Why do we have a Black History Month?

Black history month is upon us and I always get asked the same question by white and Asian people alike "why do you guys have black history month?"  Well let me explain.

We have black history month as a way to teach all about the contribution of black people to Britain and the wider world as well as the tribulations of the past and the persecution still felt in the present. The teaching of black history in schools is pretty much non existent. I went to secondary school in the 90's and only had black history mentioned once in history and discussed during English as we were reading how to “Kill a Mocking Bird.”

black history month is also a good time to distinguish our history from that of the Americans whose history it is that prevails in the thoughts of people whenever Black history is mentioned.

Why don't we have white history month? Well to, be blunt every month is white history month, including black history month, and rightly so this is England after all a predominantly white country with a long and illustrious history that should be taught. That's not to say that we shouldn't have our own bit of history to celebrate who we are, where we've been and what we have become.

So regardless of your race or creed please read at least one thing about black history month this month you never know you might actually learn something.

Plymouth Rock didn't land on me!

We are African, and we happened to be in America. We're not American. We are people who formerly were Africans who were kidnapped and brought to America. Our forefathers weren't the Pilgrims. We didn't land on Plymouth Rock. The rock was landed on us. We were brought here against our will. We were not brought here to be made citizens. We were not brought here to enjoy the constitutional gifts that they speak so beautifully about today.” - Malcolm X June 1964

Today, October 1st, is the first day of Black History Month here in the United. Kingdom. Generally, when people think of black history, they think of quotes like the one above. They think of the black panthers, Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X, the civil rights movement and slavery. What if I was to tell you that this isn't "Black History" Would you call me ignorant, stupid or maybe a liar? If you were to call me a liar you would be right as this is "Black History", not thee black history but a black history. More importantly,  an American black history.

With it's proliferation around the world, Black American culture has become ingrained in many as thee black culture, one that they use when formulating ideas and thoughts on black people in general. This has also lead to Black American history becoming synonymous with black history which, as a black Englishman, is a bit disheartening.

We were never "slaves" in England in the same sense as in the Carribean and the Americas. In fact when/if slaves escaped from their masters and made it to England, they were considered free men. Just to clarify, this wasn't due to any profound love for black people but that some English aristocrats and judges believed that the English air is to pure for slaves to breathe.

Wealthy Africans have long had a "good" relationship with the British Monarchy and freed slaves have prospered and become political figures, medical pioneers and authors on these shores since the late 1700s and beyond. Negroes such as Olaudah Equaino, Mary Seacole and Willam Cuffay came from slavery to become important people in British history.

Black seafarers and tradesmen landed at the docks in Liverpool and Bristol and formed what have become some of the oldest black communities in Britain. During the late 40's and throughout out the 60's as members of newly independent states and part of the commonwealth in the Caribbean we were invited to Britain during what has now become known as the Windrush era. During this time we found jobs and provided a large part of the post war workforce.

Yes there was and still is racism but we do not have the stigma attached to our blackness or presence in Britain as African Americans do in the USA. Of course some groups opposed but we were given the rights as British citizens on arrival. In America, people have grand parents who were chased lynched and beaten systematically just for being black. Some black Americans still live in the town where 100years previously, the white family around the corner owned theirs! 100 years is no time at all; a black 80 year old alive today had parents who were slaves in America!

The point of this piece is really to help people understand that we, as black people, aren't one people with one history but a patchwork of people connected by one heinous period in history with different path’s to where we are in the present day.