Black History Month

[ghoti_mhic_uait]

One of the things that suddenly confused me wrt Black History Month - is it meant to be the interaction of black people with history, or is it meant to be the history of people who happen to be black? Because that's a hell of a lot of differing histories, either way. ETA: I've also seen it suggested that it's the history of Africans/people of African descent. Which is all of us ultimately, but never mind that.

In any case, what it practically means in school is that we talk about MLK/Rosa Parks and Mary Seacole. All of whom are fine people to talk about, and Mary Seacole has relevance to a British school by virtue of being Scottish. Also, she did a lot to combat growing colour-based racism in England (and presumably Scotland and Wales) by just getting on with being an excellent person. (Basically, at the beginning of her stint in the Crimea, she was 'that weirdo who looks weird and what the hell does she hink she's doing?' and at the end she was 'Mother Seacole who saved a lot of the lives of our brave boys'.)

However, I'm sure we could branch out. How about the first black pope? Actually, Victor I is quite important in Catholic history - he was the geezer who brought the Latin Mass to Rome, where previously they used Greek (but Latin was used in Africa). How about St Augustine? I know they might not be main-stream enough for general consumption, but I work in a Catholic school so Catholic history seems relevant.

Comments

[friend-of-tofu.livejournal.com]

You read my brain. I just bitched about a load of this stuff, and may bitch some more later if I have the energy.

While I think Mary Seacole is great, it's tiresome seeing the same old faces evey year. Howeversee my links to the BHM website for why the whole thing is always so confused - no reliable funding or organisation.

[bookwormsarah.livejournal.com]

I do get frustrated when people jump to the obvious and don't look any further for people of (for example) local significance. There is a unit in the National Curriculam which I understand calls for students to study a historical figure, the example given being Florence Nightingale. You would not believe the number of schools who study Florence Nightingale, and who get in contact with museums asking for them to run a session on - you've guessed it. What is even scarier, there are museums who do, despite the fact that they have absolutely nothing associated with her and her time on display.

Having said that, Mary Seacole, Rosa Parks and MLK are fine, fine people and worthy of learning about.

[ewx.livejournal.com]

Reasons for thinking Victor I was black? The only page I can find that ventures an opinion the matter says "unknown"...

[alison-lees.livejournal.com]

I'd probably interpret it completely wrongly, e.g. as a month to spend studying the history of the black country, or the use of black in art, or, worse, a month for black people to study history in. If I wanted to take it seriously, I'd be looking at the history of England with respect to black immigration, the first slaves, the development of the slave trade, the abolition of the slave trade, the very large immigration of commonwealth people that I know happened but know nothing about, and such like. Which would be a lot more interesting than just two or three famous black people.

I do this wrong interpretation in a different way at our school. They have a 'Life Education Caravan' for one week in the year, and I automatically think 'pro-life, anti-abortion group' when it is actually about healthy eating, exercise, tooth brushing, and stuff like that.

[firinel.livejournal.com]

I had no idea that the UK celebrates a Black History month (ours is in February). I can't really say what yours is meant to study, as I strongly suspect there's cultural differences between here and there as to what it is to be black.

fyi, I've never heard of Mary Seacole.

[jacquilynne.livejournal.com]

I think it's any and all of those things. History encompasses the biographies of noted figures, it encompasses the history of cultures and countries, of sub-cultures and races and religions. In any way that history can be studied about people in general (most often about white people in general, hence Black History Month), it can be studied with a particular focus on Black History.

Black History month here tends to focus on individuals, I think because biography is easy to get people interested in, but I think the idea of Black History month is much more all encompassing.