The annual Black History observance is a reflection of the current political climate, so how do we revamp it?
We are in Black History Month in the United Kingdom, and it seems it’s time for a reassessment. Throughout its history, an celebration that started out as a festivity and recollection of heritage, traditions and links between global Black communities, has adopted a business-like atmosphere, broadening to incorporate events where African descendants are remunerated to address white audiences about implicit prejudice and active solidarity. The 2020s Black Lives Matter protests generated a rise in the enterprise of displaying cultural sensitivity. However, that period has concluded. The wave has reached its height, producing a diluted aftermath of what raising awareness is for.
The Background of Black History Month
Initially celebrated in the America and its northern neighbor, Black History Month was created in 1962 as a week dedicated to Negro history by African American historian Carter G. Woodson with a week of commemoration and observance in the second week of February. Black History Month developed from this campaign and was publicly established in 1970. Now it is celebrated not only in the North America in winter, but also in October in the United Kingdom, the Federal Republic of Germany, Éire and the Holland.
The observance has developed since those days, placing less emphasis on the narratives of transatlantic enslavement and civil rights battles, and greater focus on prominent Black figures in public life, creative fields, and advocacy, and extensively acknowledging the contribution Black people have made to influence the nation. It is in learning environments where Black History Month is most commonly celebrated, with lectures and artistic activities. But the way the month is observed is a reflection of the political moment. How it develops is a good lesson in how assimilation leads to dismantling: the restructuring of Black History Month has impeded the objective of it, which is to confront structural and organizational discrimination.
A Troubling Time
Few things illustrate how important it is to reconsider Black History Month as much as the specific period in which it takes place this year. In the United Kingdom, a revitalized conservative movement in the form of the Reform organization is leading the polls. In the summer we observed the most significant ultra-conservative gathering in the history of Britain. Kemi Badenoch, the Black leader of the Conservative party, is a strong critic of Black Lives Matter, and we are in a situation where a legislator gains confidence to state that the absence of Caucasian individuals in parts of a city is a reason for concern. Meanwhile, far-right parties are growing in the European continent as a complete entity.
In the United States, a significant offensive against diversity initiatives and positive discrimination has been carried, repeatedly with positive outcomes, to the top legal institutions of the nation. A drive to scrub African American heritage and experience from the archives is in progress. One of the former president's early administrative commands aimed at the museum of African American legacy, and the renowned cultural organization, alleging that they of a organized and extensive campaign to change the national past” by portraying America “as fundamentally prejudiced”.
Given these circumstances, the month symbolises how insufficiently it can be effective if it is confined to either obligatory business commemorations, or politically neutered commemorations of historical achievements, rather than challenging the conditions of the contemporary world. It also reveals how its restricted time span means that it is detached from the more extensive continuous action that is required. A university professor, a professor at an educational institution, put it best when she expressed apprehension about the temporary “tokenism” of the month. “The problem with taking a tokenistic approach”, she wrote, “is that it frequently results in that Black History Month turns into a fleeting performance rather than a agent of progress.”
Rethinking, But Not Jettisoning
Establishing how to alter, change and broaden efforts for equal rights and acknowledgment in such periods of dismay and anxiety is a difficult task. There is a temptation to just do away with events including Black History Month entirely, thinking they are simply not fit for purpose, or are remnants of an period that has been ineffective.
Yet, in spite of all this, Black History Month, and in fact the entire extended network and heritage of racial movements – community-based BLM initiatives, diversity equity and inclusion initiatives, and indeed, including corporate presentations – form an framework that a significant effort has been dedicated to. It is there not merely to decline as the situation evolves (and in fact, regresses), but to be a living breathing thing.
So what would a fresh vibrant Black History Month seem? To begin with, it would be extended beyond a brief observance: something that is dispersed throughout the annual calendar (as various establishments are already beginning to do), elements of its material (particularly around notable African descendants) integrated into academic syllabi. It would also be a era that does not avoid politics, and allows opportunity for individuals, particularly young people, to share their anxieties and narratives. What purpose serves basic knowledge of the history when it ignores the current situation of ultra-nationalist gatherings in the public spaces? Institutions who observe it should not be comforted with the passive language of implicit prejudice and alertness to minor insults, but faced with the threats that affect everyone if fight against prejudice is not treated with importance. Briefly stated, Black History Month should be made up-to-date, pressing, and reactive. Maybe an complete renaming is in order – Present-Day African Heritage Celebration.
