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We are in Black History Month in the United Kingdom, and it feels like it’s time for a rethink. Over the years, an celebration that started out as a celebration and reminder of history, culture and the connections between international African diaspora communities, has taken on a corporate feel, broadening to incorporate gatherings where African descendants are remunerated to speak with white audiences about implicit prejudice and “allyship”. The 2020s Black Lives Matter protests created a surge in the business of displaying cultural sensitivity. But even that moment has passed. The tide has crested, resulting in a somewhat empty inheritance of what raising awareness is for.

The History of Black History Month

First commemorated in the America and its northern neighbor, Black History Month was established in 1962 as a week dedicated to Negro history by African American historian Carter G. Woodson with a week of commemoration and observance in the February's second week. Black History Month evolved from this campaign and was formally inaugurated in 1970. Today it is observed not only in the United States and Canada in the second month, but also in October in the Britain, Germany, the Republic of Ireland and the the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

The month has developed since that time, placing less emphasis on the histories of transatlantic enslavement and struggles for equality, and increasingly on notable African descendants in public life, creative fields, and advocacy, and widely honoring the input Black people have made to mold society. It is in learning environments where Black History Month is most regularly observed, with lectures and artistic activities. But the way the observance is observed is a manifestation of the contemporary political context. How it evolves is a instructive case in how appropriation leads to erosion: the restructuring of Black History Month has hindered the objective of it, which is to address structural and organizational discrimination.

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A Disconcerting Period

Few things illustrate how critical it is to rethink Black History Month more than the current time in which it occurs this year. In the Britain, a reemerging right-wing in the shape of the Reform organization is ahead in surveys. In the summer we witnessed the biggest extreme right demonstration in British history. Kemi Badenoch, the African descendant in charge of the Tory party, is a strong critic of the racial justice movement, and we are in a place where a member of parliament feels empowered to declare that “not seeing any white faces” in specific city neighborhoods is a reason for concern. Simultaneously, far-right parties are surging in Europe as a entirety.

In the America, a colossal assault against diversity initiatives and positive discrimination has been carried, often successfully, to the supreme judicial bodies of the country. A campaign to scrub African American heritage and legacy from the historical documents is ongoing. One of Donald Trump's early administrative commands focused on the institution dedicated to Black heritage, and the Smithsonian Institution, claiming they of a organized and extensive campaign to alter the country's historical narrative” by portraying America “as naturally discriminatory”.

In this context, the observance symbolises how insufficiently it can be impactful if it is limited to either routine organizational acknowledgments, or politically neutered celebrations of historical achievements, rather than addressing the conditions of the contemporary world. It also reveals how its short period means that it is separated from the more extensive continuous action that is required. An academic expert, a professor at a learning establishment, articulated it most accurately when she raised concerns about the fleeting superficial actions of the celebration. “The difficulty with taking a tokenistic approach”, she wrote, “is that it often means that Black History Month becomes a transient display rather than a driver of transformation.”

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Rethinking, But Not Jettisoning

Figuring out how to adjust, modify and expand efforts for fair treatment and appreciation in such times of discouragement and concern is a difficult task. There is a inclination to just discontinue events including Black History Month completely, believing they are no longer suitable, or are relics of an time that has failed to deliver.

But despite everything, Black History Month, and in fact the whole broad system and tradition of campaigns for equality – grassroots Black Lives Matter organisations, DEI programs, and yes, even those talks to businesses – constitute an infrastructure that a lot of work has been invested in. It is there not only to deteriorate as the politics moves on (and in fact, regresses), but to be a vital organism.

So what would a fresh vibrant Black History Month appear as? 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), parts of its content (particularly around prominent figures of color) incorporated into school curriculums. It would also be a era that does not shy away from political issues, and leaves space for people, particularly young people, to express their concerns and stories. What purpose serves mere awareness of the past when it doesn’t reckon with the present reality of far-right rallies in the urban areas? Organizations who celebrate it should not be pacified with the neutral terminology of implicit prejudice and awareness of subtle slights, but confronted with the dangers that affect everyone if anti-racism is not taken seriously. To summarize, Black History Month should be made contemporary, critical, and reactive. Maybe an complete renaming is required – Contemporary Black History Month.