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 UK, and it appears it’s time for a rethink. Over the years, an celebration that began as a celebration and reminder of heritage, traditions and links between global Black communities, has adopted a corporate feel, growing to encompass gatherings where African descendants are paid to address white audiences about implicit prejudice and “allyship”. The 2020s Black Lives Matter protests generated a rise in the business of demonstrating racial awareness. But even that moment has passed. The wave has crested, leaving a sort of hollowed out legacy of what promoting consciousness is for.
The Origins of Black History Celebration
Initially celebrated in the US and Canada, Black History Month was created in 1962 as “Negro History Week” by African American historian Carter G. Woodson with seven days of commemoration and observance in the middle of February. Black History Month developed from this campaign and was officially launched in 1970. Currently it is marked not only in the United States and Canada in the second month, but also in the tenth month in the United Kingdom, Germany, Ireland and the Netherlands.
The observance has transformed since its inception, placing less emphasis on the accounts of the slave trade across the Atlantic and fights for racial justice, and more on influential individuals of color in government, the arts, and social movements, and extensively acknowledging the input Black people have made to mold society. It is in learning environments where Black History Month is most regularly observed, with discussions and heritage festivities. But the manner the celebration is observed is a indication of the current political situation. How it evolves is a instructive case in how assimilation leads to weakening: the restructuring of Black History Month has impeded the point of it, which is to address embedded and established prejudice.
A Jarring Moment
Few things illustrate how important it is to reevaluate Black History Month more than the particular moment in which it takes place this year. In the Britain, a reemerging right-wing in the shape of the Reform political group is leading the polls. In the warmer months we witnessed the largest far-right rally in British history. a prominent political figure, the person of color at the helm of the Conservative party, is a strong critic of anti-racism activism, and we are in a place where a member of parliament feels empowered to declare that “not seeing any white faces” in certain urban areas is a source of worry. Simultaneously, ultra-nationalist movements are surging in Europe as a entirety.
In the America, a massive attack against inclusion programs and preferential policies has been taken, often successfully, to the highest courts of the state. A campaign to erase Black history and experience from the records is in progress. One of the political figure's initial presidential directives aimed at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the renowned cultural organization, claiming they of a “concerted and widespread effort to alter the country's historical narrative” by portraying America “as fundamentally prejudiced”.
In this context, the celebration illustrates how insufficiently it can be effective if it is limited to either obligatory business commemorations, or stripped of political content celebrations of former accomplishments, rather than challenging the situation of the present. It also demonstrates how its restricted time span means that it is separated from the broader ongoing work that is needed. An academic expert, a prof at an educational institution, expressed it perfectly when she raised concerns about the short-term symbolic gestures of the month. “The difficulty with adopting a symbolic stance”, she wrote, “is that it typically leads to that Black History Month evolves into a brief show rather than a catalyst for change.”
Rethinking, But Not Jettisoning
Figuring out how to alter, change and broaden efforts for equal rights and acknowledgment in such periods of dismay and anxiety is a treacherous thing. There is a urge to just discontinue things like Black History Month entirely, thinking they are simply not fit for purpose, or are relics of an time that has not worked.
But despite everything, Black History Month, and in fact the entire extended network and tradition of activism for racial justice – local anti-racism groups, DEI programs, and indeed, including corporate presentations – constitute an infrastructure that a significant effort has gone into. It is there not only to deteriorate as the situation evolves (and in fact, deteriorates), but to be a living breathing thing.
So what would a contemporary active Black History Month appear as? To begin with, it would be extended beyond a brief observance: something that is distributed through the year (as certain organizations are already commencing), elements of its material (particularly around notable African descendants) incorporated into school curriculums. It would also be a period that does not evade politics, and leaves space for individuals, particularly the younger generation, to express their concerns and stories. What purpose serves mere awareness of the history when it doesn’t reckon with the contemporary truth of ultra-nationalist gatherings in the street? Institutions who celebrate it should not be reassured with the non-confrontational words of implicit prejudice and alertness to “microaggressions”, but confronted with the risks that impact society if fight against prejudice is not approached earnestly. To summarize, 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.
