Celebrated poet Benjamin Zephaniah has questioned the value of Black History Month in schools. 

Speaking to TES columnist Tom Bennett, the writer, campaigner and poet described the event as an “excuse” that allowed people to “dump” all of black history into just one month. 

“I actually don’t think schools should have a Black History Month,” Zephaniah told Bennett. “[But] we need one now because black history is not an integral part of the history we get taught in schools. If we didn’t have Black History Month, we wouldn’t have any black history.

“People use BHM as an excuse to dump everything there and try and get everything done in a month. It’s not possible. I think the history of black people is a massive thing that’s bigger than African history, that’s bigger than Caribbean history. You could never teach all of it, just like you could never teach all of the history of white people.”

Hollywood actor Morgan Freeman previously denounced BHM for another reason. “You’re going to relegate my history to a month?” he said. “I don’t want a Black History Month. Black history is American history.”

Zephaniah agreed. “Black history is almost sold as if it’s something to help black kids, to give them self-esteem,” he said. “I can see the point, but it’s just as important for white people, because some people will have a very narrow view of what black history is…When we talk about slavery, we talk about the slaves being given freedom, as if we were born slaves and we didn’t have a long history before slavery; we weren’t human beings.”

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