Black History Month acts as a gauge of the political moment, so in what ways can we modernize it?

It's Black History Month in the UK, and it seems it’s time for a reassessment. Throughout its history, an observance that started out as a celebration and reminder of the past, cultural identity and bonds between Black populations worldwide, has taken on a commercial tone, expanding to include gatherings where individuals of African heritage are paid to speak with Caucasian groups about hidden biases and active solidarity. The anti-racism rallies of the last decade created a surge in the business of demonstrating racial awareness. But even that moment has passed. The tide has crested, leaving a sort of hollowed out legacy of what promoting consciousness is for.

The Background of Black History Observance

Initially celebrated in the America and its northern neighbor, Black History Month was created in 1962 as a week dedicated to Negro history by African American historian Carter G. Woodson with multiple days of celebration and reflection in the middle of February. Black History Month developed from this campaign and was formally inaugurated in 1970. Now it is celebrated not only in the United States and Canada in winter, but also in autumn in the United Kingdom, Deutschland, Éire and the Netherlands.

The period has evolved since its inception, placing less emphasis on the narratives of colonial slavery and fights for racial justice, and greater focus 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 regularly observed, with discussions and heritage festivities. But the method the celebration is observed is a manifestation of the contemporary political context. How it develops is a good lesson in how appropriation leads to weakening: the transformation of Black History Month has stymied the purpose of it, which is to address structural and organizational discrimination.

A Troubling Time

Hardly anything shows how critical it is to reconsider Black History Month more than the specific period in which it falls this year. In the United Kingdom, a revitalized conservative movement in the guise of the Reform political group is ahead in surveys. In the summer we observed the largest far-right rally in the history of Britain. Kemi Badenoch, the Black leader of the Tory party, is a firm opponent of Black Lives Matter, and we are in a place where a legislator gains confidence to say that the absence of Caucasian individuals in certain urban areas is a cause for alarm. At the same time, ultra-nationalist movements are growing in Europe as a entirety.

In the America, a massive attack against inclusion programs and preferential policies has been carried, repeatedly with positive outcomes, to the supreme judicial bodies of the nation. A drive to erase the history of people of color and experience from the records is in progress. One of the former president's early administrative commands aimed at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the renowned cultural organization, accusing them of a “concerted and widespread effort to change the national past” by depicting the United States “as naturally discriminatory”.

Given these circumstances, the celebration represents how little it can be effective if it is restricted to either obligatory business commemorations, or politically neutered commemorations of former accomplishments, rather than addressing the situation of the contemporary world. It also reveals how its limited duration means that it is separated from the wider consistent effort that is necessary. An academic expert, a prof at an educational institution, articulated it most accurately when she voiced worries about the short-term symbolic gestures of the observance. “The issue with embracing a superficial method”, she stated, “is that it frequently results in that Black History Month turns into a transient display rather than a driver of transformation.”

Reevaluating, Not Abandoning

Determining 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 urge to just eliminate events including Black History Month entirely, believing they are simply not fit for purpose, or are relics of an era that has been ineffective.

Yet, in spite of all this, Black History Month, and in fact the whole broad system and heritage of campaigns for equality – community-based BLM initiatives, diversity equity and inclusion initiatives, and indeed, including corporate presentations – represent an framework that a significant effort has gone into. 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 fresh vibrant Black History Month seem? Well, first, it would be more than a single focused period: something that is spread out throughout the annual calendar (as various establishments are already commencing), parts of its content (particularly around prominent figures of color) integrated into academic syllabi. It would also be a time that does not avoid governmental matters, and provides room for individuals, particularly the younger generation, to express their concerns and stories. What purpose serves simple recognition of the past when it doesn’t reckon with the contemporary truth of extreme conservative demonstrations in the urban areas? Organizations who observe it should not be comforted with the non-confrontational words of “unconscious bias” and sensitivity to subtle slights, but faced with the dangers that affect everyone if fight against prejudice is not approached earnestly. To summarize, Black History Month should be made current, critical, and responsive. Maybe an complete renaming is required – Contemporary Black History Month.