{"id":44086,"date":"2021-10-31T15:02:53","date_gmt":"2021-10-31T15:02:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thevoiceoflondon.co.uk\/?p=44086"},"modified":"2021-12-10T11:22:09","modified_gmt":"2021-12-10T11:22:09","slug":"should-black-history-month-be-eradicated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/should-black-history-month-be-eradicated\/","title":{"rendered":"Should Black History Month be eradicated?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since 1987, Black History Month has been held in the UK in October annually to celebrate and\u00a0honour\u00a0people from African and Caribbean backgrounds.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Black people have played an important role in British history for decades now and everyone should pay attention to it. Most times it’s unnoticed, and a lot of people don\u2019t really know the impact black people have had in the UK.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why the achievements of black people in the UK and US should be recognised.\u00a0\"\"<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Photo by\u00a0Library of Congress<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0Unsplash<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Diane Abbott, the first black woman to be elected in parliament.<\/p>\n

Lewis Hamilton, the first black driver to win Formula One world titles.<\/p>\n

Naomi Campbell, the first black model on British and French Vogue covers.<\/p>\n

Kanya King, the founder of the MOBO Awards.<\/p>\n

These are just a few British black role models we can look up to but there are so many more people who have achieved major things in the black community.\u00a0Most importantly Black History Month helps people to understand and to be more educated on topics such as racism.<\/p>\n

So\u00a0what are people in the UK doing during Black History Month?<\/p>\n

Museum exhibits, black-owned markets, festivals, concerts, Black history walks and so\u00a0much\u00a0more\u00a0are taken\u00a0place every year in London in October.<\/p>\n

The Black history tube map in\u00a0London is also something that has been made to show respect and to celebrate the contributions and achievements of black Britons in the UK.<\/p>\n

\"Black<\/p>\n

Caption: London blog Tfl<\/em><\/p>\n

Primary schools in the UK are teaching their students about Black History Month every October, and it\u2019s a chance to teach children about the achievements and history of black people in the UK.\u00a0The goal primarily, is to encourage black Britons to be proud of their African and Caribbean descent.<\/p>\n

But is one month in a year, long enough to\u00a0honour\u00a0the achievements and contributions of black people?<\/p>\n

Black history month\u00a0has come\u00a0to an end and as usual, it\u2019s a time to\u00a0learn new inspirational facts about black history. However,\u00a0for some\u00a0Black\u00a0History\u00a0Month is not\u00a0inspirational but instead a symbol of tokenism.<\/p>\n

Black history month for black people has always been a time where we celebrate black excellence\u00a0through historical figures such as Martin Luter King, Rosa Parks, and Malcolm X, just to name a few.<\/p>\n

However,\u00a0to some,\u00a0Black\u00a0History\u00a0Month is\u00a0a 30-day\u00a0reminder of\u00a0trauma\u00a0and something white people had given\u00a0to\u00a0black people as a sort of \u2018here you go\u2019 thing.\u00a0\u00a0\"\"<\/p>\n

Caption :Photo by\u00a0Unseen Histories<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0Unsplash<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

The predecessor of Black History Month\u00a0was formerly known as \u201cNegro week\u201d created by Carter G. Woodson\u00a0and the\u00a0Association for the Study of Negro\u00a0Life and History,\u00a0in 1926\u00a0United States.<\/p>\n

This week was celebrated\u00a0in February and\u00a0Woodson believed that\u00a0at least one week would encourage a general movement that would be celebrated annually.\"\"<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t until 1970 when Black History\u00a0month was introduced in the US and 1987\u00a0in the UK.<\/p>\n

Speaking with some black\u00a0students, the question \u201cshould Black History Month be eradicated\u201d raised a lot of\u00a0eyebrows but opened the door for healthy discussion.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it should be eradicated because it should be an everyday thing.\u00a0For Black History Month especially in schools, we\u2019re given just\u00a0one assembly then that\u2019s it they forget about us\u201d-<\/i>\u00a0Ahmed 18<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m totally for it, it teaches people and raises\u00a0awareness\u201d\u00a0<\/i>– Nkechi 28<\/p>\n

\u201cI disagree because I feel like it\u2019s a great way to remember black excellence… it’s something for us black people to be proud of\u201d-<\/i>\u00a0Joshua 20<\/p>\n

\u201cI agree with you\u00a0to an extent.\u00a0Black History\u00a0should\u00a0be\u00a0remembered\u00a0the whole year\u00a0and not just for a\u00a0month,\u00a0but it also reminds us of what we went through.\u201d\u00a0<\/i>–\u00a0Mamara, 20<\/p>\n

Shemina Schildhauer, Rinah Mungombe\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Photo by\u00a0Library of Congress<\/a>\u00a0on\u00a0Unsplash<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since 1987, Black History Month has been held in the UK in October annually to celebrate and\u00a0honour\u00a0people from African and Caribbean backgrounds. Black people have played an important role in British history for decades now…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":476,"featured_media":44095,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,9,14,125],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-activism","category-art-culture","category-black-history-month","category-the-great-debate"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44086","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/476"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44086"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44086\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46120,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44086\/revisions\/46120"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44086"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44086"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44086"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}