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 United Kingdom, and it seems it’s time for a re-evaluation. Over the years, an event 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 events where Black people are compensated to address Caucasian groups about “unconscious bias” and “allyship”. The 2020s Black Lives Matter protests generated a rise in the business of demonstrating racial awareness. However, that period has concluded. The tide has reached its height, producing a diluted aftermath of what raising awareness is for.
The Background of Black History Celebration
Initially celebrated in the US and Canada, Black History Month was created in 1962 as an observance of African American heritage by African American historian Carter G. Woodson with multiple days of remembrance and recognition in the middle of February. Black History Month developed from this movement and was officially launched in 1970. Currently it is marked not only in the North America in February, but also in October in the Britain, the Federal Republic of Germany, Ireland and the Holland.
The observance has evolved since its inception, placing less emphasis on the accounts of the slave trade across the Atlantic and civil rights battles, and more on influential individuals of color in public life, creative fields, and advocacy, and extensively acknowledging the impact Black people have made to influence the nation. It is in schools where Black History Month is most commonly celebrated, with discussions and heritage festivities. But the way the month is observed is a manifestation of the contemporary political context. How it develops is a good lesson in how appropriation leads to weakening: the restructuring of Black History Month has stymied the point of it, which is to confront structural and organizational discrimination.
A Disconcerting Period
Few things illustrate how critical it is to reconsider Black History Month better than the particular moment in which it occurs this year. In the Britain, a resurgent right in the guise of the Reform organization is top in opinion ratings. In the summer we saw the most significant ultra-conservative gathering in the history of Britain. the Conservative leader, the person of color at the helm of the right-wing political group, is a staunch adversary of the racial justice movement, and we are in a place where a member of parliament gains confidence to declare that “not seeing any white faces” in specific city neighborhoods is a cause for alarm. Simultaneously, far-right parties are expanding in Europe as a whole.
In the United States, a colossal assault against DEI and affirmative action has been brought, frequently with success, to the highest courts of the nation. A campaign to remove the history of people of color and narrative from the historical documents is in progress. One of the former president's first executive orders targeted the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the prestigious establishment, claiming they of a “concerted and widespread effort to change the national past” by depicting the United States “as naturally discriminatory”.
Against this backdrop, the celebration symbolises how insufficiently it can be influential 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 reveals how its limited duration means that it is separated from the broader ongoing work that is required. An academic expert, a educator at a learning establishment, put it best when she voiced worries about the temporary “tokenism” of the observance. “The problem with embracing a superficial method”, she commented, “is that it often means that Black History Month becomes a transient display rather than a driver of transformation.”
Reconsidering, Not Discarding
Figuring out how to adapt, revise and extend actions for fair treatment and appreciation in such periods of dismay and anxiety is a treacherous thing. There is a urge to just eliminate things like Black History Month altogether, thinking they are simply not fit for purpose, or are relics of an period that has not worked.
However, regardless of the situation, Black History Month, and in fact the entire extended network and tradition of activism for racial justice – grassroots Black Lives Matter organisations, DEI programs, and indeed, including corporate presentations – represent an foundation that a lot of work has gone into. It is there not only to deteriorate as the politics moves on (and in fact, deteriorates), but to be a living breathing thing.
So what would a contemporary active Black History Month look like? Firstly, it would be extended beyond a brief observance: something that is spread out throughout the annual calendar (as certain organizations are already starting to implement), elements of its material (particularly around notable African descendants) integrated into academic syllabi. It would also be a period that does not evade governmental matters, and leaves space for people, particularly youth, to express their concerns and stories. What use is basic knowledge of the bygone era when it ignores the contemporary truth of ultra-nationalist gatherings in the public spaces? Establishments who celebrate it should not be reassured with the non-confrontational words of “unconscious bias” and awareness of “microaggressions”, but confronted with the dangers that face all if fight against prejudice is not approached earnestly. To summarize, Black History Month should be made up-to-date, urgent, and reactive. Perhaps an complete renaming is in order – Contemporary Black History Month.
