As its Black History Month, I'm gonna try to each week day post some Black British History, in the hope of spreading awareness of our British heritage...

1 Before the British involvement in transatlantic slavery, in 1547, a black African's testimony was accepted in court, whilst a white peasant's would not have been ( @DavidOlusoga Olusoga Black British History p.81-82)

2. In 1562 John Hawkins (an English naval commander) plundered a Portugese slave ship, and sold the slaves to Spanish colonies, thus beginning the shift from trading gold, to trading humans, and the British involvement in African slavery (Olusoga p.70). #BlackHistoryMonth

3. Queen Elizabeth I funded Hawkins to make another such journey, and every British monarch from her to George III supported the slave trade ( @afuahirsch Afua Hirsch 'Brit(ish)' p.51) #BlackHistoryMonth

4. Early 1600’s the Brits bought slaves from the Dutch to work on colonies.

5. In 1618 City of London shipped homeless 'white' children to Virginian to work on tobacco fields, where they outnumbered African slaves. After hundreds of years of 'white' slavery in Britain, slavery wasn't solely 'black' yet. @PainterNell 'History of White people' p53-4

6. 1655 Isaac La Peyrère (who had a Calvinist background in Bordeaux) published his Pre-Adamite theory: that there were people before Adam. Although contested, it began a mindset that Africans were not made in the Image of God. Colin Kidd 'The Forging of Races' p.62,64

7. 1660's King Charles started the 'Royal African Company' to trade slaves. #BlackHistoryMonth2020

8. 1661 In fear of British & Irish indentured servants uprising alongside African slaves, the Barbados slave code divided & categorized them as either 'black' or 'white' & with different rights. When people arrived at Barbados, these terms were explained to them. Olusoga p91-2

9. As plantation owners began to solely use black slaves, ‘black skin became a signal of merchandise rather than humanity, property rather than personhood.’ Akala 'Race & Class in the ruins of the Empire.' @akalamusic

10. Late 1600’s private traders campaigned for permission to slave trade, on the notion that it was an Englishman’s right (Olusoga p.95). This shows us that a culture's understanding of morality can be terribly wrong. So what are we wrong about today?

11. 1684 François Bernier divided humanity up into 4 species, with Europeans, North Africans & Asians being the same species, but Sub-Saharan Africans a different species. Nell Painter 'The History of White People' p.56-57

12. Following on this idea of 'races', in 1693 Charles Blount (an English deist) said Adam was only the father of the Jews (not all mankind), and Noah's flood was only local, meaning there existed other people not made in God's image. Colin Kidd p.88.

13. In contrast, in 1694 English Bishop Richard Kidder wrote that God originated all mankind from Adam 'that men might not boast & vaunt of their extraction ... & that they might think themselves under an obligation to love & assist each other.' Kidder's Genesis commentary.

14. 1695 The London Gazette said a black boy, ‘about 13 yrs old, run away...from Putney, with a collar about his neck with this inscription: “The Lady of Bromfield’s black...” Whoever brings him to Sir Edward Bromfield’s at Putney, shall have a guinea reward’ Notice this is a...

...system of sin: There are different parts working together: The original kidnappers, original traders, the purchaser (Lady Bromfield), the Newspaper printing the advert, a readership who support such a newspaper, and the slave catchers operating in S.W London, next door to me.

15. 1753 Scottish Philosopher David Hume wrote that 'all the other species of men to be naturally inferior to the whites.' Similar sentiments were held by other enlightenment philosophers like Voltaire & Kant.

16. By contrast to the pseudo science of 'race' & Pre-Adamitism, & Polygenesis, around the 1770's Ignatius Sancho a black British man would call mankind 'the race of Adam' in his letters (Kidd p.75).

17. 1781 When 113 Africans were thrown off the struggling slave ship Zong, the slavers tried to claim insurance, which was refused because they were deliberately thrown overboard. Abolitionists called this murder, but the judge ruled it was 'madness' to view this as murder...

... so notice again 1) the system of parts operating together in sin (kidnappers, sailors, judge, legal system), and 2) the inability for some to see their injustice - reminding us that even today we could have blind spots about our involvement in systems of sin.

18. In 1789 'An Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano' was published, telling the story of Equiano, an Igbo man (& former slave now abolitionist) living in Britain. He explains differences between slavery in Benin & transatlantic slavery, & how he became Christian.

Equiano worked alongside the English working classes, and they helped each other with their plight. Contrast this with the 1661 Slave code that sought to pit lower class 'whites' and 'blacks' against each other.

19. 1795 Blumenbach said there were now 12 different systems used to classify humans into races, so pick the one you like best! He made a hierarchy of skin tone, and introduced the term 'Caucasian' as the most beautiful race. Other German ideas like 'blood purity' spread West.

20. 1807 Abolition of British slave trade, but slavery was still legal in the colonies, & slave owners would bring their slaves to Britain, & slaves were bought & sold in British ports. Meanwhile the Royal Navy restricted the slave trade. So a mixture of good and bad at this time

21. In the 1850's Frederick Douglass (a former slave, now an American abolitionist), observed Britain had become more racist, from American prejudice coming in from 'pro-slavery ministers' and minstrels (Olusoga p.308-9).

Also in the 1850's Queen Victoria became godmother to Sarah Forbes Bonetta, a slave girl, who was more advanced in learning than her white peers; but it was wondered if her intellect would diminish with age (a common assumption Brits had of Africans). Olusoga p.363-4.

23. 1870-1900 Europe increased its control of Africa from 10-90% of Africa. This was rationalised as social darwinism, and even taught to lower class Brits in school (Olusoga p433-7). Just a few yrs earlier, white working class were referred to as a different 'race' (Hirsch p260)

24. West Indians wanted to help in WWI, but it was decided black men could only fight against other black men, not white men, so they were limited to certain roles & regions. In the 1919 London Victory parade, no black soldiers were present (Olusoga p.464-72, 480).

25. WWI led to more immigration in UK. 1919 was filled with violent racist attacks against black people in both UK & USA. In Liverpool in 1920, there were around 500 black people, 9k Jews, 6k Irish. Black people were scapegoated for social problems (Hirsch p147).

26. After WW2 (in which black people fought), UK started recruiting immigrants for its labour shortage. Jamaicans heard & 492 West Indian men (British subjects with Brit passports), 1/2 of whom worked in Britain during the war, headed over on Windrush. The PM tried to stop them.

27. 1951 An MP said black immigration could threaten ‘the racial character of the English people.’ (Olusoga p.534). Apparently it had been forgotten that black people had lived in England (and married Brits) back in the Roman & the Georgian era.

28. Churchill asked for a way to keep West Indians out without sounding racist. Words like 'race' and 'colour' were replaced with coded language of 'unreliable/lazy/an immigration problem' whilst European migrants were called 'of great benefit to our stock.' (Olusoga p.534-6)

29. 1993 Stephen Lawrence's racially motivated murder, & the aftermath that found the police institutionally racist (1999 MacPherson report), demonstrated that Britain had still not thrown off it's racist mindset imbedded in hundreds of years of slavery & racial pseudoscience.

30. 2018 Windrush scandal again demonstrated that the 1948 institutional racism was still active. 2020 The Belly Mujinga incident demonstrated individual racism is still active.

31. 2020 Mankind Quarterly published a 'scientific' paper arguing that the higher death rate amongst ethnic minorities was due to lower intelligence. This demonstrates that some of the pseudo science on 'race' from the 1700's is still impacting people in the UK.

This thread has focused on the British heritage of 'race' but Black British History is much more than that. African DNA has been in Britain for a long time (Cheddar man, Romans, Tudors, Georgians). So the term 'British' must include 'Black British' as a part of what it means...

... ideally one day we won't have a black history month, but rather a year round comprehensive British history that tells the truth about the racism, as well as the many contributions black people have made to British society. #BlackHistoryMonthUK