This month marks Black History Month, the 35th time this national awareness campaign has been celebrated since it was first organised in 1987. The event was founded by Akyaaba Addai-Sebo, a Ghanian employee at the Greater London Council (GLC), with the goal of recognising the presence and achievements of those with African or Caribbean heritage within the UK.

Why do we at Cordis Bright think it’s important to acknowledge Black History Month? This month offers a prompt to celebrate the contributions made by Black Britons throughout history – not only the key figures we know from school textbooks, like Mary Seacole, but lesser-known and less celebrated pioneers as well. For last year’s Black History Month, we profiled a number of Black health and social care practitioners who played vital roles in shaping the sectors in which we work, such as Dame Jocelyn Barrow, who fought educational discrimination throughout her career, and Lennox Thomas, who pioneered culturally-specific psychotherapeutic approaches for Black communities.

However, as the official Black History Month website reminds us, it’s not just famous faces who we should be celebrating, but also Black frontline workers and young people striving for greater equality in workplaces, communities and classrooms across the U.K.

Looking back at Black British history is also a reminder of the racism and marginalisation Black people have faced for generations – and the fact that it persists today. Racial inequalities persist across health and social care, education, mental health and criminal justice.

Across the sectors in which we work at Cordis Bright, Black individuals – as both beneficiaries of services and employees – disproportionately experience discrimination and systemic disadvantage.

Each year, Black History Month has a specific theme. This year’s theme is “Time for Change: Action Not Words”. As vital as it is to acknowledge the past to learn from it, this theme underpins the fact that acknowledgement must be accompanied by a commitment to tackle racism wherever and whenever it persists.

We are committed at Cordis Bright to educating ourselves about racism in the past and in the present, and to continuing our concerted efforts to address equality, diversity and inclusion within our organisation and in the work we do. This month, we will be running a number of events for staff to generate discussions on these themes, as well as sharing resources and reflections online. Our hope is that this proves a valuable, interesting and thought-provoking month. We hope you’ll join us.