Black History Month serves as a mirror of the political moment, so how do we revamp it?

This is Black History Month in the UK, and it feels like it’s time for a reassessment. Throughout its history, an event that was initiated as a commemorative event of heritage, traditions and links between global Black communities, has taken on a business-like atmosphere, broadening to incorporate events where individuals of African heritage 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 enterprise of demonstrating racial awareness. However, that period has concluded. The tide has peaked, resulting in a somewhat empty inheritance of what raising awareness is for.

The History of Black History Month

Initially celebrated in the United States and Canada, Black History Month was created in 1962 as a week dedicated to Negro history by Black scholar Carter G. Woodson with a week of commemoration and observance in the second week of February. Black History Month evolved from this campaign and was publicly established in 1970. Now it is celebrated not only in the United States and Canada in winter, but also in the tenth month in the Britain, Deutschland, the Republic of Ireland and the Netherlands.

The period has evolved since those days, giving reduced attention to the narratives of colonial slavery and fights for racial justice, and more on influential individuals of color in politics, culture, and activism, and extensively acknowledging the contribution Black people have made to shape the country. It is in educational institutions where Black History Month is most regularly observed, with lectures and artistic activities. But the method the month is observed is a manifestation of the political moment. How it evolves is a valuable example in how co-option leads to weakening: the reshaping of Black History Month has hindered the objective of it, which is to tackle embedded and established prejudice.

A Troubling Time

Few things illustrate how critical it is to rethink Black History Month as much as the current time in which it falls this year. In the Britain, a reemerging right-wing in the shape of the Reform party is ahead in surveys. In the recent season we observed the largest far-right rally in the UK's past. the Conservative leader, the Black leader of the Conservative party, is a firm opponent of Black Lives Matter, and we are in a situation where a legislator feels empowered to declare that a lack of white people in specific city neighborhoods is a reason for concern. Meanwhile, far-right parties are growing in the European continent as a entirety.

In the US, a colossal assault against DEI and affirmative action has been taken, often successfully, to the highest courts of the state. A drive to remove Black history and legacy from the historical documents is in progress. One of Donald Trump's initial presidential directives focused on the institution dedicated to Black heritage, and the Smithsonian Institution, accusing them of a coordinated and broad attempt to alter the country's historical narrative” by representing the nation “as naturally discriminatory”.

Given these circumstances, the month symbolises how little it can be impactful if it is restricted to either routine organizational acknowledgments, or politically neutered celebrations of historical achievements, rather than addressing the situation of the current era. It also demonstrates how its short period means that it is disconnected from the wider consistent effort that is necessary. An academic expert, a educator at an educational institution, put it best when she expressed apprehension about the fleeting superficial actions of the month. “The issue with taking a tokenistic approach”, she wrote, “is that it often means that Black History Month turns into a transient display rather than a driver of transformation.”

Reevaluating, Not Abandoning

Determining how to adjust, modify and expand efforts for equal rights and acknowledgment in such moments of dejection and worry is a difficult task. There is a inclination to just do away with things like Black History Month altogether, assuming they are simply not fit for purpose, or are remnants of an time that has failed to deliver.

But despite everything, Black History Month, and in fact the entire extended network and tradition of racial movements – grassroots Black Lives Matter organisations, DEI programs, and certainly, even commercial engagements – represent an framework that a lot of work has been dedicated to. It is there not only to deteriorate as the politics moves on (and in fact, declines), but to be a vital organism.

So what would a fresh vibrant Black History Month appear as? Firstly, it would be not just one concentrated month: something that is distributed through the year (as some institutions are already starting to implement), parts of its content (particularly around historic Black characters) integrated into school curriculums. It would also be a time that does not avoid political issues, and provides room for people, particularly youth, to share their anxieties and narratives. What purpose serves mere awareness of the bygone era when it doesn’t reckon with the current situation of ultra-nationalist gatherings in the public spaces? Institutions who observe it should not be pacified with the neutral terminology of hidden discrimination and alertness to subtle slights, but confronted with the dangers that impact society if fight against prejudice is not taken seriously. Briefly stated, Black History Month should be made up-to-date, urgent, and adaptive. Maybe an complete renaming is in order – Contemporary Black History Month.