February 2026 commemorates the centenary of establishment of Negro History Week, which became Black History Month in the US in 1976.  Founded by Carter G Woodson, to give recognition to the largely overlooked, ignored or suppressed achievements of Black Americans, the week was chosen to coincide with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.

Many would argue that Black History Month is still urgently needed in a society where systemic racism, cultural erasure and historical amnesia are persistent.  Whereas others believe that Black History Month has become a performative gesture.

To mark 100 years of Negro History Week and 50 years of Black History Month in the US, Serendipity Institute for Black Arts and Heritage brings together Dr Mark Christian and Dr Antonio C Cuyler to explore what Black History Month means today in the US and the UK, alongside its challenges, its possibilities and its future across arts, education, culture and society.

 

Dr Mark Christian

Mark Christian is a tenured and full Professor in the Department of Africana Studies at Lehman College, City University of New York (CUNY), joining from Miami University Ohio in 2011.  Christian holds a BA in Sociology and American Studies from Liverpool Hope University, an MA in Africana Studies from The Ohio State University and a PhD in Sociology from The University of Sheffield.  He is an award-winning author of several publications including Multiracial Identity: An International Perspective, The 20th Century Civil Rights Movement: An Africana Studies Perspective and Frederick Douglass: A Life in American History, for which he was awarded the 2025 Choice Outstanding Academic Title.  He is the editor of Black Identity in the 20th Century: Expressions of the US and UK African Diaspora, Integrated but Unequal: Black Faculty in Predominately White Space and a guest editor for Africana Studies.

Dr Antonio C Cuyler

Antonio C Cuyler is Professor of Music in Entrepreneurship and Leadership, Faculty Associate in Voice and Opera in the School of Music, Theatre and Dance (SMTD), and Faculty Associate in the African Studies Center at the University of Michigan.  He is the author of Access, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in Cultural Organizations: Insights from the Careers of Executive Opera Managers of Color in the US and Achieving Creative Justice in the US Creative Sector.  Cuyler is the editor of Arts Management, Cultural Policy and the African Diaspora, co-editor of Accessibility, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Cultural Sector: Initiatives and Lessons Learned from Real Life Cases.  In 2020, he founded Cuyler Consulting, LLC, a Black-owned arts consultancy and served as Lyric Opera of Chicago’s inaugural Scholar-in-Residence with Lyric Unlimited (2024-2025).

 

Image Credit: Frederick Douglass