Email Article

Printable Page

Turnout Low for the Other Black History Month

Photo credit: Angelo Beato Hannah Shogbola, left, and Dionne Edwards were among the few black British students to take part in the first Black History Month events at University of Westminster in London.

By Levertes Ragland
Black College Wire

Although February is Black History Month in the United States, it comes in October in England, first celebrated in that month in 1987 as part of the African Jubilee Year, the period from August 1987 to July 1988 designated to mark the centenary of the birth of Marcus Josiah Garvey; the 150th anniversary of emancipation in the Caribbean and the 25th anniversary of the founding of the Organization of African Unity.

It is consecrated as a period of harvest and yam festivals. Its symbol is Sankofa, a representation of learning from the past.

This year, at the four campuses of the University of Westminister in London, fliers listed lectures, films, seminars and social activities, yet the number of blacks attending them was low to none. Some events failed to take place.

"People moan about discrimination and racism, but when events do happen, they don't show up," said Hannah Shogbola, a radio production major who attended a discussion on minority racism in the Queen's Building at Westminster's Harrow campus. She and a friend were the only black British students in a half-emptied room of a few white and Asian students.

"What has annoyed me the most is there's not a lot of black presence at these events," said Dionne Edwards, a film and TV production student and one of three organizers for the events. "A lot more people of other cultures come out."

Shogbola recalled more whites and Asians in attendance for a recent discussion held by the university concerning a black murder victim. Anthony Walker, 18, was killed with an ax in a racist attack in McGoldrick Park in Liverpool last month. Fourteen people have been charged in connection with the brutal murder, some as accessories. "He was walking his white girlfriend home in Liverpool and some whites came and embedded an ax in his head," Shogbola said. "The university did a talk about it and his dad spoke, but hardly no blacks were there. I expected a lot more."

Blacks have been in London since 1555, though the first real influx in Britain came in the late 18th century in flights from the 13 colonies during the American Revolution. Prominent black British figures include John Blacke, a trumpeter to kings Henry VII and VIII, who about 1507 became the first black mentioned in royal records; Sir Ira Aldridge, England's first recognized black actor, famous for his role as Othello; John Richard Archer, a leader in London's Pan Africanist Movement, also the country's first British-born councilor and mayor in the early 1900s; and Marianne Jean Baptiste, who in 1996 became the first black British woman nominated for an Academy Award.

"I think people don't care," Edwards said. "There was a lot of trouble getting people to go to events and help organize things for the month. A lot of black culture is focused on Americans, and we don't have a lot of British figures to focus on."

Westminster has an enrollment of 2,403 blacks of a total student population of 23,382. With few black-centered organizations on campus, their social aspect outweighs the cultural aspect, in Shogbola's view.

"The African/Caribbean Society like to party," she acknowledged. "They do things like go to clubs, pubs, and black comedy nights but nothing really cultural."

For other blacks, the concept of Black History Month was new. "This is the first time I heard of black history month. I just heard about it the other day," said Darla Rudakubana, 19, of Kenya, a public relations major. She was walking to an advertised black history event, which she left, saying it had nothing to do with black culture. "I know the Americans celebrate Kwanzaa, but I don't really know what it is."

Rudakubana said she saw black history month more as "Western" than "African," giving her the feeling, as an African native, that there was no reason to celebrate it. "For you, it's celebrated to remind you where you come from," she said of blacks who live in the West.

Shogbola and Edwards said Black History Month could have been more effective with better planning and more publicity.

Shogbola said it should have been advertised in black neighborhoods, not just on campus.

The black British community is just 2 percent of the population, higher than other ethnic groups but still relatively small. In London, Black History Month is broadened to include and celebrate minorities in general, who make up a third of the capital's population.

Levertes Ragland, a student at Clark Atlanta University, is studying abroad at the University of Westminster in London.

Posted Nov. 7, 2005