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Is Black History Month a Good Thing?

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Completely true...but then it's a trade off between pointing attention to it via black history month, or not pointing attention to this in order to stick to that principle, because outside of black history month not much of this is going to be heard at all.

I'd argue it's a pretty worthy trade off, not least because black history month for a lot of black people is a lot more than educating non-black people.

I think it helps by raising awareness of Black history, but overall I'd like to see it fully integrated with British history once people become more aware.

Reply 21

NamesAreEffort

Original post by mrwb9876

Well then smaller events in white history should be taught too.

Yeah sure why not, and if you want to create an advocacy month for this, and if there's enough support...do so please...that in no way takes anything away from black history month.

Reply 22

LibertarianMP

Original post by NamesAreEffort

Yeah sure why not, and if you want to create an advocacy month for this, and if there's enough support...do so please...that in no way takes anything away from black history month.

My point is history is already a politically correct waste of time, black history month is even more so. Things like the Barbary slave trade have much more relevance than gay rights, yet which one was I subjected to? I'll let you guess. Black history month is another example of this. Important events like slavery shaped contemporary Britain and are massively important to the society we live in today. That's why it's taught

Reply 23

NamesAreEffort

Original post by mrwb9876

But I don't understand your point, if you feel there's underrepresentation then get the word out. Black history month primarily serves as an opportunity for black people to take pride in their history and get the word out. Black history month isn't responsible for the underrepresentation of other history.

It's like complaining about an environmental pressure group because they aren't concerned also with poverty. Black history month is not there to overshadow any history. It's not there to take away from anything else. It's not there to diminish other history because it isn't concerned with it...I fully accept there's tons that may matter more but me being black, it's black history I advocate.

If you don't like it, don't take part or ignore it. If other issues bother you so much, go out and spread the word. But black history month is there because black people wanted to spread the word and celebrate, it isn't government mandated or a literal calendar month. Arguing against it for the reasons you've said make little sense.

Reply 24

anarchism101

Original post by Thrillanthropist

Is it? I mean, what about Hispanic history month or East-asian history month or Aboriginal Australian History month? Why only Black history month?

I can't speak for Australia, but in the US there are other designated History Months.

And why is it so slavery oriented when black history traces back to the egyptian days?

Because it originated, and is still most prominently, an American idea and so it is about the history of Black Americans.

Black History Month (and before it Black History Week) was originally, like all "subaltern" historiography (see also social history/"history from below" and women's history), and effort to draw greater attention to aspects of history that were traditionally ignored. It's hard for us to think of now, but well into the 20th Century History as an academic discipline and school subject tended to focus on "high politics" and "Great Man" history - i.e. it was all about major national and international political changes (especially wars - though usually only from a grand strategic level rather than the experiences of ordinary soldiers), and big leaders and personalities. This, inevitably, left out a lot of people whose history was perceived as unimportant. And BHM is one of many responses to that kind of history.

The potential problem with this now is that now we're much more aware of the importance of subaltern history in general, things like BHM end up confining Black History into one month, and separating it from other history, rather than building a more nuanced understanding that integrates Black History into wider history as a whole.