Black History Month acts as a gauge of the prevailing political atmosphere, so in what ways can we modernize it?
It's Black History Month in the UK, and it feels like it’s time for a rethink. Over the years, an celebration that started out as a commemorative event of the past, cultural identity and bonds between global Black communities, has adopted a corporate feel, broadening to incorporate gatherings where individuals of African heritage are paid to address white audiences about hidden biases and supportive partnership. The 2020s Black Lives Matter protests generated a rise in the business of displaying cultural sensitivity. However, that period has concluded. The wave has crested, resulting in a somewhat empty inheritance of what raising awareness is for.
The History of Black History Month
Initially celebrated in the America and its northern neighbor, Black History Month was conceived in 1962 as “Negro History Week” by African American historian Carter G. Woodson with multiple days of remembrance and recognition in the middle of February. Black History Month evolved from this initiative and was formally inaugurated in 1970. Today it is observed not only in the US and Canada in winter, but also in the tenth month in the UK, Deutschland, Ireland and the Holland.
The observance has transformed since its inception, giving reduced attention to the histories of the slave trade across the Atlantic and struggles for equality, and greater focus on prominent Black figures in politics, culture, and activism, and extensively acknowledging the input Black people have made to shape the country. It is in schools where Black History Month is most regularly observed, with discussions and heritage festivities. But the manner the observance is celebrated is a manifestation of the current political situation. How it develops is a instructive case in how assimilation leads to weakening: the reshaping of Black History Month has stymied the objective of it, which is to confront systemic and institutional racism.
A Disconcerting Period
Hardly anything shows how important it is to reconsider Black History Month more than the current time in which it occurs this year. In the United Kingdom, a resurgent right in the form of the Reform organization is ahead in surveys. In the warmer months we saw the most significant ultra-conservative gathering in British history. the Conservative leader, the Black leader of the Tory party, is a firm opponent of Black Lives Matter, and we are in a situation where a member of parliament feels empowered to state that the absence of Caucasian individuals in parts of a city is a reason for concern. At the same time, far-right parties are surging in the EU as a whole.
In the United States, a significant offensive against DEI and affirmative action has been brought, frequently with success, to the supreme judicial bodies of the state. A campaign to scrub African American heritage and experience from the archives is in progress. One of the political figure's initial presidential directives focused on the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the renowned cultural organization, claiming they of a coordinated and broad attempt to rewrite our Nation’s history” by representing the nation “as naturally discriminatory”.
In this context, the celebration symbolises how little it can be impactful if it is confined to either routine organizational acknowledgments, or stripped of political content commemorations of contributions in the past, rather than confronting the conditions of the present. It also shows how its restricted time span means that it is separated from the broader ongoing work that is required. A university professor, a educator at an educational institution, put it best when she voiced worries about the short-term symbolic gestures of the month. “The problem with adopting a symbolic stance”, she commented, “is that it typically leads to that Black History Month becomes a transient display rather than a agent of progress.”
Reconsidering, Not Discarding
Determining how to adjust, modify and expand actions for equal rights and acknowledgment in such periods of dismay and anxiety is a challenging endeavor. There is a urge to just eliminate events including Black History Month entirely, assuming they are no longer suitable, or are vestiges of an era that has been ineffective.
However, regardless of the situation, Black History Month, and in fact the entire extended network and legacy of racial movements – local anti-racism groups, inclusion and equity efforts, and yes, even those talks to businesses – constitute an framework that a significant effort has gone into. It is there not merely to decline as the politics moves on (and in fact, declines), but to be a vital organism.
So what would a contemporary active Black History Month look like? Well, first, it would be not just one concentrated month: something that is dispersed through the year (as some institutions are already beginning to do), parts of its content (particularly around prominent figures of color) included in school curriculums. It would also be a era that does not evade politics, and leaves space for citizens, particularly youth, to express their concerns and stories. What value has mere awareness of the bygone era when it ignores the contemporary truth of ultra-nationalist gatherings in the street? Institutions who mark it should not be comforted with the neutral terminology of hidden discrimination and awareness of “microaggressions”, but confronted with the risks that impact society if opposition to discrimination is not treated with importance. Briefly stated, Black History Month should be made up-to-date, pressing, and reactive. Maybe an entire name rebrand is necessary – Contemporary Black History Month.
