Black History Month, Easy as ABC
As a Nigerian, born and raised on the African continent, Black History Month did not always make sense to me. As I spent more time making a home for myself outside the country of my birth (there's my answer to the classic "but where are you really from" question), I started to understand why anyone would want to have some kind of special time of remembrance or reflection on a particular facet of history.
You see, as humans, we learn almost everything by mimicry. The examples are endless: language, sport, driving; even finer details of our behaviour like posture or mannerisms. Most parents can name a moment (or more) when their child says (or does) something which is often received with the out-loud phrase, "I wonder where they got that from?!", and of course, the more inward, "oops, that's got me written all over it." Learning does not end at mimicry but it most certainly starts there. What tends to be one of the first things learned in schools?
What's the alphabet got to do with anything? A lot actually. Because we learn by mimicry, especially so for young people, we internalise whatever our media (not a reference to news outlets but communication in general) tells us or doesn't tell us about who we are or where we could fit in the space we inhabit. Our media and the stories we hear about ourselves (history) provide a starting point for our imaginations and for our internal narratives. With that in mind, have you ever seen these?
There is an entirely new fabric of imagination and unseen narrative conveyed in these images. As I mentioned earlier, growing up in Nigeria meant that I had pretty good images of what "blackness" meant but I was no less moved when I saw the full collection of the above alphabet.
What this alphabet did (and does) for me, what it would do to the imagination of young children of any race, is what having something like Black History Month does for our collective consciousness. It is a starting point for our thinking about the richness of the society we live in and the complex tapestry of history we all embody. As Sir David Attenborough illustrated in his documentary, "A Life On Our Planet", nature loves diversity and is richer for it. By taking a moment to recognise Black History as all our history, we too make the spaces in our ecosystems for all of us to thrive. And because it embodies the spirit of what Black History Month ultimately means to me, I'll finish with my favourite photo from the collection.
