Black History Month is a time to honour the histories, contributions, and ongoing experiences of Black communities while also reflecting on how we can meaningfully support Black students, staff, and faculty year-round. Thoughtful BHM programming goes beyond celebration alone; it centers Black voices, acknowledges the diversity within Black communities, and avoids performative or tokenistic approaches.
This guide offers practical tips for planning respectful and impactful Black History Month events, as well as guidance on how to show up as supportive allies in academic and workplace spaces. Whether you are organizing an event, engaging in learning, or looking for ways to build more inclusive environments, these resources are intended to foster connection, accountability, and sustained commitment beyond the month of February.
Coming soon!
Having a clear purpose will guide your decisions from programming and speakers to promotion and partnerships.
A few tips and examples:
Use:
“Join us in learning from and celebrating Black histories, leadership, and creativity.”
“All community members are welcome to engage, reflect, and learn during Black History Month.”
“This event centres Black voices and experiences while inviting the broader campus community to learn alongside.”
“Black History Month at McMaster highlights the ongoing contributions of Black students, staff, faculty, and communities.”
Avoid
“Come support Black students”
“Help us give Black voices a platform”
“Celebrating diversity through Black History Month”
(These can unintentionally position Black people as passive or separate from the campus community.)
Planning Black History Month requires a multi-faceted approach that does not place the burden on any individual or on the Black community. Black staff, faculty and students are turned to due to their “expertise” and expected to volunteer their time to research, plan and organize events and initiatives, this phenomenon is referred to as “cultural taxation.”
Meaningful collaboration includes appropriate compensation contributions from Black voices. When consulting with Black colleagues or community members, ensure that their contributions are meaningful to decision-making processes and they are compensated for their time, expertise and labour. (i.e. stipends, honorarium, speaker fees).
Looking ahead when planning culturally sensitive events aids in ensuring that you can execute a clear vision:
Invite members of the (Black) community, such as staff, faculty, and students to lead the creative vision. Incorporating their lived experience is integral to ensuring that the messaging is relevant. Centering Black voices is important in shaping Black (focused) initiatives.
Non-Black community members can meaningfully support Black History Month programming by taking on logistical and administrative responsibilities that help sustain Black-led initiatives without placing additional labour on Black students, staff, and faculty.
Ways to support include:
Coordinating room bookings, AV needs, and accessibility requirements
Managing budgets, chartfields, reimbursements, and honoraria processes
Supporting event logistics such as catering, registration, and day-of coordination
Assisting with marketing, promotions, and communications in alignment with McMaster’s brand and inclusive language guidelines
Drafting event descriptions, posters, and email communications for review by Black organizers
Supporting data collection, attendance tracking, and post-event reporting
Helping navigate institutional processes, approvals, and timelines
Taking responsibility for follow-up tasks, including thank-you communications and documentation
By contributing in these ways, non-Black community members help amplify Black community vision and leadership while supporting more sustainable and equitable engagement across campus.
We have outlined a range of actions that members of the McMaster community may choose to take in recognition of Black History Month. While it is important to foster welcoming and inclusive spaces and to create opportunities for Black team members who wish to engage, participation should always be voluntary and should never be expected or requested of Black staff. In addition to participating in McMaster-hosted initiatives, community members are encouraged to reflect on and recognize Black History Month in ways that are meaningful to them and within their own areas of influence.
Become aware of support resources for Black staff such as Employee Resource Groups, mental health supports, intake offices and more:
There are is a plethora of educational opportunities for your department/team to partake in.
We recommend registering for our self-paced asynchronous EDIA Fundamentals course to get foundational understanding of equity, diversity, inclusion and anti-oppression in both a Canadian and higher education context. Additionally, you can request to have a workshop tailored to the needs of your team.
You can find more information about our workshop offerings and EDIA course registration here: Inclusion and Anti-Racism Education Program – Equity and Inclusion Office
If you are interested in learning about Inclusive Leadership, we encourage you to sign up for the Inclusive Excellence Leadership Program offered by the EIO and Human Resources: Inclusive Excellence Leadership Program – Human Resources
“Isn’t Black History Month for Black people only?”: Guidance for Non-Black Community Members
Commemorating Black History month is not only for the Black community to partake in. Our stories include collaborative efforts with people of different racial and ethnic backgrounds to fight against anti-Black racism and oppression. The inclusion of non-Black community members should extend past our collective push for equity and include our celebration(s). It is important to recognize that there will be events just for the Black community to protect attendees from the threat of violence that comes from hate groups that oppose the celebration of Black History Month. As such, these events will explicitly state “open for Black students, staff and faculty only”
Going beyond February and recognizing that Black history is embedded in the fabric of our nation is important in recognizing the impact of exploitation of Black people in Canada. When engaging in year-round learning and engagement, ensure that you remain respectful of the space that you take up and are clear on the purpose of said events, celebrations and more. This could include going to local Black-owned libraries and partaking in community events, reading literature from Black authors, and supporting Black-owned businesses.
Go beyond the month of February to engage in Black history year-round. This can be done through exploring literature from Black authors, documentaries that accurately depict the Black experience and historically Black movements (and figures).
McMaster offers courses on combatting anti-Black Racism from McMaster Continuing Education called “Anti-Black Racism and Critical Race Education”. You can find more information on the course here: https://continuing.mcmaster.ca/professional-development/anti-black-racism-and-critical-race-education/
You can also learn about anti-Black racism in a Canadian and higher education context by taking our EDIA Fundamentals course. Learn about the course and registration here: Inclusion and Anti-Racism Education Program – Equity and Inclusion Office
Book a workshop on advancing Black inclusion by emailing nyambiye@mcmaster.ca for a consultation and workshop planning.
Participate in Black History Month events on (McMaster) campus or in your community (Hamilton). When attending these events, ensure that you are respectful of the space that you take up and amplify Black voices. Where applicable avoid relying on free labour from Black colleagues, take the opportunity to learn about these topics to engage with them on a deeper level.
Engaging in conversations about race and racism involves ongoing self-reflection, accountability for personal biases, and taking action when racism, including microaggressions, occurs. Allyship is only impactful when it is intentionally and consistently practiced.
Being an ally requires action, naming, examining, and working to address the inequities and harms experienced by marginalized communities. This work is not meant to be comfortable; rather, it is a critical process that calls on us to reflect on our social locations, including our identities and how we are positioned within systems of oppression and privilege. It also requires recognizing how we may benefit from these systems and considering how we can challenge racism at multiple levels, whether through institutional practices or in everyday interactions, such as addressing racist ideas or comments shared by family or friends.
Book the EIO for a consultation on what this can look like for your team/department/club; email us at equity@mcmaster.ca
To ensure that Black History Month’s themes have a year-round impact, the vision should center on continuous (ongoing) engagement. Celebrating Black advancement should be integrated into how we discuss Black voices and contributions to avoid brief recognition.
Ensuring there are existing opportunities for Black student’s, staff, and faculty members. This would look like establishing mentorship programs for all levels of staff and faculty that ensure employment growth is possible. It can also look like tangible supports such as dedicated scholarships.
Check out some dedicated scholarship pathways for incoming Black students: https://blackstudentsuccess.mcmaster.ca/scholarships-and-awards/#tab-20
Refer Black staff to Black, Indigenous, Racialized Staff (BIRS) ERG: https://equity.mcmaster.ca/homepage-demo/mcmaster-birs-erg-2023-call-out/
Taking in the messaging from events and examining the systems that uphold anti-Black racism is key to facilitating ways to promote inclusive environments. With barriers identified, they can be tackled through efforts such as speaking.
This can be expanded to inclusive language such as replacing phrases like “diversity event” with language such as “celebrating Black excellence and achievement” or “honoring Black innovation and leadership.” This can also include quotes, profiles, or highlights from Black changemakers connected to the campus or community.
Inclusive imaging contributes to an inclusive environment, using visuals that feature Black students, staff, faculty and community members in authentic, non-stereotypical ways will align messaging to be comprehensive.
Hamilton Anti-Racism Resource Centre (HARRC)
The Hamilton Anti-Racism Resource Centre (HARRC) advances education and action on race, racism, discrimination, and racial equity in Hamilton through workshops, programs, events, and community support. HARRC supports individuals affected by racism by receiving complaints and connecting community members to appropriate resources.
The Centre also monitors and documents incidents of racism and hate, works with community partners, and advocates for policy and legislative changes to address systemic racism, while engaging with related issues such as intersectionality, human rights, accessibility, trauma, and decolonization.
Hamilton Centre for Civic Inclusion
Hamilton Centre for Civic Inclusion is a charitable organization that is driven by their mission to mobilize all Hamiltonians to create an inclusive and welcoming city. Founded in 2006, HCCI undertook an extensive number of initiatives with significant impact towards building a united community that respects diversity, practices equity, and speaks against discrimination.
HCCI engages with partners and supporters to be responsive with the Hamilton community as society evolved and new challenges emerged.
Hamilton Community Legal Clinic – Together We Rise! Black Justice
Together We Rise! Works to combat individual and systemic Anti-Black racism through providing a wide range of clinic law services. They collaborate with community organizations and agencies to build relationships and trust. Through this they can provide culturally competent clinic law services to Black/African Canadian/People of African Descent (PAD) clients.
This initiative works to foster and improve the co-coordination and integration with other existing legal aid services in Hamilton and across all elements of the justice sector. Their work also extends to facilitating access to justice for people who identify as being of African descent in the Hamilton community and increase the overall use of Clinic services by members of the community.
Empowerment Squared
Empowerment Squared works towards building a world where individuals are empowered with the tools and opportunities required to thrive and contribute to society. They do this through empowering newcomer, racialized, and marginalized communities in Canada and across the world to succeed through mentorship, with access to post-secondary education, skills development and more.
Empowerment Squared offers a diverse array of programs for youth and adults to support academic achievement.