What Black History Month Means to Me
Every year when October comes around and preparations get underway for Black History Month, we hear the same comments. “Why do we need a Black History Month in this country?”, “Where is the White History Month?”, “Doesn’t making Black history distinct from mainstream history make Black children feel more isolated?”
The truth is we are in desperate need of a Black history month. For decades (if not centuries) the history we learn in British schools has been completely Eurocentric. Our schools focus on such glorious periods of British history like the Second World War and the Tudors and Stuarts. And I agree that these periods are exciting and important times to explore. But there is simply not enough space given to looking at other countries in their own right. We learn about America as it was “discovered” by Christopher Columbus. But we are not told that the continent and its people existed way before the Santa Maria landed on its shores. We learn about Sub-Saharan Africa from the transatlantic slave trade when Europeans came and captured, or bought, African people. But we do not learn about the centuries of cultures that took place before.
Removing people from their history was a key part of transatlantic slavery. Slaves were removed geographically from their countries, they were given new names that had no connection to their families and they were taken away from the communities which held the stories of their ancestry. If we consider this now it is unimaginable: having no idea about the family you came from, no clue about your cultural heritage, and being completely disconnected from the place you are living in. The point of removing slaves from their history was to dehumanise them.
It would be hyperbole to suggest that Black students are being dehumanised in British schools but not understanding your heritage, or having the history of your ancestors ignored, is a dehumanising thing to go through.
For me Black History Month is about recognising that the history we get in schools, and more generally in this country, is not the full picture. It is about creating a more holistic way of “doing” history. History in this country should always bear in mind the fact that our riches were built off the misery of the transatlantic slave trade and centuries of colonialism. No British child should miss out on learning that. So I am glad that Black History Month opens the way for these important lessons.
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