🔗 Share this article

It's Black History Month in the UK, and it feels like it’s time for a rethink. Throughout its history, an observance that began as a festivity and recollection of the past, cultural identity and bonds between global Black communities, has developed a corporate feel, expanding to include gatherings where African descendants are paid to speak with white audiences about implicit prejudice and “allyship”. The anti-racism rallies of the last decade created a surge in the enterprise of showcasing anti-racist commitment. Yet, that phase is now over. The tide has peaked, resulting in a somewhat empty inheritance of what promoting consciousness is for.

The Background of Black History Observance

First commemorated in the United States and Canada, Black History Month was established in 1962 as “Negro History Week” by Black scholar Carter G. Woodson with multiple days of remembrance and recognition in the second week of February. Black History Month grew out of this campaign and was formally inaugurated in 1970. Now it is celebrated not only in the United States and Canada in the second month, but also in the tenth month in the United Kingdom, the Federal Republic of Germany, Ireland and the the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

The month has developed since that time, placing less emphasis on the accounts of the slave trade across the Atlantic and fights for racial justice, and increasingly on notable African descendants in public life, creative fields, and advocacy, and broadly celebrating the contribution Black people have made to shape the country. It is in schools where Black History Month is most frequently marked, with lectures and artistic activities. But the manner the celebration is celebrated is a reflection of the political moment. How it develops is a valuable example in how assimilation leads to dismantling: the restructuring of Black History Month has stymied the purpose of it, which is to address systemic and institutional racism.

---

A Jarring Moment

Little demonstrates how important it is to reconsider Black History Month as much as the current time in which it occurs this year. In the UK, a resurgent right in the shape of the Reform party is leading the polls. In the summer we observed the most significant ultra-conservative gathering in British history. the Conservative leader, the African descendant in charge of the Conservative party, is a firm opponent of Black Lives Matter, and we are in a position where a legislator feels emboldened to state that “not seeing any white faces” in parts of a city is a cause for alarm. Meanwhile, ultra-nationalist movements are growing in the European continent as a entirety.

In the United States, a significant offensive against DEI and affirmative action has been brought, often successfully, to the highest courts of the country. A campaign to remove African American heritage and legacy from the historical documents is under way. One of the former president's first executive orders focused on the institution dedicated to Black heritage, and the renowned cultural organization, alleging that they of a coordinated and broad attempt to alter the country's historical narrative” by portraying America “as inherently racist”.

In this context, the celebration symbolises how little it can be influential if it is limited to either routine organizational acknowledgments, or depoliticized celebrations of former accomplishments, rather than addressing the realities of the contemporary world. It also shows how its short period means that it is separated from the broader ongoing work that is needed. Denise Miller, a prof at a learning establishment, put it best when she voiced worries about the short-term symbolic gestures of the celebration. “The issue with embracing a superficial method”, she stated, “is that it frequently results in that Black History Month becomes a brief show rather than a agent of progress.”

---

Reevaluating, Not Abandoning

Determining how to adapt, revise and extend actions for racial equality and recognition in such times of discouragement and concern is a difficult task. There is a urge to just eliminate events including Black History Month altogether, assuming they are inadequate for current needs, or are remnants of an era that has failed to deliver.

But despite everything, Black History Month, and in fact the entire extended network and tradition of racial movements – community-based BLM initiatives, diversity equity and inclusion initiatives, and certainly, even commercial engagements – constitute an foundation that a considerable labor has gone into. It is there not merely to decline as the politics moves on (and in fact, declines), but to be a vital organism.

So what would a contemporary active Black History Month seem? Well, first, it would be not just one concentrated month: something that is dispersed throughout the annual calendar (as certain organizations are already commencing), parts of its content (particularly around historic Black characters) included in school curriculums. It would also be a time that does not evade political issues, and provides room for individuals, particularly the younger generation, to share their anxieties and narratives. What use is mere awareness of the bygone era when it fails to address the contemporary truth of extreme conservative demonstrations in the public spaces? Institutions who observe it should not be comforted with the neutral terminology of “unconscious bias” and sensitivity to “microaggressions”, but challenged by the threats that affect everyone if fight against prejudice is not approached earnestly. In short, Black History Month should be made current, pressing, and reactive. Perhaps an complete renaming is required – Contemporary Black History Month.