Little Insight into Black History Month!
Hey guys this is Zamzam your VP here at the Students Union. I thought I should write this blog to update you and as well use this opportunity to clarify a few things too. Please bare with me thou as I am probably going to write a load of nonsense and make too many grammatical errors to count, But who cares right - English is my 3rd language after all!
Half way through October and many people are curious and have asked me why I have chosen to celebrate Black History Month during the beautiful month of October, Well the truth is I didn’t choose October. In fact a man named Akyaaba Addai Sebbo did back in 1987 and as a result the UK recognise October as the Official black history Month!
But as many of you have probably heard or know over in America they celebrate black history month in February, the month rooted from ‘Negro History Week’ which was set up in 1926 and then that went on to becoming recognised as Black History month. According to my research February was chosen because it is the birthday of two influential figures - Abraham Lincoln, US president and Frederick Douglas (Just incase you was wondering).
So why is black history month so important… In an ideal world, the month would not be necessary, as ideally educational establishments and national curriculum would fully recognise and appreciate the contribution of black people throughout history. But sadly that is not the case. Therefore black history month is a time that the Black community uses to share their history and vast contributions with the world.
When we kicked off the month with our first debate it was exciting to see how everyone had their own interpretations of what Black History Month truly meant to them in fact the term ‘Black’ itself was dissected and viewed from so many angles. It was refreshing to see so many students from so many backgrounds debate with an open mind but I must admit the ‘fiery radical liberal’ that lives deep within me did fire out a few times to challenge interesting points made. As the month has gone on I have been thrilled to see and meet so many intellectual and strong political minds here at salford.
This quote I think best describes the importance of black history month ‘The past is behind, learn from it. The future is ahead, prepare for it. The present is here, live it!’ I think this quote sums the whole month up quite well! Black history month this October has been used as a time to demonstrate pride and respect for the past and a Celebration of cultural identity, intellectual capability, which is far too often misrepresented or ignored, in the mainstream media.
So I hope you learnt a little in this badly written blog (Sorry)! And don't worry if you haven't yet had the opportunity to take part we still got a lot going on in the upcoming weeks! And its great to see that their is a MASSIVE buzz about MOBO winner Akala coming down on the 23rd for our Big Finale so get your tickets as soon as possible as that is a limited event!
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