Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month

Published: 22nd May 2025

June is Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month (GRTHM)

Gypsy, Roma and Traveller History Month (GRTHM) is an important way of highlighting the history and cultural traditions of groups of people who have identified as being non-stationary, and who have long been marginalised in British and European history.

While Gypsies, Roma and Travellers are distinct groups with their own individual customs and histories they are also groups which have similarities with each other, especially in the ways that they have been treated through legal and social methods by wider British, Irish and European societies.

Vaclav Havel the poet, playwright, author and late President of both Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic described the treatment of gypsies ‘as a litmus test of civil society’ and went on to discuss ‘driving out manifestations of intolerance as the biggest challenge of our times’. And though some may argue that the treatment of the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities in the UK is not as bad as it remains in parts of Eastern Europe, nobody would argue that those communities are wholesale embraced, universally supported or even often casually tolerated.

Language around many Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities continues to be both derogative and hostile, with an emphasis on how those communities differ and represent ‘the other’.  GRTHM is therefore an attempt to counter some of the negativity, to share, explore and build knowledge of the communities’ histories and cultures and to foster improvements in understanding and acceptance.

Diversity in out modern society comes in many forms, and if we are to continue to grow a broader understanding of all of those who make up our history and our communities then Gypsy, Roma and Traveller history must also be included, making GRTHM a good place to start.

In addition to drawing together a number of resources to encourage learning this June we are also using the month to highlight the launch of our fundraising plan (coming soon) to create a Teacher Fellowship on Gypsy, Roma and Traveller history in memory of our late Deputy President Helen Snelson.

Resources for primary schools:

Resources for secondary schools

General resources: