BHM: Why Black History Month matters

In the United Kingdom Black History Month (BHM) has been celebrated in the month of October every year since 1987. Each time when it approaches, however, the same question resurfaces: why isn’t there a White History Month?

This argument has become increasingly prevalent –  with people claiming that it is unfair that one race gets a whole month solely devoted to celebrating their history.

The same people who make these criticisms against BHM tend to also be the ones who appropriate the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag and proclaim #AllLivesMatter instead.

The same question resurfaces: why isn’t there a White History Month?

However, I would argue that for similar reasons to the #AllLivesMatter supporters, those who are against BHM have entirely missed the point.

Having a Black History Month does not attempt to suggest that white history is less important. Quite the contrary: it merely shows that black history is as important as white history.

Black History Month does not attempt to suggest that white history is less important

Black History Month has a dual-purpose: education and empowerment. It recognises and celebrates the contributions of people from an African or Caribbean descent throughout history.

Its purpose is to counteract the whitewashing of our curriculum and ensure that the narrative of marginalised groups does not go unheard.

It recognises and celebrates the contributions of people from an African or Caribbean descent

This is incredibly important for everyone, regardless of your skin colour. BHM attempts to provide a more accurate representation of the roles black people played in the past and fill in the gaps in our knowledge thus, preventing ignorance.

This month long celebration does not attempt to take anything away from white people; neither does it try to make white people any less special. As it stands every month is White History Month.

This is incredibly important for everyone, regardless of your skin colour

White history is the dominant voice; our text books are filled with white history and we are primarily given history from the perspectives of white people.

Yet, at school we mainly just learn about slavery and Martin Luther King, and this tends to be the extent of the “Black History” we are taught. Without Black History Month many of the contributions black people have made over the years would go unacknowledged.

At school we mainly just learn about slavery and Martin Luther King

Likewise, failure to appreciate the importance of the involvement of black people heightens racial tension and makes cohesion difficult. How can we say and truly believe that all races are equal when the history we are taught presents one race as inferior to another?

Cumulatively this lack of Black History can also lead to the internalisation of racism, where people of colour feel self-hatred and become subservient to their white counterpart – which in turn further facilitates their marginalisation. Black History Month is designed to empower.

How can we say all races are equal when the history we are taught presents one race as inferior?

So rather than asking why we do not have a White History Month perhaps a better question would be, why do we even need to have a BHM to begin with?

In an ideal world, we would not need a BHM. In an ideal world, we would not need a #BlackLivesMatter hashtag because every week I would not switch on the news and see that another black life had been lost to police brutality.

In an ideal world, we would not need a Black History Month

However, right now Black History Month and other similar expressions of black pride such as the BET awards, the “Black Girls Rock” and “Black Power” movement are a step in the right direction.