To live in a multi-cultural society, but to be unable to understand the history of different cultures is a normality we should begin questioning. Black History Month is the only time when racially marganalised communities are allowed to embrace their past and the societal impact it has made.

I argue that most people do not know that the creator of three-way traffic lights, the first self-made female billionaire, the creator of modern day elevators were all people of colour. For racially marganised communities who only know their history in the context of suffering—it is significant for people of colour to understand that their history goes beyond suffering.

Very rarely are people of colour taught their history from a place of empowerment. From a very young age black people and people of colour have been taught that their community’s origin is slavery and colonisation- but very rarely are marganalised communities taught about Pan-Africanism, Ethiopia’s resistance to colonisation, the community Africa created post- colonisation. These vital parts of black history are rarely discussed in the English Curriculum.

One may argue that people of colour should research these ideas in their own time, however where do they start? There is a plethora of important individuals and events. The double standard imposed on people of colour to research their own history, opposed to others who are taught their history in the English curriculum is unfair, especially when people of colour have contributed to what the UK is now.

Black History Month should not be a month. In a perfect world, black history would be intergrated into the English Curriculum. To live in a multicultural country means that people must learn about other cultures outside of their own. It encourages understanding and reduces division at a young age.

If you are a person of colour and you would want to know more of your history, here are some organisations you can begin with:

• The Black Curriculum
• Middle East Studies Association
• South Asian Heritage Trust.

James Baldwin summarises this perfectly: History is not the past, it is the present we carry our history with us. We are our history.