Celebrating Black History Month

In the UK, the month of October is set aside to celebrate Black History. As a Black person living in the UK this gives me the opportunity to reflect about the positive contributions Black people have made all over the world.

Sometimes as a black person, you may feel your voice is not heard or considered relevant in the array of voices out there, but when I look back at the challenges that some of our ancestors had to overcome in the past we have definitely come a long way.

One post cannot fully capture the greatness of the Black people, but I will try to shade a bit of light to the strengths and beauty of Black History by just listing some of my favourites topics that makes me proud to be Black.

• The Monarchies of old – Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya etc and existing ones such as Morocco, Lesotho & Eswatini (formerly known as Swaziland) which tell of our deep African cultural roots and traditions.
• The Atlantic Slave trade story that spoke of the freedom taken away from our Ancestors mainly from the Western and Eastern regions of Africa (Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Claudette, Frederick Douglass etc.)
• Civil Rights movements that educated and fought for the equality rights and Justice (Rosa Parks, Claudette Colvin, Malcom X, Martin Luther King Jr., Mary Mclead Bethune, Richard Allen, Ida B. Wells, Funmilayo Ransome Kuti, Kudirat Abiola etc.)
• Our contributions (Past & Present) to society through science (Henrietta Lacks, Dr Charles Drew, Philip Emeagwali & Mary Seacole) Maths & Engineering (Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, Ursula Burns, Dr. Shirley Jackson, Dr. Wanda Austin & Elijah McCoy), Politics & Press (Barack Obama, Shirley Chisholm, Robert Abbot & Sir Trevor McDonald), Entrepreneurship & Business (Madam C.J. Walker, Oprah Winfrey, George Washington Carver & Dounne Alexander), Authors (Chinua Achebe, Femi Osofisan, Ben Okri, Chimamanda Adichie, Wole Soyinka, Buchi Emecheta, Cyprian Ekwensi, Toni Morrison & Maya Anelou), Entertainment & Arts (Fela, Quincy Jones, Denzel Washington, Whoopi Goldberg, Naomi, John Boyega, Chadwick Boseman, Gordan Parks, Sidney Poitier, Hattie McDaniel, Stevie Wonder, Cy Grant & Sade), Innovators (Sarah Boone, Mary Van Brittan Brown, Frederick McKinley Jones, Lewis Latimer & Garrett Morgan), Law (Thurgood Marshall, Fatou Bensouda, Beatrice Mtetwa, Samuel Olumuyiwa Jibowu, Stella Thomas & Taslim Olawale Elias), Finance (Carla Harris, Racquel Oden & Lilla St. John), Sports (Michael Jordan, Muhammad Ali, Jesse Owens, Althea Gibson, Anthony Joshua & Serena Williams) etc. the list of contributors under each listed areas is unending and therefore unable to put a name against all the Black talents that have existed since the beginning of time.
• Our rich heritage and history passed down from generation to generation. This is apparent by our blessed and beautiful African landscape flowing with milk and honey (represented through our culture, languages, arts, human and mineral resources).
• Our determination and ability to survive, excel and thrive despite the obstacles placed before us and the negative stereotypes we must constantly prove wrong daily.
• The opportunities we grab as a people to ensure our voices are still heard in this generation and future generations to come. In this heading I include my elder sister who is a true activist for the rights of those that need someone with a voice to fight for them and every one of us that believe in Justice, Fairness and Truth.

As we come to the end of another Black History Month over here in the UK, I am thankful for the opportunity to hear so many talks throughout the month and attend virtual events that promote diversity, inclusion and equality. It has also been powerful to see the youths lend their voice in places like my motherland Nigeria, where the call to end police brutality in the #ENDSARS movement resulted in an awaken that all lives matter and should be valued always, but most of all, to change the tide of our story where for us to be treated well by others, we need to first love ourselves as Black people, because history has shown we have overcome far worst and we are still standing.

In appreciation of everything that makes me proud to be a strong black woman, I leave you with some recommended films to watch and books to read that should speak to anyone respective of their race or gender why BLACK IS BEAUTIFUL.

• Hidden Figures
• A United Kingdom
• Black Partner
• I Am Not Your Negro
• Roots (1977 Miniseries)
• Bella
• Selma
• Lean on Me
• Coming to America
• The Drummer Boy
• Second Class Citizen
• West African Verse (For readers that love poems)

Thank you for walking down this memory with me. I truly love my black background and so glad I was able to share a bit of it as Black History Month comes to an end. As I heard from a wise person recently, I do not celebrate being Black one month of the year, but 365 days in a year (366 days of course in a leap year 😊).

NB: Photos courtesy of the world wide web