• John Agard was born in British Guiana (now called Guyana) in the Caribbean, in 1949. He moved to the UK in the late 1970s and is well known for powerful and fun performances of his work.

• He uses non-standard phonetic spelling (written as a word sounds) to represent his own accent, and writes about what it is like being black to challenge racist attitudes, especially those which are unthinking

• This poem draws on Agard's experience to make us look at the way history is taught, and at how we conceive our identity as we learn about cultural traditions and narratives. It becomes clear that Agard had to follow a history curriculum biased towards whites, especially British whites, so that he learned about mythical, nursery rhyme characters instead of living black people from the past.

• He challenges this view of history and cites some major black figures to balance the bias and create a basis for his own identity

Dem tell me

Dem tell me

Wha dem want to tell me

Bandage up me eye with me own history

Blind me to me own identity

Dem tell me bout 1066 and all dat

dem tell me bout Dick Whittington and he cat

But Toussaint L’Ouverture

no dem never tell me bout dat

   Toussaint

   a slave

   with vision

   lick back

   Napoleon

   Battalion

   and first Black

   Republic born

   Toussaint de thorn

   to de French

   Toussaint de beacon

   of de Haitian Revolution

Dem tell me bout de man who discover de balloon

and de cow who jump over de moon

Dem tell me bout de dish ran away with de spoon

but dem never tell me bout Nanny de maroon

   Nanny

   see-far woman

   of mountain dream

   fire-woman struggle

   hopeful stream

   to freedom river

Dem tell me bout Lord Nelson and Waterloo

but dem never tell me bout Shaka de great Zulu

Dem tell me bout Columbus and 1492

but what happen to de Caribs and de Arawaks too

Dem tell me bout Florence Nightingale and she lamp

and how Robin Hood used to camp

Dem tell me bout ole King Cole was a merry ole soul

but dem never tell me bout Mary Seacole

   From Jamaica

   she travel far

   to the Crimean War

   she volunteer to go

   and even when de British said no

   she still brave the Russian snow

   a healing star

   among the wounded

   a yellow sunrise

   to the dying

Dem tell me

Dem tell me wha dem want to tell me

But now I checking out me own history

I carving out me identity