The annual Black History observance serves as a mirror of the political moment, so in what ways can we modernize it?
This is Black History Month in the Britain, and it seems it’s time for a reassessment. Over the years, an event that started out as a festivity and recollection of the past, cultural identity and bonds between Black populations worldwide, has taken on a commercial tone, broadening to incorporate events where individuals of African heritage are paid to address Caucasian groups about “unconscious bias” and supportive partnership. The anti-racism rallies of the last decade created a surge in the industry of showcasing anti-racist commitment. However, that period has concluded. The surge has peaked, resulting in a somewhat empty inheritance of what promoting consciousness is for.
The History of Black History Observance
Initially celebrated in the United States and Canada, Black History Month was conceived in 1962 as “Negro History Week” by African American historian Carter G. Woodson with seven days of celebration and reflection in the February's second week. Black History Month developed from this initiative and was formally inaugurated in 1970. Now it is celebrated not only in the US and Canada in the second month, but also in October in the United Kingdom, Deutschland, Éire and the Holland.
The observance has evolved since those days, focusing less on the narratives of transatlantic enslavement and fights for racial justice, and increasingly on influential individuals of color in public life, creative fields, and advocacy, and extensively acknowledging the impact Black people have made to shape the country. It is in learning environments where Black History Month is most frequently marked, with lectures and artistic activities. But the method the observance is observed is a reflection of the contemporary political context. How it progresses is a valuable example in how appropriation leads to erosion: the restructuring of Black History Month has impeded the purpose of it, which is to confront structural and organizational discrimination.
A Jarring Moment
Little demonstrates how important it is to reconsider Black History Month better than the particular moment in which it falls this year. In the UK, a resurgent right in the guise of the Reform organization is top in opinion ratings. In the recent season we observed the most significant ultra-conservative gathering in the UK's past. Kemi Badenoch, the Black leader of the Conservative party, is a strong critic of anti-racism activism, and we are in a position where a elected representative feels emboldened to declare that a lack of white people in certain urban areas is a source of worry. Meanwhile, ultra-nationalist movements are expanding in the EU as a whole.
In the United States, a colossal assault against DEI and affirmative action has been carried, repeatedly with positive outcomes, to the highest courts of the nation. A effort to scrub African American heritage and legacy from the archives is under way. One of Donald Trump's initial presidential directives aimed at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the Smithsonian Institution, accusing them of a organized and extensive campaign to alter the country's historical narrative” by representing the nation “as inherently racist”.
Against this backdrop, the month represents how little it can be effective if it is confined to either dutiful corporate observances, or stripped of political content commemorations of contributions in the past, rather than addressing the realities of the current era. It also demonstrates how its limited duration means that it is detached from the broader ongoing work that is required. An academic expert, a professor at University of Greenwich, articulated it most accurately when she expressed apprehension about the short-term symbolic gestures of the observance. “The problem with adopting a symbolic stance”, she commented, “is that it often means that Black History Month turns into a brief show rather than a driver of transformation.”
Rethinking, But Not Jettisoning
Determining how to adjust, modify and expand actions for equal rights and acknowledgment in such moments of dejection and worry is a challenging endeavor. There is a temptation to just do away with events including Black History Month entirely, thinking they are no longer suitable, or are relics of an time that has been ineffective.
Yet, in spite of all this, Black History Month, and in fact the whole broad system and legacy of activism for racial justice – grassroots Black Lives Matter organisations, DEI programs, and certainly, even commercial engagements – form an infrastructure that a significant effort has been invested in. It is there not just to decay as the situation evolves (and in fact, declines), but to be a dynamic entity.
So what would a new dynamic Black History Month appear as? To begin with, it would be not just one concentrated month: something that is distributed throughout the annual calendar (as various establishments are already beginning to do), parts of its content (particularly around prominent figures of color) incorporated into school curriculums. It would also be a era that does not avoid governmental matters, and allows opportunity for people, particularly youth, to share their anxieties and narratives. What use is mere awareness of the bygone era when it fails to address the current situation of far-right rallies in the street? Organizations who celebrate it should not be comforted with the non-confrontational words of “unconscious bias” and awareness of “microaggressions”, but challenged by the dangers that affect everyone if opposition to discrimination is not taken seriously. To summarize, Black History Month should be made current, critical, and adaptive. Maybe an complete renaming is necessary – Contemporary Black History Month.
