Joining the United States, the United Kingdom, and Canada, Ireland is now the fourth nation to celebrate Black History Month. The nation held it’s first Black History Month this past October, which featured a series of events organized by the Africa Irish Development Initiatives. The celebration also pays homage to African-American activists and scholars such as Angela Davis and Henry Louis Gates. According to The Journal,

What began as a pilot initiative in Cork in 2010 has grown into a national programme.

Zephrynus Okechi Ikeh, Project Coordinator of Black History Month Ireland (BHMI), said that the initiative will tackle racism and discrimination through helping people understand different cultures.

The theme of BHMI 2014 is ‘Civil Rights, Ethnic Diversity, Intercultural Education and Development’.

Ikeh, who is orignially from Nigeria but has lived in Ireland for over seven years, said the month will “honour the men, women and children at the heart of this celebration – from doctors to professionals to educators to school children to asylum seekers”.

According to a 2011 census, people of African people are about 1.3% of the population in Ireland, people of Nigerian descent make up the largest part of this demographic, which also includes people of Brazilian and Mauritian descent.