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About African History Month: History and Origin
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The African American experience
- The African British experience
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AfricanHistoryMonth.org
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African History is more than a month
Originally established as Negro
History Week in 1926 by Dr. Carter G. Woodson, a noted African
American author and scholar, this event evolved into the
establishment in 1976 of February as "Black History
Month." This commemoration has increasingly been referred
to as "African American History Month," although
both names are currently in use.
A few of the areas
worldwide where African History Month is celebrated:
New
York, Guyana,
Jamaica,
Azania
(South Africa),Trinidad
and Tobago, Johannesburg,
Canada,
Detroit,
Washington
and Sacramento.
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The roots of African History Month begin in America February
1926 when pioneering African American historian Dr Carter
G Woodson first established Negro History Week. He is widely
recognised as the man responsible for putting forward the
idea of African history as a form of cultural empowerment
and emancipation.
Dr Woodson worked as a coal miner which financed his studies
at Berea College in Kentucky and the University of Chicago.
After obtaining a degree in philosophy at Harvard in 1912,
he started the Association for the Study of Negro Life and
History, thus creating an organisation to promote the study
of African history.
Dr Woodson had written
about how "the thought of the inferiority of the Negro
is drilled into him in almost every class he enters and
in almost every book he studies .... To handicap a student
by teaching him that his black face is a curse and that
his struggle to change his condition is hopeless is the
worst form of lynching. It kills one's aspirations and dooms
him to vagabondage and crime".
In his view, the knowledge
and dissemination of African history would, "besides
building self-esteem among blacks, help eliminate prejudice
among whites." He aimed both "to inculcate in
the mind of the youth of African blood an appreciation of
what their race has thought and felt and done" and
to publicise the facts of the Africans among Europeans,
so that "the Negro may enjoy a larger share of the
privileges of democracy as a result of the recognition of
his worth."
In a speech at Hampton
Institute in 1921 Woodson addressed the issue, he said "We
have a wonderful history behind us... If you are unable
to demonstrate to the world that you have this record, the
world will say to you, 'You are not worthy to enjoy the
blessings of democracy or anything else'. They will say
to you, Who are you, anyway? Your ancestors have never controlled
empires or kingdoms and most of your race have contributed
little or nothing to science and philosophy and mathematics."
Later on in his 1933 classic work, The Miseducation of the
Negro, Woodson showed the fundamental problems concerning
the education of the African person. He noted how Africans
have been educated away from their own culture and traditions
and how as African peoples we have attached ourselves to
European culture often to the detriment of our own heritage.
Dr.Woodson argued that
if education is ever to be substantive and meaningful it
must first address the African’s historical experiences,
both in Africa and the Diaspora.
There is a Swahili adage that says: "You are what you
make of yourself, and not what others make you." Mirroring
the thoughts of Ghana's Kwame Nkrumah who has written about
the need for "a re-awakening [of] consciousness among
Africans and peoples of African descent of the bonds that
unite us - our historical past, our culture, our common
experience and our aspirations."
And thanks to the great
contribution by the late African historian, Cheikh Anta
Diop, we now know that the history that we need to recover
includes that Egyptian science and technology which laid
the foundation for the development of Europe. The use of
historical knowledge must be a weapon in our struggle for
complete liberation.
An overall view of ancient African civilizations and ancient
African cultures is required to get rid of all myths about
the African past, which continues to linger in the minds
of African peoples everywhere. And that is what African
History Month is all about.
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Ever since the 1970’s,
African history, art and culture has been celebrated by
African Britons in the Diaspora. Whether the vehicle was
Berry Edwards or Eric and Jessica Huntley ‘Caribbean
week’ or Alex Pascall’s ‘Black Londoners’
programme on the BBC, our story was being told.
After talking to African British teenagers Akyaaba Addai-Sebo
a special projects officer for Greater London Council’s
discovered that they had a great reluctance to have anything
to do or identity with Africa. Akyaaba felt this was due
to the negative representation of Africans in the media,
and the many racist, and distorted images about Africa's
past and present.
In 1986 and 1987, Akyaaba with the backing of several other
people organised key events that established the trend for
African History Month. These included serious debates about
the African contribution to civilisation with leading U.S.
historians.
In 1987 the race unit Akyaaba was a part of moved to the
London Strategic Policy Unit. Symbolically the year 1987
also marked 150 years of the end of slavery.
Prior to the demise of the GLC, and in a drive to improve
racial harmony in London, councillors passed a declaration
that put ‘Black’ History Month in October. As
a result the UK’s first ‘Black’ History
Month took place as part of the African Jubilee Year 1987-88
celebrations organised by the former London Strategic Policy
Unit.
The event was a success.
In response, the then Association of London Authorities
later endorsed ‘Black’ history month as an annual
event leading to it’s official recognition on the
cultural calendars of all London boroughs and several Metropolitan
and City Councils around the country. London councils became
committed to financially supporting the Month every year
and Local councils around the country followed suit.
The late Len Garrison,
who was one of the founder members and chairman of the Black
Cultural Archives (BCA) then historically went on to say
"Remember what we inherit today has been won with bloodshed
and sacrifice by others yesterday".
African History Month
seeks to restore an integral element of British History
which has been ignored and denied in the creation of racist
mythologies. The need to continuously educate, enrich and
challenge the content and construction of conventional history
is essential in the drive to eradicate inaccurate views
of world history.
Current History books still serve particular imperialist
purposes as elements of world history are distorted by authors
myopic views centered around global interaction with Europe
and Europeans.
African American historian John Henrik Clarke commented
that, ‘to control a people you must first control
what they think about themselves and how they regard their
history and culture. And when your conqueror makes you ashamed
of your culture and your history, he needs no prison walls
and no chains to hold you.’
The majority of Africans in the Diaspora still suffer a
lack of knowledge of self and our past. As a result many
suffer from cultural disinheritance. Historically this has
lead to the internalisation and development of inferiority
complexes. This is a direct result of anything with African
heritage being portrayed as a 'black' caricature of 'white'
perfection. This typically refers to African people as an
inferior subset of the human race in the body of Western
thought.
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AfricanHistoryMonth.org
was the brainchild of Ligali
Co-founder and Head of Media Affairs, Emma Pierre-Joseph
and emerged from a discussion with Ligali Co-founder Toyin
Agbetu. In the UK the purpose of ‘Black’ history
month was being lost as the African experience was turned
into an ‘Urban’ one. The African History Month
site attempts to stay true to the original vision of founder
Dr Carter G Woodson by focusing on African History.
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It has always been the
feeling of members of our community that African History
is so integral to our lives that it should not be relegated
to a once a year focus. AfricanHistoryMonth.org
utterly supports this view, believing that EVERY month is
African History month and endeavour to reflect this by containing
details of events that occur throughout
the year.
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