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This is Black History Month in the UK, and it appears it’s time for a re-evaluation. Throughout its history, an celebration that was initiated as a commemorative event of heritage, traditions and links between Black populations worldwide, has taken on a corporate feel, broadening to incorporate events where African descendants are paid to talk to predominantly white listeners about “unconscious bias” and “allyship”. The demonstrations for racial justice in the 2020s sparked an increase in the industry of demonstrating racial awareness. Yet, that phase is now over. The surge has peaked, leaving a sort of hollowed out legacy of what promoting consciousness is for.

The History of Black History Month

Initially celebrated in the United States and Canada, Black History Month was conceived in 1962 as a week dedicated to Negro history by historian of African descent Carter G. Woodson with multiple days of celebration and reflection in the second week of February. Black History Month grew out of this movement and was officially launched 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, the Federal Republic of Germany, Éire and the Holland.

The observance has evolved since that time, giving reduced attention to the accounts of the slave trade across the Atlantic and civil rights battles, and greater focus on notable African descendants in public life, creative fields, and advocacy, and broadly celebrating the input Black people have made to influence the nation. It is in learning environments where Black History Month is most frequently marked, with discussions and heritage festivities. But the method the observance is observed is a manifestation of the contemporary political context. How it evolves is a good lesson in how co-option leads to weakening: the restructuring of Black History Month has impeded the objective of it, which is to address systemic and institutional racism.

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A Jarring Moment

Few things illustrate how critical it is to reevaluate Black History Month more than the current time in which it falls this year. In the UK, a revitalized conservative movement in the guise of the Reform organization is top in opinion ratings. In the warmer months we witnessed the biggest extreme right demonstration in British history. Kemi Badenoch, the Black leader of the Tory party, is a staunch adversary of the racial justice movement, and we are in a place where a member of parliament gains confidence to state that “not seeing any white faces” in specific city neighborhoods is a source of worry. Simultaneously, ultra-nationalist movements are growing in Europe as a complete entity.

In the United States, a significant offensive against inclusion programs and preferential policies has been brought, often successfully, to the top legal institutions of the country. A drive to remove African American heritage and legacy from the archives is in progress. One of Donald Trump's early administrative commands targeted the National Museum of African American History and Culture, and the prestigious establishment, alleging that they of a “concerted and widespread effort to rewrite our Nation’s history” by representing the nation “as naturally discriminatory”.

Against this backdrop, the month illustrates how little it can be effective if it is confined to either routine organizational acknowledgments, or stripped of political content festivities of former accomplishments, rather than challenging the conditions of the current era. It also shows how its limited duration means that it is detached from the wider consistent effort that is necessary. Denise Miller, a educator at an educational institution, expressed it perfectly when she voiced worries about the short-term symbolic gestures of the month. “The issue with taking a tokenistic approach”, she stated, “is that it typically leads to that Black History Month evolves into a fleeting performance rather than a agent of progress.”

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Reevaluating, Not Abandoning

Determining how to alter, change and broaden initiatives for equal rights and acknowledgment in such moments of dejection and worry is a treacherous thing. There is a urge to just discontinue things like Black History Month completely, thinking they are simply not fit for purpose, or are relics of an period that has failed to deliver.

However, regardless of the situation, Black History Month, and in fact the whole broad system and heritage of activism for racial justice – community-based BLM initiatives, DEI programs, and indeed, including corporate presentations – represent an infrastructure that a significant effort has gone into. It is there not merely to decline as the political landscape shifts (and in fact, declines), but to be a dynamic entity.

So what would a fresh vibrant Black History Month look like? Well, first, it would be extended beyond a brief observance: something that is distributed through the year (as some institutions are already beginning to do), sections of its curriculum (particularly around prominent figures of color) incorporated into academic syllabi. It would also be a era that does not avoid political issues, and provides room for individuals, particularly young people, to share their anxieties and narratives. What purpose serves basic knowledge of the bygone era when it fails to address the present reality of extreme conservative demonstrations in the urban areas? Organizations who observe it should not be pacified with the non-confrontational words of “unconscious bias” and alertness to subtle slights, but challenged by the risks that affect everyone if anti-racism is not taken seriously. To summarize, Black History Month should be made contemporary, pressing, and responsive. It could be that an complete renaming is in order – Black History is Now Month.