Black History Month is around the corner, and you have a chance to acknowledge every hardship the black community has endured over the decades. You can give back to them by empowering African-American workers at your company and encouraging everyone else to do the same.
However, as most people don’t know the context behind Black History Month, this is the perfect chance to raise awareness. To do that, you need some creative ideas that help you drive your cause while maintaining the respect this community deserves.
What is Black History Month?
Black History Month starts from the first of February and lasts till the first of March. This month is celebrated to remember the essential African-American people and black history facts. Americans and Canadians celebrate this month in February, while this day is honored in October in Ireland and the UK.
Despite the different dates across countries, everyone acknowledges the black community’s pain and the sacrifices they had to make. However, the main reason for celebrating this month is that people did not recognize the black community’s struggles in America and the UK. So, in 1978, UK leadership started the culture of Black History Month.
4 ways to celebrate black community’s contribution
As this month is significant for your black employees, you need to put extra effort and celebrate it with the respect it deserves. You can do that in multiple ways, such as:
Raise black history awareness
Even after 159 years since the Civil War, many Americans are still oblivious to the black history facts and struggles of the African-American community. Therefore, you need to start from the base and raise awareness about Black History Month and famous black history fun facts.
To do that, organize a seminar that sheds light on every struggle black people in history had to endure and how society is still suppressing their rights in different ways. The workshops should also cover how we can change that in our community and the workplace.
Make a donation
Hundreds of organizations across the nation are fighting the good fight for racial equality, justice, and human rights for the black community. Many of them raise a voice against police brutality and help black people get jobs.
These organizations are non-profit and work hard to achieve these goals because they believe in creating better opportunities for the oppressed.
That is why this African American History Month, donate to these organizations and give them the financial boost they need. For this, consider creating a donation campaign in your office and ask everyone to contribute as much money as they comfortably can and encourage them to don’t hold back and be generous.
After donation collection, organize a group activity and select a non-profit organization to donate the collected money. You can also pick a handful of organizations and make a black history month flyer with all of their names on it. This way, everyone can research beforehand and decide which organization they prefer.
Support black literature
Literature, fiction or nonfiction, is a widely used form of storytelling, celebration, expressing emotions, and protesting. So, to learn about a community, their sacrifices, struggles, and present issues, you need to review their old and new literature.
However, the literature industry is also a victim of prejudice against the black community. As a result, black authors’ stories are not published, read, or received the same level of appreciation or financial compensation. But you can raise a voice and support their work while celebrating black history month.
So, this Black History Month, promote black authors and other books about black history on your business intranet and social media accounts. Additionally, conduct a group activity and select a black author’s book to read in Black History Month. At the end of the month, hold a meeting where employees share their views about the book.
Volunteer your services
Why only donate money when you can also volunteer your services for the black community supporting non-profit organizations. Like donations, volunteering is also an excellent way to help the racial community. In addition, it also helps build better relations between team members, inspiring and motivating them to work together.
The most fantastic part of volunteering your support, time, and services is that it provides extra help to organizations, aiding them to complete their projects on time. Moreover, it builds a long-lasting relationship with the organization and can also help them in future projects.
Again, conduct a group meeting and allow all employees to choose which organization they would love to volunteer for. Then collaborate with them and do your part in bringing change into black people’s lives.
Conclusion
The black community is highly oppressed even after more than one and a half-century have passed since the Civil War. But as a human representative of your company, you can ensure that your company and employees lift the black community instead of pushing them down. To do that, use the suggestions listed above.
Senior editor at PosterMyWall.
