Black History Month – Celebrating our Leaders & Pioneers

It’s Black History Month (BHM) and today we seize the opportunity to honour the legacies of great leaders and pioneers and the accomplishments of those who are all too often forgotten in our history pages. Make sure you check back each week in October on Colleagues Connect as we celebrate BHM.

Why is Black History Month important and what are the origins?

Black History Month (BHM) is the very epitome of how achieved status transcends beyond classes of race. For some individuals it is a month of aspiration, a symbol of greatness in the face of adversity for others it is education, helping those who wish to learn and evolve, and setting differences aside to appreciate the true reality of what difference means.

But where did Black History Month start?

Dating back to 1926; American historian and a former son of slaves, Carter G Woodson opened the field of black studies to scholars, reviving the specialism in schools and colleges of black people, focusing on black contributions to society. Woodson above most knew the importance of education and believed it was key to reducing racial prejudices in his country. Over the years the focus of Black History Month has expanded its coverage to include the history of African, Asian and Caribbean people across the globe. Above all else, the month serves as an opportunity to share the benefits of enriched culture.

How did Black History Month make its way to these shores?

Akyaaba Addai-Sebo - a Ghanaian analyst, journalist and pan-African activist is credited with developing the recognition of Black History Month in the UK in 1987, In an interview Addai-Sebo revealed; “I was stirred up in the mid-1980s by the identity crisis that Black children faced as some brazenly would not identify with Africa and shrank when called an African”. Giving children a new sense of self became the main focal point in Akyaaba’s endeavours, as part of the Ethnic Minorities Unit in Central London, he and others set out to reform higher education in the UK and October would be the perfect month, “when the weather was not cold and children were fresh after the long summer vacation and had less to worry about exams and tests and the camaraderie was stronger as they shared experiences.” He and others launched lectures and concerts at the Royal Albert Hall for schoolkids to listen to inspirational music and motivational speakers thus supporting the beginnings of the many anti-racist and anti-apartheid campaigns which followed. His lectures were later compiled into the book Our Story: A Handbook of African History and Contemporary Issues, and year after year Black History Month in the UK would resurrect pride in one's identity and a sense of belonging.