Britain’s Black History Month celebrations

Black Lives Matter demonstration, London, 2016
Black Lives Matter demonstration, London, 2016 (Photo credit: Alisdare Hickson (Twitter: @BlkPerspectives))

At a time when we continue to see reports of increasing levels of racism being directed towards Black footballers in England and coming a year after the publicity and protests against the George Floyd killing by a policeman in the US, one has to wonder whether Black History Month celebrations in Britain are helping to make a difference. In fact, one could ask whether Black History Month celebrations, held in October in Britain, is anything more than a smokescreen or tick box exercise.  

The roots of Black History Month can be traced to the year 1915 in the USA and specifically to the work and initiative of the Harvard-trained historian Carter G. Woodson. The original idea was to have a Negro history week and the second week of February was chosen to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglas. These events and celebrations were supposed to be occasions in which the history and achievements of Black people could be recognised and appreciated. This would later inspire schools and communities, nationwide, to organise local celebrations, establish history clubs and host performances and lectures. By 1976, President Gerald Ford publicly pushed for the recognition of Black History Month in America to officially recognise the accomplishments of African-Americans in the history and development of the country. Black History Month, is, therefore, an annual celebration of the achievements of and by African-Americans and a time for recognizing their central role in US history.

According to the newspaper voice-online.co.uk (10/10/2013), the concept of Black History Month in Britain started in 1987 by Akyaaba Addai-Sebo, a special projects officer at the Greater London Council (GLC), and later at the London Strategic Policy Unit. Since then, a number of programmes and events have been held annually in Britain during the month of October. These events often comprise lectures, exhibitions, artistic performances, community dinners and local awards, and TV programmes on mainstream British channels focusing on a wide range of productions. In many schools, teaching is often geared towards the contributions of Black people in Britain, past or present. In this sense, therefore, Black History Month celebrations are at least helping to raise the awareness of this significant aspect of British society which is often neglected by most people in the country.    

For this reason, it should come as no surprise that some people appear to be opposed to Black history month celebrations and view this as possibly divisive. For example, the Equalities Minister Kemi Badenoch, has been accused of “scoring cheap political points” after she claimed Black History Month was becoming “racism history month”. The minister was reported to have added, in an interview with presenter Trevor Phillips, that while she saw the phrase ‘Black Lives Matter’ as “very much a good thing”, she saw some interventions during last month’s celebrations as “contrived”. It is argued by some that events like Black History Month only helps to highlight divisions that already exist in society.  Indeed, during the month of October the Crystal Palace player, Wilfried Zaha, called on Instagram to take racism more seriously after he himself was targeted with abuse after a game, recently, at Manchester City. One thing seems certain, and that is, Black History Month, on its own, cannot solve the issues of racism in British society. It can only serve to highlight the achievements of Black people in Britain and through this level of education, help foster greater understanding among peoples from different backgrounds. Programmes like Black History Month celebrations, can, therefore, definitely help to foster greater understanding and appreciation of each other.   

Tony Talburt Ph.D. is a senior lecturer in Black Studies at Birmingham City University in  Britain.

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