Black History Month serves as a mirror of the current political climate, so in what ways can we modernize it?
It's Black History Month in the United Kingdom, and it appears it’s time for a re-evaluation. As time has passed, an observance that was initiated as a celebration and reminder of heritage, traditions and links between international African diaspora communities, has taken on a commercial tone, growing to encompass gatherings where individuals of African heritage are compensated to address Caucasian groups about implicit prejudice and supportive partnership. The 2020s Black Lives Matter protests generated a rise in the business of displaying cultural sensitivity. But even that moment has passed. The surge has reached its height, leaving a sort of hollowed out legacy of what increasing understanding is for.
The Origins of Black History Month
Initially celebrated in the US and Canada, Black History Month was established in 1962 as “Negro History Week” by African American historian Carter G. Woodson with seven days of remembrance and recognition in the February's second week. Black History Month developed from this campaign and was formally inaugurated in 1970. Today it is observed not only in the United States and Canada in February, but also in autumn in the UK, Deutschland, Ireland and the Holland.
The observance has transformed since its inception, focusing less on the narratives of colonial slavery and fights for racial justice, and greater focus on prominent Black figures in government, the arts, and social movements, and broadly celebrating the contribution Black people have made to mold society. It is in educational institutions where Black History Month is most frequently marked, with discussions and heritage festivities. But the method the celebration is commemorated is a manifestation of the contemporary political context. How it evolves 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 address structural and organizational discrimination.
A Disconcerting Period
Hardly anything shows how critical it is to reconsider Black History Month more than the current time in which it falls this year. In the UK, a resurgent right in the form of the Reform organization is ahead in surveys. In the recent season we saw the biggest extreme right demonstration in British history. Kemi Badenoch, the African descendant in charge of the Tory party, is a staunch adversary of the racial justice movement, and we are in a position where a legislator feels emboldened to declare that “not seeing any white faces” in certain urban areas is a reason for concern. At the same time, ultra-nationalist movements are surging in the EU as a entirety.
In the America, a significant offensive against DEI and affirmative action has been taken, often successfully, to the top legal institutions of the nation. A campaign to remove the history of people of color and narrative from the records is ongoing. One of Donald Trump's early administrative commands focused on the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the Smithsonian Institution, alleging that they of a coordinated and broad attempt to change the national past” by portraying America “as naturally discriminatory”.
Given these circumstances, the month symbolises how insufficiently it can be impactful if it is limited to either routine organizational acknowledgments, or depoliticized festivities of historical achievements, rather than confronting the conditions of the contemporary world. It also reveals how its restricted time span means that it is disconnected from the broader ongoing work that is needed. A university professor, a prof at an educational institution, articulated it most accurately when she voiced worries about the short-term symbolic gestures of the observance. “The issue with embracing a superficial method”, she wrote, “is that it typically leads to that Black History Month evolves into a transient display rather than a catalyst for change.”
Reconsidering, Not Discarding
Determining how to adapt, revise and extend initiatives for racial equality and recognition in such times of discouragement and concern is a challenging endeavor. There is a inclination to just eliminate observances such as Black History Month entirely, thinking they are no longer suitable, or are remnants of an period that has been ineffective.
However, regardless of the situation, Black History Month, and in fact the whole broad system and legacy of racial movements – grassroots Black Lives Matter organisations, diversity equity and inclusion initiatives, and yes, even those talks to businesses – constitute an framework that a considerable labor has been dedicated to. It is there not merely to decline as the situation evolves (and in fact, declines), but to be a dynamic entity.
So what would a fresh vibrant Black History Month look like? Well, first, it would be more than a single focused period: something that is distributed across all seasons (as some institutions are already commencing), parts of its content (particularly around historic Black characters) incorporated into school curriculums. It would also be a era that does not evade political issues, and allows opportunity for citizens, particularly youth, to express their concerns and stories. What use is basic knowledge of the past when it doesn’t reckon with the contemporary truth of far-right rallies in the public spaces? Establishments who observe it should not be comforted with the passive language of implicit prejudice and sensitivity to subtle slights, but challenged by the risks that face all if fight against prejudice is not approached earnestly. To summarize, Black History Month should be made contemporary, pressing, and adaptive. Perhaps an total re-identification is necessary – Present-Day African Heritage Celebration.
