It’s February 16. We are just over halfway through Black History Month.
If you consume media and social media, this event will be top of mind right now. Thinking about Black History Month made me wonder whether Signals has a lot of content on the topic of Black people. In fact it does. But because the focus of Signals is to provide perspective on the regenerative medicine field, these blogs all relate back to science (and only some of them are listed below).
Black History Month began in the U.S. as a way to promote Black history, something that was mostly absent in American public schools. But that focus has evolved over time to become much broader. Today, Black History Month showcases the significant and diverse past and present contributions of Black people in the countries where the event takes place.
I believe this is a good thing: learning about the past is fundamental to our culture and students should be taught how Black people have influenced society in a myriad of ways. Not to mention, great people should be acknowledged for their contributions – even if it’s decades or centuries later. But making an effort to celebrate Black individuals who are making a difference in today’s world has a relevance and immediate impact to those same school children that can only benefit us in the long term.
In Canada, this year’s theme is “Black Excellence: A Heritage to Celebrate; a Future to Build.” This theme offers room to acknowledge important accomplishments from the past while looking to new opportunities in our future.
Our neighbours to the south have declared the 2024 theme “African Americans and the Arts” to recognize how Black Americans have influenced visual arts, performing arts, music, literature and more.
Does it make sense to talk about Black scientists during this campaign? Absolutely. Whether they are living today or lived in a previous century, a goal during the month of February is to shine the spotlight on Black members of society who have historically been ignored or forgotten, and therefore haven’t received the recognition they deserve. So scientists, writers, artists, journalists, activists, politicians, educators, doctors, trailblazers and others are all suitable for recognition. In January, Science Buddies encouraged us to “Learn more about these 38 scientists for Black History Month.”
Ultimately the point of Black History Month is to raise awareness, inspire conversation and educate – goals we share on this blog.
Last year I wrote Keeping the conversation going following Black History Month, which contains a list of five Black Canadians who were scientists, engineers and members of the medical community. Plus there are interesting statistics on Black Canadians and STEM education, a BBC video about three Black scientists, resources, and more.
Below are some posts on Signals that I think are thought provoking and educational. As you take some time to acknowledge the importance of this month and do a little to perhaps educate yourself, please add these blogs to your reading list.
HeLa Ethics: Toward a more equitable future of regenerative medicine by Rebecca Ihilchik. In this post Rebecca returns to the situation of Henrietta Lacks, motivated by the court case and 2023 settlement between her family and Thermo Fisher. She examines the ethics of profiting from scientific research at the expense of marginalized patients. As she reminds us, “Black suffering has fueled innumerable medical progress and profit, without just compensation or recognition,” the Lacks family lawsuit argued. “Various studies, both documented and undocumented, have thrived off the dehumanization of Black people.”
Collaborating with Black communities is key to overcoming barriers to stem cell donation – A TMM 2022 talk by Sylvia Okonofua. Sylvia advocates for underserved groups in health care and spearheaded a “Black Donors Save Lives” campaign, with the goal of raising awareness about the need for more Black stem cell donors on Canada’s stem cell registry through Canadian Blood Services. Similar to the post above, Sylvia addresses the topic of how the health-care system has mistreated Black people. As a result, there is a great deal of mistrust in the Black community. An element of the campaign was to identify barriers and facilitators to stem cell donation especially relevant to Black communities.
Right Turn: Acknowledging racism in academia with #ShutDownSTEM by Stacey Johnson. Not everyone agreed with the academic protest that spawned a one-day strike at universities during the height of Black Lives Matter, but it was intended to address systemic and historical racism in the hallowed halls of higher education. As I wrote, “The point of the strike was for students, faculty and staff to take the day off from their research and typical work activities to discuss and develop solutions to eliminate (more realistically reduce) racism in their institutions at the lab, department, faculty and administrative levels. It was also to acknowledge how hard it is for Black people to keep working in this charged environment and to give them a day off, but not miss out.”
Visit the Government of Canada’s website for videos and information about Black Canadians who have positively influenced life in Canada, and watch “Proud of our History – Black History Month.” What have you done or participated in to acknowledge the event? Please leave a comment.
Stacey Johnson
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