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Many Twitter users stunned this morning about the use of the N-word in Lucy Worsley& #39;s "American History& #39;s Biggest Fibs", which has been replaying on the BBC after its original transmission last year.
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Of course it wasn& #39;t necessary for LW to use the N-word to explain John Wilkes Booth, and given that this episode featured a lengthy sequence in which LW cosplayed as a plantation mistress this was a very regrettable choice.
Why does this happen? The credits suggest that no American historians were involved behind the camera. There are literally 100s of UK-based experts alone who could have talked LW out of the show& #39;s missteps but no historical adviser is credited - just a recent-grad researcher.
TV history has a creeping tendency to use & #39;researchers& #39; without detailed knowledge/expertise; the medium assumes that if the & #39;talent& #39; has a PhD in History they& #39;re on safe ground with facts, interpretations & sensitivities from ancient Egypt to modern China.
Sometimes the point of having a platform is to give it to someone else when you reach the limits of your knowledge. The assumption that a PhD makes you an expert in everything culminates in David Starkey cosplaying as a historian of the slave trade, & we know how that turns out.
TBF to Lucy Worsley, the long tribute to Gone with the Wind culminates in the revelation that the novel and movie have a & #39;darker history& #39; (etc. etc.). But of course the show wants to have its cake and eat it, never more so than in this breathtaking piece of hypocrisy.
"I don& #39;t feel entirely comfortable dressed like this, but let& #39;s do a quick still photo and we& #39;ll use it to market the episode."
Can& #39;t speak for the production team on this particular show, but these missteps also demonstrate the need for representation behind the camera - and for support for researchers & production staff of colour who raise concerns along these lines./
