Black History Month serves as a mirror of the prevailing political atmosphere, so in what ways can we modernize it?
It's Black History Month in the United Kingdom, and it feels like it’s time for a reassessment. As time has passed, an event that was initiated as a commemorative event of the past, cultural identity and bonds between international African diaspora communities, has taken on a commercial tone, growing to encompass gatherings where African descendants are remunerated to address predominantly white listeners about “unconscious bias” and supportive partnership. The demonstrations for racial justice in the 2020s created a surge in the industry of showcasing anti-racist commitment. Yet, that phase is now over. The surge has crested, producing a diluted aftermath of what increasing understanding is for.
The Origins of Black History Celebration
Originally observed in the US and Canada, Black History Month was conceived in 1962 as a week dedicated to Negro history by African American historian Carter G. Woodson with multiple days of commemoration and observance in the February's second week. Black History Month evolved from this campaign and was formally inaugurated in 1970. Currently it is marked not only in the United States and Canada in February, but also in October in the UK, Germany, the Republic of Ireland and the Netherlands.
The month has developed since those days, placing less emphasis on the narratives of the slave trade across the Atlantic and fights for racial justice, and increasingly on prominent Black figures in government, the arts, and social movements, and extensively acknowledging the impact Black people have made to shape the country. It is in learning environments where Black History Month is most regularly observed, with lectures and artistic activities. But the way the observance is celebrated is a reflection of the political moment. How it progresses is a instructive case in how co-option leads to weakening: the reshaping of Black History Month has hindered the objective of it, which is to confront embedded and established prejudice.
A Troubling Time
Few things illustrate how critical it is to reevaluate Black History Month as much as the specific period in which it falls this year. In the United Kingdom, a reemerging right-wing in the guise of the Reform party is leading the polls. In the summer we observed the most significant ultra-conservative gathering in the history of Britain. the Conservative leader, the Black leader of the Tory party, is a strong critic of the racial justice movement, and we are in a situation where a elected representative feels emboldened to state that a lack of white people in certain urban areas is a reason for concern. At the same time, extreme conservative groups are expanding in Europe as a complete entity.
In the United States, a significant offensive against DEI and affirmative action has been taken, repeatedly with positive outcomes, to the supreme judicial bodies of the nation. A campaign to erase African American heritage and experience from the archives is under way. One of the former president's first executive orders targeted the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the renowned cultural organization, accusing them of a organized and extensive campaign to change the national past” by representing the nation “as inherently racist”.
Given these circumstances, the celebration represents how insufficiently it can be effective if it is confined to either routine organizational acknowledgments, or politically neutered celebrations of contributions in the past, rather than challenging the conditions of the present. It also reveals how its restricted time span means that it is disconnected from the broader ongoing work that is needed. An academic expert, a professor at University of Greenwich, put it best when she raised concerns about the short-term symbolic gestures of the celebration. “The problem with adopting a symbolic stance”, she commented, “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
Figuring out how to adapt, revise and extend actions for racial equality and recognition in such periods of dismay and anxiety is a treacherous thing. There is a temptation to just discontinue things like Black History Month entirely, believing they are no longer suitable, or are vestiges of an period that has been ineffective.
Yet, in spite of all this, Black History Month, and in fact the whole broad system and tradition of activism for racial justice – grassroots Black Lives Matter organisations, inclusion and equity efforts, and certainly, even commercial engagements – represent an foundation that a significant effort has been dedicated to. It is there not just to decay as the political landscape shifts (and in fact, declines), but to be a vital organism.
So what would a new dynamic Black History Month look like? Well, first, it would be more than a single focused period: something that is distributed through the year (as various establishments are already commencing), elements of its material (particularly around notable African descendants) incorporated into educational programs. It would also be a period that does not evade governmental matters, and leaves space for people, particularly the younger generation, to share their anxieties and narratives. What use is basic knowledge of the history when it fails to address the current situation of ultra-nationalist gatherings in the public spaces? Establishments who mark it should not be comforted with the neutral terminology of “unconscious bias” and sensitivity to “microaggressions”, but challenged by the threats that face all if opposition to discrimination is not taken seriously. In short, Black History Month should be made contemporary, critical, and adaptive. It could be that an total re-identification is in order – Black History is Now Month.
