🔗 Share this article

This is Black History Month in the UK, and it appears it’s time for a re-evaluation. Over the years, an celebration that began as a commemorative event of history, culture and the connections between international African diaspora communities, has developed a business-like atmosphere, expanding to include events where African descendants are paid to talk to white audiences about hidden biases and supportive partnership. The anti-racism rallies of the last decade generated a rise in the industry of showcasing anti-racist commitment. Yet, that phase is now over. The tide has peaked, resulting in a somewhat empty inheritance of what promoting consciousness is for.

The Origins of Black History Month

First commemorated in the United States and Canada, Black History Month was established in 1962 as “Negro History Week” by African American historian Carter G. Woodson with a week of remembrance and recognition in the middle of February. Black History Month developed from this campaign and was publicly established in 1970. Now it is celebrated not only in the United States and Canada in the second month, but also in autumn in the Britain, the Federal Republic of Germany, Éire and the Netherlands.

The month has developed since that time, focusing less on the accounts of colonial slavery and civil rights battles, and increasingly on prominent Black figures in politics, culture, and activism, and broadly celebrating the input Black people have made to influence the nation. It is in learning environments where Black History Month is most frequently marked, with talks and cultural events. But the way the celebration is commemorated is a indication of the political moment. How it evolves is a instructive case in how assimilation leads to dismantling: the reshaping of Black History Month has impeded the objective of it, which is to address structural and organizational discrimination.

---

A Jarring Moment

Little demonstrates how crucial it is to rethink Black History Month better than the particular moment in which it falls this year. In the Britain, a resurgent right in the form of the Reform party is ahead in surveys. In the summer we saw the biggest extreme right demonstration in the UK's past. the Conservative leader, the African descendant in charge of the Tory party, is a firm opponent of the racial justice movement, and we are in a place where a member of parliament feels empowered to state that a lack of white people in parts of a city is a cause for alarm. Simultaneously, extreme conservative groups are surging in the EU as a entirety.

In the US, a significant offensive against DEI and affirmative action has been taken, repeatedly with positive outcomes, to the highest courts of the nation. A campaign to scrub African American heritage and legacy from the records is ongoing. One of the political figure's first executive orders targeted the museum of African American legacy, and the prestigious establishment, accusing them of a organized and extensive campaign to rewrite our Nation’s history” by representing the nation “as inherently racist”.

Against this backdrop, the observance symbolises how minimally it can be impactful if it is restricted to either routine organizational acknowledgments, or stripped of political content celebrations of former accomplishments, rather than challenging the situation of the current era. It also reveals how its limited duration means that it is disconnected from the wider consistent effort that is needed. Denise Miller, a professor at a learning establishment, put it best when she voiced worries about the short-term symbolic gestures of the observance. “The difficulty with embracing a superficial method”, she commented, “is that it frequently results in that Black History Month becomes a fleeting performance rather than a agent of progress.”

---

Reevaluating, Not Abandoning

Determining how to adapt, revise and extend actions for fair treatment and appreciation in such times of discouragement and concern is a challenging endeavor. There is a inclination to just eliminate things like Black History Month completely, thinking they are no longer suitable, or are relics of an era that has failed to deliver.

But despite everything, Black History Month, and in fact the entire extended network and tradition of activism for racial justice – grassroots Black Lives Matter organisations, diversity equity and inclusion initiatives, and certainly, even commercial engagements – represent an foundation 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 living breathing thing.

So what would a new dynamic Black History Month look like? Firstly, it would be not just one concentrated month: something that is distributed across all seasons (as certain organizations are already commencing), sections of its curriculum (particularly around historic Black characters) incorporated into academic syllabi. It would also be a era that does not evade political issues, and provides room for people, particularly young people, to share their anxieties and narratives. What purpose serves mere awareness of the history when it doesn’t reckon with the contemporary truth of ultra-nationalist gatherings in the street? Institutions who celebrate it should not be pacified with the neutral terminology of “unconscious bias” and alertness to minor insults, but faced with the risks that affect everyone if fight against prejudice is not taken seriously. In short, Black History Month should be made current, critical, and responsive. It could be that an complete renaming is in order – Contemporary Black History Month.