Black History Month acts as a gauge of the political moment, so in what ways can we modernize it?
We are in Black History Month in the United Kingdom, and it feels like it’s time for a re-evaluation. Over the years, an event that started out as a celebration and reminder of heritage, traditions and links between global Black communities, has developed a business-like atmosphere, expanding to include gatherings where individuals of African heritage are compensated to address white audiences about hidden biases and active solidarity. The anti-racism rallies of the last decade generated a rise in the business of showcasing anti-racist commitment. Yet, that phase is now over. The tide has crested, producing a diluted aftermath of what increasing understanding is for.
The Origins of Black History Month
First commemorated in the America and its northern neighbor, Black History Month was established in 1962 as a week dedicated to Negro history by Black scholar Carter G. Woodson with a week of commemoration and observance in the February's second week. Black History Month grew out of this initiative and was publicly established in 1970. Currently it is marked not only in the US and Canada in the second month, but also in autumn in the UK, Deutschland, Ireland and the Netherlands.
The period has evolved since its inception, focusing less on the accounts of transatlantic enslavement and civil rights battles, and increasingly on prominent Black figures in public life, creative fields, and advocacy, and extensively acknowledging the impact Black people have made to mold society. It is in schools where Black History Month is most commonly celebrated, with talks and cultural events. But the method the month is commemorated is a indication of the contemporary political context. How it develops is a good lesson in how assimilation leads to weakening: the transformation of Black History Month has stymied the objective of it, which is to confront embedded and established prejudice.
A Troubling Time
Hardly anything shows how crucial it is to rethink Black History Month as much as the specific period in which it falls this year. In the UK, a resurgent right in the guise of the Reform political group is top in opinion ratings. In the warmer months we witnessed the most significant ultra-conservative gathering in the UK's past. the Conservative leader, the Black leader of the Conservative party, is a firm opponent of the racial justice movement, and we are in a place where a elected representative feels emboldened to declare that “not seeing any white faces” in certain urban areas is a source of worry. Meanwhile, ultra-nationalist movements are surging in the European continent as a whole.
In the United States, a colossal assault against inclusion programs and preferential policies has been brought, repeatedly with positive outcomes, to the highest courts of the country. A effort to erase the history of people of color and experience from the records is ongoing. One of the political figure's early administrative commands targeted the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the Smithsonian Institution, alleging that they of a “concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nation’s history” by portraying America “as inherently racist”.
In this context, the observance represents how little it can be effective if it is confined to either obligatory business commemorations, or stripped of political content celebrations of former accomplishments, rather than confronting the conditions of the contemporary world. It also shows how its limited duration means that it is disconnected from the broader ongoing work that is necessary. An academic expert, a prof at University of Greenwich, articulated it most accurately when she expressed apprehension about the temporary “tokenism” of the celebration. “The problem with taking a tokenistic approach”, she commented, “is that it often means that Black History Month turns into a fleeting performance rather than a driver of transformation.”
Reconsidering, Not Discarding
Figuring out how to alter, change and broaden initiatives for equal rights and acknowledgment in such periods of dismay and anxiety is a treacherous thing. There is a temptation to just eliminate observances such as Black History Month completely, thinking they are simply not fit for purpose, or are remnants of an period that has been ineffective.
But despite everything, Black History Month, and in fact the entire extended network and heritage of activism for racial justice – local anti-racism groups, DEI programs, and certainly, even commercial engagements – represent an framework 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 dynamic entity.
So what would a fresh vibrant Black History Month seem? To begin with, it would be not just one concentrated month: something that is dispersed through the year (as some institutions are already commencing), elements of its material (particularly around notable African descendants) incorporated into academic syllabi. It would also be a time that does not shy away from political issues, and provides room for individuals, particularly young people, to air their fears and experiences. What value has mere awareness of the past when it doesn’t reckon with the current situation of ultra-nationalist gatherings in the public spaces? Institutions who celebrate it should not be pacified with the non-confrontational words of implicit prejudice and awareness of “microaggressions”, but confronted with the dangers that face all if anti-racism is not treated with importance. Briefly stated, Black History Month should be made contemporary, pressing, and adaptive. It could be that an total re-identification is in order – Contemporary Black History Month.
