What Does Black History Month Mean to You?
This Black History Month, we’re showcasing some of our favourite Black artists and makers. Each of them has shared with us their creative interpretation of what Black History Month means to them, with a particular focus on this year’s theme: Time for Change.
We encourage you to take the time to experience each piece, thoughtfully created to mark this occasion. Alongside these works, you can also read the makers’ own words on their intentions and inspiration.
You will need
This art piece is dedicated to highlighting the struggles many black people face when it comes to facing pre-judgement and false perceptions, which create an unfair disadvantage within society. For example, there are stereotypes that surround black hairstyles, such as afros and twists, unfairly deeming them as undesirable and unprofessional in a work setting, which, in turn, may lead to people hiding certain parts of their identity in order to fit into what is deemed the norm.
This art piece embraces the ‘Time for Change’ theme and encourages the unmasking of this restrictive façade, breaking free from these social constructs and celebrating black heritage, whatever it may be. The mask acts as a metaphor for society’s limitations, and the removal of it encourages change and the empowerment of black culture.
The art piece is created on A2 (42.0 x 59.4cm) 150 g/m2 paper using charcoal and graphite, with over 40 hours of work.
My piece is a call to action, for us as people not to just see it as black history but to understand that it’s world history. Countries across the world are responsible for various parts. Black history isn’t about ownership of the subject. I feel it needs a new name and we all need to have those difficult conversations because this history belongs to us all.
For this year’s theme, ‘Time for Change’, I’ve chosen to focus on a topic that hits close to home: name-based discrimination.
In the UK, research by NatCen shows that due to difficult to pronounce or non-westernised names “people from ethnic minorities were less likely to be successful with their applications, discounting differences such as age and education”. British citizens from ethnic minority backgrounds must send on average 74% more job applications to get a positive response from employers compared to their white counterparts.
According to the Centre for Social Investigation, compared to White British applicants, people of:
• Pakistani heritage had to make 70% more applications
• Nigerian and South Asian heritage 80% more applications
• Middle Eastern and North African heritage 90% more applications
To even the playing field, people from ethnic minorities are changing or westernising their names to get a job. Upon entering the workplace, we see that most colleagues when coming across a non-western name opt to shorten it rather than learning to properly pronounce it.
My challenge for you all today is this: think of a colleague or friend with a non-western name and ask yourself, do you know their full name or the meaning behind it? And if you call them by a pseudonym, is this something they chose or one thrust upon them by a society unwilling to fully embrace their full name?
Hi there! My name is Michaela and I'm an Artisan from Hobbycraft Leicester. For my Black History Month project, I was inspired by the way treatment of people of colour has changed over the years. Racism hasn’t been eradicated, but it has become much more covert – people aren’t so publicly racist anymore.  
For this project, I've used masking tape to create sections and masking fluid to block out the Zendaya section. The background was painted with acrylic paint. Once the background was dry, I removed the masking tape and fluid, filled in the borders with a Posca pen and painted in Zendaya.
BLM symbol: As one of the more recent movements for Black History, I felt this one was important.
Obama: The first black president of the USA helped show young black children across America that no door is truly locked to them.
The voting box: After African Americans were given the right to vote in 1867, black Americans in the South voted in their masses. Over the following decade, they successfully voted in 22 black people to serve in the US Congress, with two in the senate.
The "no blacks" sign: I put this behind the red circle to represent when segregation was abolished.
Rosa Parks: Her arrest in 1955 and the following boycotts and protests achieved the end of segregation on public transport. For my grandmother in America, this was a massive positive change in her life at the time. According to my dad, she actually took part in some of the protests!
Malcom X (El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz): He represents a positive change in the mindset of African Americans from "violence is a solution to oppression" towards a brotherhood of all races.
The SNCC logo: This movement to me is the biggest representation of "time for change". They dedicated themselves to arranging non-violent sit-ins, boycotts and protests to aid desegregation.
Anthony Mackie as Captain America: While it is a fictional story, Captain America – the "hero of America" – has always been portrayed as a white man. To see the mantle be passed over to a black man was a powerful image for young, black children everywhere. 
The peanut: This represents George Washington Carver, inventor of hundreds of peanut-based products. He also discovered the soil rejuvenating benefits of compost, and he encouraged a lot of black people to move away from working in cotton fields (after slaves had been freed).
The baseball: This represents Jackie Robinson, the first black person to play in a major league baseball team in the modern era.
Marcus Rashford: Growing up on benefits, I always had free school meals. If I had been in school still during lockdown, I would have been directly affected by the free school meals campaign. Rashford’s work for children in poverty has led to the government announcing that children from families with no recourse to public funds will have permanent access to free school meals.
Zendaya: I consider her an excellent example for young black women that skin colour doesn't have to hold you back anymore. She's also spoken publicly about the issues surrounding colourism – the way skin-tone bias can affect racial equality at work, an ongoing issue that many black people face to this day. 
The premise behind this piece is that black history has been lifted up by our ancestors, the pillars that have paved the way for a reality that we live today. Now we continue to work for change for the future generation.
No generation has been perfect but, from adversity, we continue to grow with time. To leave the world better than we found it.
