At the beginning of the month, amid heated racial allegations that have troubled him since he announced his campaign for presidency, President Donald Trump proclaimed Black History Month as African-American History Month in a statement, honoring the month. While not all that uncommon, several presidents before have exchanged the two terms loosely, Trump’s divisive history struck a nerve with many in the black community that fueled a growing fire.
Minorities are living in a crucial time period, where during the Trump era, many feel attacked, victimized, separated and angry at America. For black people, February is a culmination of black history and achievements since the African Diaspora, that aims to teach and celebrate. Many critics of the month feels it packs way too much history into one month, and things get glossed over.
In relation to the namesake of the section, seeing where black history in arts and entertainment are today can help put past history and achievements into perspective. Quantifying exactly where black people are in arts and entertainment is an unbelievable task, instead it would be more effective to look at certain people and cultural impacts.
Mainstream music has seen a wide range of black artists leave prominent marks and impact the culture. Hip-hop music, a black-created and dominated genre has become the most streamed genre in the world and has seen its influences stretch into the mainstream that would have been unconceivable two decades ago. Despite this, certain academies and institutions have garnered criticism for not awarding black excellence.
The 2017 Grammy’s saw Beyonce’s “Lemonade” album get snubbed for album of the year, over Adele’s “25.” The overwhelming critically favorite of last year was upended by what many consider to be Adele’s weakest effort to date. The year prior, Kendrick Lamar’s universally-lauded “To Pimp a Butterfly” lost to Taylor Swift’s “1989," in a snub that many chalked up to racism. Perhaps an extreme accusation, only four black artists have won Grammy Album of the Year in 20 years and none have in the last five years, in which black artists have had the most critically acclaimed album each year.
The even more controversial Academy Awards, and it’s annual celebration of excellence in film received vehement backlash last year when not a single black actor/actress was nominated in the four major categories, birthing the #OscarsSoWhite hashtag and boycott by actor Will Smith, actress Jada Smith, director Spike Lee and others.
Thankfully, this year’s Academy Awards included groundbreaking black films in the major categories, namely “Moonlight,” “Hidden Figures” and “Fences.” While black artists are still fighting for their just due across the board in music and film in what seems like a slowly-evolving process, recognition is being paid to the aforementioned excellent films and the directors, producers and actors involved, a necessary and crucial step.
While flat-out bigotry and blatant racism isn’t apparent in Hollywood and the music industry, opportunities come few and far between for black creators and even then the recognition doesn’t seem to justify the efforts.
Detractors may point to Beyonce being beloved by millions and having several grammys or Denzel Washington winning Best Actor before. When put into perspective, Beyonce has yet to receive the coveted Album of the Year, and black artists, in general, are nominated and win less than their peers.
It would seem the best thing Black History Month does is to put things into perspective. Outside of black institutions created for and by black people like the BET Awards and NAACP honors, institutions that recognize mainstream excellence in arts and entertainment have been behind the curve for years.
As the original rock and roll-ers, the creators of hip-hop and countless other movements, the indelible cultural impact black people have left in society can’t be measured.
What can be measured is the celebration of their excellence by some of the more revered institutions that recognize such. Looking specifically at music and film, it’s evident that black artists and creators have come a long way, but society still has a ways to go in giving them their just due.
Disclaimer: The opinions in this article do not represent those of The Rotunda.
