Reimaging, from a decolonised perspective, the Grade 10 intended curriculum and the start of the era of modernity - Portugal covets the gold of West Africa, sugar, and the start of enslaving black bodies

Ramose 1 (2016) argues the "construction of the education curriculum demands a specific vision of the kind of human being education is designed to deliver to society".While the Department of Basic Education has implemented a process for the 'Strengthening of the Curriculum', this paper contributes to the reimaging of the Grade 10 History curriculum with a topic which has the objective to address, and humanize, the vision of a value-based education.Drawing on the work of Howard W French (2021.Born in Blackness.Liveright Publishing, New York), we have introduced a topic at the start of the Grade 10 academic year entitled 'Portugal covets the gold of West Africa and the start of enslaving black bodies' .In the absence of text books available in South Africa which would unpack this explicit focus, we draw on the work of French. 2 While the implemented curriculum does introduce various civilisations which existed in 1450, it seemingly addresses them as distinct silos.We infuse the Ghana-, Mali-, and Songhai Empires as well as the Ming Dynasty, Ottoman Empire and Europe (as it emerged out of the Middle Ages) into the narrative.