Celebrating Black History Month: Sharing Stories

As we step into Black History Month, our team is excited to reflect on the importance of celebrating black culture, history, and the countless contributions of Black individuals—both in the past and present. Throughout this month, we’ll be sharing personal stories from three of our team members, each offering their unique perspectives and experiences…

A Nigerian at Space & Time – Ayanam Udoma

As someone who grew up in Nigeria, spending most of my formative years in Lagos, I’d say my experience as a black person in the UK is possibly different to most. However, that is not to say that I haven’t had moments in the UK where I’ve been made to feel self-aware of my skin colour, it’s just been a different experience generally speaking. For one, I grew up in a country where most people looked like me and only really moved to the UK when I was a teenager.

In terms of the black history, I spend a fair amount of my spare time watching documentaries about the history of Nigeria, its colonial past, its many coups, its civil war and it must be said that many of Nigeria’s lowest points appeared to have come down to inflated egos, an inability to listen, and a hunger for power.

As a content strategist for Space & Time, what I enjoy about working here is that everyone listens to each other, people manage their egos and there has been no coup reported as of 2024.

Is comparing Space & Time to post-colonial Nigeria a fair comparison? Possibly not. Does it make sense to dedicate just one month a year to black history? Again, debatable.

But as one who grew up in Nigeria with limited experience of growing up black in the UK, I have to work with the black history that’s directly affected me and, from that perspective, I’d say Space & Time has done a fantastic job of avoiding the trappings of military dictatorships of the past.

It is genuinely a lovely place to work and somewhere where I feel supported and, if it were a country, somewhere I’d be proud to call home. So for that, I say cheers to you Space & Time.

Amelie McGinty

Black History Month is celebrated every October in the UK. It began in the US in the 1920s thanks to Carter G. Woodson.

Carter G. Woodson was a black man, born in 1875 in Virginia. Although Woodson’s parents were former slaves, he saved some money by working as a coal miner and attending high school. He then went on to gain a PhD in history from Havard University and became a professor at Howard University.

He was a big advocate for promoting black history in schools. In 1926, he launched the first Black History Week in February as President Abraham Lincoln & Frederick Douglas were both born in February and played a significant role in ending slavery.

The event expanded in 1970 and, in 1976 February was officially designated as Black History Month.

Black History Month in the UK was first launched in 1987. Akyaaba Addai-Sebo came to the UK from Ghana as a refugee in 1984. He wanted to challenge racism and celebrate the history of black people.

Black History matters, for a long time the work and contribution of black people and their plight have been overlooked. Key events such as the Windrush or the impact of slavery and colonisation are rarely spoken about. Black History Month allows a time for reflection, celebration and education. It will enable countless individuals to finally get the recognition they deserve for their contribution to the betterment of our society.

Celebrating Black History Month in the workplace fosters a culture of celebrating multiculturism and diversity and demonstrating that staff’s identities are valued and respected. This also allows for social issues to be brought to the attention of the staff, line managers & leaders who otherwise may not be aware of these issues.

At Space & Time, we pride ourselves on fostering a safe and inclusive environment for all employees, regardless of race, faith or sexuality. We do this by providing training in unconscious bias, allyship and cultural competence.

When the far-right riots took place, I remembered seeing people online talking about how little their workplace had done to make them feel safe and seen. That was not my experience, we were given the option to work from home if we didn’t feel safe during our commute and provided resources if we needed support or someone to talk to.

Ideally, Black History Month shouldn’t just last a month or be labelled as ‘Black History’ because it affects us all and informs us on the context of today’s society and culture. As we open more spaces to have these conversations at home and in the workplace, this will allow us to be aware of the plight and contribution of everyone.