to learn about Gypsy, Roma, Traveller Peoples?

Firstly, we see Schools of Sanctuary as those that are welcoming and inclusive to all people – both those who have sought sanctuary – and those from other marginalised and misrepresented backgrounds. Secondly, whilst many Gypsies, Roma and Travellers are from the UK, some flee to the UK as refuge from policies and community maltreatment even worse than those they face the UK. The Roma in particular, are often very poorly treated in a variety of countries in Europe and come to the UK to escape the daily discrimination they experience there. Whilst they may not be arriving in the UK as asylum-seekers or refugees (at least pre-Brexit), that does not mean they are any less seeking sanctuary.

Gypsy, Roma and Traveller history month takes place every June and is a fantastic opportunity for schools to review their policies with regards to students from Gypsy, Roma and Traveller backgrounds but also use it as a time to both learn and raise awareness amongst students and staff about the challenges they face and celebrate the positive contributions and stories from the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities.

Policies and Practices

• A Good Practice Guide for improving outcomes for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Children in education (The Traveller Movement)

Based on research this pack outlines best practice for meeting the needs of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller students in a variety of education areas.

Resources for Teaching and Learning

• Celebrating Gypsy, Roma and Traveller history month in schools – The Centre for Education Youth)

This is a fantastic webpage offering clear and insightful guidance on how to approach Gypsy, Roma and Traveller history month for teaching and learning. In summary, don’t treat Gypsy, Roma and Traveller peoples as a homogenous group, teach the positive with the negative, avoid stereotyping and think about the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller students in your class (that you may or may not be aware of).

• “Roads from the Past” – The Traveller Times (Upper KS2/KS3)

“Road from the Past” is a short, animated film about the history of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people in Britain, from ancient times up to the present day. Alongside the film, the Traveller Times have developed a guide for assemblies and lessons and a Lifestyle, History and Culture FAQs pack to support non-Traveller teaching staff, which can be used throughout June as part of Gypsy Roma Traveller History Month, or at any time to raise awareness and embed inclusivity as part of your teaching.

• A collection of activities for Gypsy, Roma, Traveller History Month – West Sussex County Council EMTAS team

A variety of resources, ideas and activities for schools to recognise Gypsy, Roma, Traveller history month for different Key Stages.

• Travellers’ Rights – Amnesty International (KS3/ KS4)

The main activity in this resource pack explores the conflicting views on the land rights of Traveller groups and asks students to explore and try to resolve the issues through role-play and discussion.

• Gypsy Roma, Traveller History Month Resources – Twinkl (KS2/ lower KS3)

A variety of resources, including an assembly powerpoint, craft ideas and worksheets to learn about Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History month.

• Out of Site – Show Racism the Red Card (KS2+)

An education pack including a variety of activities that can be tailored to the age and abilities of your students with additional extension activity ideas.

• Schools Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month Participation Pack – Friends, Families and Travellers

A comprehensive pack especially designed for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month 2021 with a variety or resources and ideas to make it as easy as possible for schools to recognise the month. You need to sign up to receive a copy at the link above.

• Gypsies, Roma, Travellers: An Animated History – Open Society Foundations

A short animated film sharing the different histories of Gypsies, Roma and Travellers.

• Teaching Romany Gypsy History – Ealing Grid for Learning (KS1, KS2, KS3)

A pack with resources, ideas and lessons plans for teaching about a variety of different topics related to Romany Gypsy history.

• Access All Areas Film – Jake Bowers

A great resource for starting discussions and thinking about the experiences of Gypsy Travellers. In this film, you’ll meet people of different ages, all of them Gypsies. They’ve all had different experiences of school and learning outside the family. Education has never been a smooth ride for Travellers. But this film looks at how we might be able to take skills from schools and colleges and combine them with all the talents we gain in the family.

• Rethinking Roma Resistance – European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture e.V.

A collection of 40 different stories of real-life Roma heroes from across Europe.

Other Ideas for Teaching and Learning

• Can you research famous people from Gypsy, Roma and Traveller backgrounds? Why are they famous and what have they contributed? Some suggestions: Charlie Chaplin, Bob Hoskins, Elvis Presley, David Essex OBE, Keith Duffy, Shayne Ward, Cher Lloyd, Michael Caine, Joaquín Cortés, Lívia Járóka, José Antonio Reyes, Harri Stojka, Ceija Stojka, Iva Bittová, Pablo Picasso.
• Listen to traditional music:

Hungarian Gypsy Music

Balkan Gypsy Music

Vlach bagpipe ballads (Timoc and Epir regions)

• Yokki and the Parni Gry – Richard O’Neill and Katherine Quarmby (With additional resources available on the website ) (KS1/2)

When a Traveller family experiences a run of bad luck, an imaginative boy called Yokki lifts their spirits with tales of a magical white horse. A traditional Traveller-family folk tale which inspires hope and celebrates creativity. Told by a Romani storyteller together with a picture book author to positively reflect Travelling cultures.

• Ossiri and the Bala Mengro – Richard O’Neill and Katherine Quarmby (KS1/2)

A Traveller girl creates her own musical instrument from a willow branch and lots of recycled objects. She plays it enthusiastically, but it sounds terrible! Ignoring warnings not to awaken the ogre in the hills, Ossiri goes there to practise playing her instrument. Will she wake the ogre, and will it appreciate her playing?

• Spokes: Stories from the Romani World – Janna Eliot (Upper secondary/teachers)

Spokes is made up of stories from across the Traveller world, featuring British Gypsies, settled and still travelling; Irish Travellers, East European Roma; and people whose Romani background has remained under wraps in the face of a hostile world. There’s an old violinist, a middle-aged mechanic, a young radio presenter, a schoolboy, a retired banker, a tea lady and a teacher. Sometimes humorous, sometimes tragic; every story is based on real incidents.

• T h e Stopping Places: A journey through Gypsy Britain – Damian Le Bas (For teachers)

Damian Le Bas grew up surrounded by Gypsy history. His great-grandmother would tell him stories of her childhood in the ancient Romani language; the places they worked, the ways they lived, the superstitions and lores of their people.

In a bid to better understand his heritage, Damian sets out on a journey to discover the stopping places – the old encampment sites known only to Travellers. Through winter frosts and summer dawns, from horse fairs to Gypsy churches, Damian lives on the road, somewhere between the romanticised Gypsies of old, and their much-maligned descendants of today.

Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month

• What is Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month?
• Gypsy Roma and Traveller History Month Events: June 2023
• History and Culture
• Political and Legal

A Selection of our Gypsy, Roma and Traveller books (click on any cover to follow a link to the book on Onesearch)

Reading list, useful classmarks for gypsy, roma and traveller books, changing the catalogue, gale primary sources, box of broadcasts (bob).

The British Film Institute

The  BFI Player the on-demand service available to universities and colleges across the UK and the leading platform for world and independent cinema. There are over 700 British, world and classic cinema titles, as well as a searchable collection of 12,000 archive shorts and features from the BFI national and regional archives covering all aspects of British life spanning the past 120 years. 

The reading list highlights books and other material available from Lancaster University Library that relate to Tr aveller History and attempts to highlight material from relevant academic disciplines, such as History, Sociology , Poli tics, A rt and English Literature.

Please add your comments about the readings to the reading list. If you would like to make recommendations for purchase to diversify our collection, please complete our  Request a Resource form or email us with your ideas. 

Most of the time it is easiest to search with keywords. Subject headings are used to bring material on a similar topic together. Some subject headings or keywords you might use are 'Gypsy', 'Gypsies', 'Roma', 'Romany', and 'Traveller'.  

You can use the 'Browse' feature in OneSearch to look up Subjects.

Some key classmarks are:  KCNQ (Gypsies and Travellers);  MHU (Holocaust);  U69 (Planning and Housing), and  VR4 (Photopgraphy).

Library collections at Lancaster University are organised using the BLISS classification system and subject headings. There are many useful classmarks and subject headings that will help you find material relevant to Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History which are listed above.

However, academics and librarians are aware that the act of organising knowledge according to classification schemes devised a long time ago can compound problems that stem from outmoded assumptions.

We recognise this is problematic and can cause offense when inappropriate and outdated language is used. We recognise that there is much work to be done to maintain the ability to discover material related to Traveller culture and history without perpetuating structural racism.

At Lancaster University Library we are lucky to have passionate and knowledgable staff working hard to remove these kinds of embedded prejudices. We are connected to networks of academics and students who support this work by continually offering suggestions and recommendations that we can adopt, and we are committed to continual improvement. With as many people involved as possible we can continue to strive to be at the forefront of radical change.

Further reading

Crilly, J. (2019)  Decolonising the library: a theoretical exploration .  Spark: UAL Creative Teaching and Learning Journal, 4(1) 6-15 

Our  Gale Primary Sources  resource is one recent addition to the Library collection. It is:

A search portal allowing searching across all Gale databases: 17th and 18th Century Burney Collection, British Library Newspapers (1732-1950), 19th Century UK Periodicals, Eighteenth Century Collections Online, The Economist Historical Archive (1843-2013), The Financial Times Historical Archive (1888-2010), and The Times Digital Archive (1785-2008). 

Above, for example, is an article taken from The Independent  newspaper, June 10th, 2000. 

• << Previous: Political and Legal
• Last Updated: Feb 19, 2024 4:32 PM
• URL: https://lancaster.libguides.com/grthm

Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month

SLS UK 2022 PHSE

Subject: Citizenship & Literacy

Topic: Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) History Month

Year Group: Mostly KS1 and KS2

Synopsis: Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) History Month is in June each year, and was established to raise awareness of the contribution to society of GRT communities and combat prejudices and stereotypes and it is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate the differences and similarities in peoples’ lifestyles

Librarian’s view:

Care needs to be taken when choosing GRT month resources as it is so important to avoid the stereotypes that seep into some well-meaning texts.

Even the terminology is problematic, with some quarters objecting to the use of the word “gypsy” but others incorporating it into the name of the month!

Young Gypsy, Roma and Traveller people can face unique and too often, difficult challenges in education and schooling.  The following is taken from the www.gypsy-traveller.org website

• The Race Disparity Audit found that when compared to other ethnic groups, pupils from Gypsy, Roma and Irish Traveller backgrounds had the lowest attainment and progress, and were the least likely to stay in education after the age of 16.
• A study by the Children’s Commissioner in 2012 found Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children were four times more likely to be permanently excluded than the school population as a whole.
• In 2017, The Traveller Movement found 70% (138 out of 199 interviewed) of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller young people had experienced discrimination in some form in education.
• In 2019, Friends, Families and Travellers asked Gypsy, Roma and Traveller young people about the biggest challenges they faced in school; 86% of pupils reported the biggest challenge to be bullying, followed by racism at 72%.

As with combatting other forms of racism, the simple practice of introducing young children to different lifestyles by having stories based in these cultures can make the culture familiar and give children reference points, so when they find out that a classmate lives a traveller lifestyle, rather than being surprised and turning away, they say “Oh, just like Yokki, then”

Wee Bessie by David G Pullar

Winner of the Friends, Families and Travellers Arts, Culture and Heritage Award 2022, David G Pullar is a professional horticulturist and chairperson at Heart of the Travellers. He wrote ‘Wee Bessie’ as a children’s picture book dedicated to the memory of his great-grandmother Betsy Whyte and narrates her childhood travels through the different seasons with her dog, Ricky and her family in Scotland.  A great opportunity to embrace a way of life that most children will not know about.

The Genie and the fisherman & other tales from the travelling people (1991) and Tell me a story for Christmas (1989) by Duncan Williamson and Fireside tales for traveller children edited by Linda Williamson (2017 )

Duncan Williamson has published several books of traveller tales and these volumes offer timeless tales best for reading aloud.  The older editions are out of print, but available as an e-book and a new edition of Duncan Williamson’s stories, edited by his wife, Linda, was published much more recently.  The tales draw on the fables traveller people use to instil morals and the knowledge of right and wrong in their children.

Snowy by Berlie Doherty

On pet day at school, Rachel, who lives on a canal barge, cannot bring Snowy, the horse who pulls her barge, and so the teacher arranges for the class to visit Snowy!  The class love visiting Rachel on her barge and meeting snowy. A beautiful story that celebrates different lifestyles.

Ossiri and the Bala Mengro by Richard O’Neill and Katharine Quarmby

Traveller child, Ossiri, wants to play music and makes herself her own instrument, but the noise she makes is not welcomed by her community!  Frustrated, she takes to the hills, ignoring warnings of the ogre that lives there…  

Others is the Travellers’ Tales series are Yokki and the Parno Gry , The lost homework and Polonius the Pit Pony .

Megan’s year: an Irish traveler’s story by Gloria Whelan, illustrated by Beth Peck

There are two Megans – the winter Megan who stays in one place and the summer Megan who travels around Ireland with her family of travellers. Another story that beautifully illustrates a different way of life, this time in Ireland.

The Django (2010) by Levi Pinfold     

The Django teaches young Jean to play beautiful music on the banjo but is always getting him into trouble.  A story inspired by the famous French-Romani jazz musician Jean Django Reinhardt and includes a page of information about him.

Two other books for teachers:

Gypsies and travellers: a teacher’s guide (2018) by Steven Horne

The Stopping Places: a journey through Gypsy Britain by Damian Le Bas