Black History Month: Make sure you buy slavery free chocolate

Although we may observe Black History Month by celebrating the culture, history and achievements of black history, how much do you know about slavery free chocolate?

Every October, Black History Month takes place in the UK to celebrate and commemorate black history within Britain. During this time the stories of prominent black historical figures are told: as black history isn't mandatory in the British curriculum, Black History Month is a way to educate the younger (and older) generation about how black history has helped to shape the society we live in today.

However, Black History Month is also about raising awareness around problems which still affect the black community. For this year's Black History Month, we're addressing the issue of modern-day slavery in the cocoa world, so that you can make sure you're purchasing slavery-free chocolate.

What is Black History Month?

Before we dive into how you can make sure you're purchasing slavery-free chocolate, let's take a closer look at what Black History Month is. The observance of Black History Month originally started in 1926 within America, when US historian Carter G Woodson - the son of former slaves - decided to launch a 'Negro History Week' to celebrate black history.

Woodson felt it was important to mark the accomplishments of black people, stating that 'If a race has no history… it stands in danger of being exterminated'. The week aimed to encourage the teaching of African American history within schools. Whilst this week wasn't endorsed by all of the US states, the Departments of Education in states such as North Carolina, Delaware, and West Virginia all showed support for the week.

However, within the black community, Negro History Week was a huge success - more demand grew for black literature to be produced, and black history clubs started to pop up, with teachers asking for more resources to teach American black history.

By 1937 Negro History Week was so popular that Woodson established the Negro History Bulletin, focusing on a new theme each year surrounding the African American community. As popularity for the week grew, Mayors across the US began to officially endorse the week.

However, it wasn't until the 1970s that Negro History Week was transformed into Black History Month, with many realising that one week simply wasn't enough to represent black history within the US. In 1976 - 50 years after Woodson's founding of the week - Woodson's organisation officially made the switch. Since then, every American president has issued a proclamation endorsing the chosen annual theme of Black History Month.

Ten years later the UK decided to designate a month of its own to celebrate black history. Akyaaba Addai-Sebo, who worked as Special Projects Coordinator of the Ethnic Minorities Unit on the Great London Council, realised that many black people within the UK might not identify with the US Black History Month, which took place in February, as it mainly focused on the history of African Americans.

Addai worked with the London Council to designate its own Black history month in October, commemorating the achievements and cultures of Black Brits and drawing up a plan which would mark the contributions that black people have made to British society. Black History Month is recognised by the government, with many MPs participating in events which aim to celebrate and raise awareness around black British history.

What is chocolate slavery?

Whilst Black History Month is partially about celebrating the achievements of black people within our society, we should also take this time to consider how our actions are affecting parts of the black community overseas.

Whilst the Ivory Coast produces over a third of the world's cocoa, it isn't able to reap the riches from this. The cocoa industry is very competitive, with many farmers being forced to sell their cocoa yields for a pittance due to the varying market price of the cocoa bean. Although the burden of this falls heavily on the farmers, there are a group of people who suffer even more: children.

As farmers receive only a small amount of income from their harvests, they employ children to work for them. However, this is by no means an opportunity for youngsters: many end up enslaved on cocoa farms, working in terrible conditions for virtually no pay.

This is a problem which isn't even close to being solved: In their report on child slavery on the cocoa industry, Tulane University estimated that there are roughly 2.26 million children working on cocoa farms in Ghana and the Ivory Coast.

The children who end up working on these cocoa plantations often have no choice but to work there. This is a problem across the whole of West Africa - the BBC have reported that hundreds of thousands of children in Mali, Burkina Faso and Togo have been sold by their desperate parents to work as slaves on cocoa farms, forced to undergo 80-100 hours of hard manual labour each week.

Those who aren't sold by their families may have been tricked into slavery by traffickers who offer them false promises of a better life. Some are even kidnapped, and many child slaves never see their families again. These children are forced to work in hazardous conditions, working with dangerous tools such as machetes and chainsaws. For most, leaving isn't an option: those that do try to escape are beaten.

Is slavery-free chocolate possible?

Unfortunately, there is still a long way to go in order to ensure worldwide consumption of chocolate is made slavery-free - in 2015 there were still over two million children engaged in hazardous labour on cocoa plantations.

One reason why slavery-free chocolate isn't guaranteed is that many big chocolate companies continue to avoid their links with child slavery, claiming that they cannot identify the farms where their cocoa comes from due to the complicated supply chain. According to an investigation by the Washington Post, Nestlé can trace just 49 percent of their global cocoa supply to farms, and Mars are able to identify the farms of only 24% of their cocoa.

Efforts to purchase slavery-free chocolate have sometimes been made in vain: despite buying cocoa which has been certified by Fairtrade or Rainforest Alliance, this doesn't necessarily mean that the cocoa has been grown slavery-free. As third-party inspectors are only required to check on 10 percent of cocoa farms, some chocolate is still being produced under the label that it has been ethically sourced, despite the fact it's still grown by children.

How to find slavery-free chocolate

So, how can you ensure that you're eating slavery-free chocolate? Although ethical certifications can give some indication that the cocoa has been grown in a slave-free environment, this isn't always accurate. The best way to work out if the chocolate you're eating has been ethically sourced is to do some further research of your own. Look at the relationship the company has with its farmers - are they able to tell you where their chocolate comes from, and what relationship they have with their farmers?

At Hotel Chocolat, we work closely with our cocoa growers to ensure that they are able to work in safe conditions - we even grow some of our cocoa beans directly on our own St Lucian plantation.

One of the biggest causes of child slavery in the cocoa business is that the adult farmers themselves aren't able to receive a stable income from the cocoa they grow, and therefore can't afford to hire other adult workers to aid them in cocoa cultivation.

We will always make sure our cocoa growers have a stable income: we guarantee to purchase their harvests and make sure they receive a fairer share of the financial rewards of chocolate. If you'd like to know more about how we work with our cocoa farmers to produce our slavery free chocolate, click here.

Although we should take some time to celebrate black history in the UK this Black History Month, we should also consider how our actions affect black communities around the world. This year, do some research of your own to make sure, from this point onwards, you only eat slavery-free chocolate.