Black History Month is a reflection of the political moment, so in what ways can we modernize it?

It's Black History Month in the United Kingdom, and it feels like it’s time for a rethink. As time has passed, an celebration that began as a celebration and reminder of heritage, traditions and links between global Black communities, has adopted a commercial tone, expanding to include events where individuals of African heritage are paid to speak with Caucasian groups about hidden biases and active solidarity. The 2020s Black Lives Matter protests sparked an increase in the enterprise of demonstrating racial awareness. Yet, that phase is now over. The tide has reached its height, leaving a sort of hollowed out legacy of what promoting consciousness is for.

The Background of Black History Observance

First commemorated in the America and its northern neighbor, Black History Month was established in 1962 as “Negro History Week” by Black scholar Carter G. Woodson with a week of celebration and reflection in the second week of February. Black History Month evolved from this initiative and was formally inaugurated in 1970. Now it is celebrated not only in the United States and Canada in winter, but also in the tenth month in the UK, Deutschland, Éire and the Netherlands.

The month has developed since its inception, giving reduced attention to the histories of the slave trade across the Atlantic and struggles for equality, and increasingly on prominent Black figures in politics, culture, and activism, and broadly celebrating the contribution Black people have made to shape the country. It is in learning environments where Black History Month is most regularly observed, with talks and cultural events. But the method the month is observed is a manifestation of the political moment. How it progresses is a instructive case in how appropriation leads to erosion: the restructuring of Black History Month has hindered the point of it, which is to address embedded and established prejudice.

A Disconcerting Period

Little demonstrates how crucial it is to rethink Black History Month better than the specific period in which it takes place this year. In the United Kingdom, a revitalized conservative movement in the shape of the Reform organization is leading the polls. In the summer we witnessed the largest far-right rally in British history. the Conservative leader, the African descendant in charge of the Tory party, is a firm opponent of Black Lives Matter, and we are in a position where a elected representative feels empowered to state that “not seeing any white faces” in certain urban areas is a cause for alarm. Simultaneously, ultra-nationalist movements are expanding in Europe as a whole.

In the America, a significant offensive against DEI and affirmative action has been carried, frequently with success, to the supreme judicial bodies of the nation. A drive to scrub the history of people of color and experience from the archives is in progress. One of the former president's initial presidential directives targeted the museum of African American legacy, and the Smithsonian Institution, claiming they of a “concerted and widespread effort to alter the country's historical narrative” by representing the nation “as fundamentally prejudiced”.

Given these circumstances, the month represents how little it can be influential if it is restricted to either routine organizational acknowledgments, or depoliticized commemorations of contributions in the past, rather than confronting the conditions of the present. It also shows how its limited duration means that it is detached from the wider consistent effort that is required. A university professor, a educator at University of Greenwich, articulated it most accurately when she raised concerns about the short-term symbolic gestures of the month. “The problem with embracing a superficial method”, she commented, “is that it typically leads to that Black History Month evolves into a fleeting performance rather than a driver of transformation.”

Rethinking, But Not Jettisoning

Figuring out how to alter, change and broaden actions for racial equality and recognition in such times of discouragement and concern is a challenging endeavor. There is a urge to just discontinue things like Black History Month altogether, assuming they are inadequate for current needs, or are relics of an era that has failed to deliver.

Yet, in spite of all this, Black History Month, and in fact the entire extended network and tradition of racial movements – community-based BLM initiatives, inclusion and equity efforts, and yes, even those talks to businesses – constitute an foundation that a lot of work has been dedicated to. It is there not just to decay as the politics moves on (and in fact, deteriorates), but to be a living breathing thing.

So what would a new dynamic Black History Month look like? To begin with, it would be extended beyond a brief observance: something that is distributed throughout the annual calendar (as some institutions are already commencing), elements of its material (particularly around historic Black characters) incorporated into educational programs. It would also be a period that does not shy away from political issues, and leaves space for people, particularly youth, to share their anxieties and narratives. What purpose serves mere awareness of the past when it ignores the current situation of far-right rallies in the street? Establishments who celebrate it should not be pacified with the passive language of “unconscious bias” and alertness to minor insults, but challenged by the risks that affect everyone if opposition to discrimination is not treated with importance. To summarize, Black History Month should be made current, pressing, and adaptive. It could be that an entire name rebrand is in order – Black History is Now Month.