Some good anti-racist UK Classroom Resources (Key Stage 3)

From a search for “Britain’s Black History” on this site:

http://www.teachers.tv/resource/classroom

For more than 2,000 years people in many different parts of the world have [...]]]> The International Slavery Museum explores both the historical and contemporary aspects of slavery, addressing the many legacies of the slave trade and telling stories of bravery and rebellion amongst the enslaved people. These are stories which have been largely untold.

For more than 2,000 years people in many different parts of the world have forced their fellow humans into slavery. Between about 1500 and 1900, Europeans forcibly uprooted millions of people from throughout West Africa and West Central Africa and shipped them across the Atlantic in conditions of great cruelty. To refer to the Africans who were enslaved only as ‘slaves’ strips them of their identity. They were, for instance, farmers, merchants, priests, soldiers, goldsmiths and musicians. They were husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, sons and daughters. They could be Yoruba, Igbo, Akan or Kongolese.

http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/ism/

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Olaudah Equiano (c. 1745 – 31 March 1797), also known as Gustavus Vassa, was one of the most prominent people of African heritage (Igbo) involved in the British debate for the abolition of the slave trade. His autobiography depicted the horrors of slavery and helped influence British lawmakers to abolish the slave trade through [...]]]>

Olaudah Equiano (c. 1745 – 31 March 1797), also known as Gustavus Vassa, was one of the most prominent people of African heritage (Igbo) involved in the British debate for the abolition of the slave trade. His autobiography depicted the horrors of slavery and helped influence British lawmakers to abolish the slave trade through the Slave Trade Act of 1807.

For information about Equiano see (Google Search)

See also : http://www.100greatblackbritons.com/bios/olaudah_equiano.html

Consort of George III and Queen Victoria’s grandmother

Queen Charlotte, wife of the English King George III (1738-1820), was directly descended from Margarita de Castro y Sousa, a black branch of the Portuguese Royal House. The riddle [...]]]>

Consort of George III and Queen Victoria’s grandmother

Queen Charlotte, wife of the English King George III (1738-1820), was directly descended from Margarita de Castro y Sousa, a black branch of the Portuguese Royal House. The riddle of Queen Charlotte’s African ancestry was solved as a result of an earlier investigation into the black magi featured in 15th century Flemish paintings. Two art historians had suggested that the black magi must have been portraits of actual contemporary people (since the artist, without seeing them, would not have been aware of the subtleties in colouring and facial bone structure of quadroons or octoroons which these figures invariably represented) Enough evidence was accumulated to propose that the models for the black magi were, in all probability, members of the Portuguese de Sousa family.

Six different lines can be traced from English Queen Charlotte back to Margarita de Castro y Sousa, in a gene pool which because of royal inbreeding was already minuscule, thus explaining the Queen’s unmistakable African appearance.

The Negroid characteristics of the Queen’s portraits certainly had political significance since artists of that period were expected to play down, soften or even obliterate “undesirable” features in a subject’s face. Sir Allan Ramsay was the artist responsible for the majority of the paintings of the Queen and his representations of her were the most decidedly African of all her portraits. Ramsey was an anti-slavery intellectual of his day. He also married the niece of Lord Mansfield, the English judge whose 1772 decision was the first in a series of rulings that finally ended slavery in the British Empire. It should be noted too that by the time Sir Ramsay was commissioned to do his first portrait of the Queen, he was already, by marriage, uncle to Dido Elizabeth Lindsay.

Thus, from just a cursory look at the social awareness and political activism at that level of English society, it would be surprising if the Queen’s Negroid physiognomy was of no significance to the Abolitionist movement.

Perhaps the most literary of these allusions to her African appearance, however, can be found in the poem penned to her on the occasion of her wedding to George III and the Coronation celebration that immediately followed.

Descended from the warlike Vandal race, she still preserves that title in her face. Tho’ shone their triumphs o’er Numidia’s plain, And Alusian fields their name retain; they but subdued the southern world with arms, She conquers still with her triumphant charms, O! born for rule, – to whose victorious brow The greatest monarch of the north must bow!

With Thanks to: http://www.100greatblackbritons.com/

Ottobah Cugoano was born in Africa in about 1757. As a child he was kidnapped and sold as a slave to plantation owners in Grenada. He remained in the West Indies until purchased by an English merchant. He was taken to England in 1772 where he was set free. Later he entered the [...]]]>  

Ottobah Cugoano was born in Africa in about 1757. As a child he was kidnapped and sold as a slave to plantation owners in Grenada. He remained in the West Indies until purchased by an English merchant. He was taken to England in 1772 where he was set free. Later he entered the service of the royal artist, Richard Cosway.

Cugoano, who adopted the name of John Steuart, as one of the leaders of London’s black community. In 1786 he played an important role in the case of Henry Demane, a black man who had been kidnapped and was about to be shipped to the West Indies as a slave. He contacted Granville Sharp, who managed to get Demane rescued before the ship left port.

Cugoano was taught to read and write. In 1787, with the help of his friend, Olaudah Equiano, he published an account of his experiences, Narrative of the Enslavement of a Native of America. Copies of his book was sent to George III and leading politicians. He failed to persuade the king to change his opinions and like other members of the royal family remained against abolition of the slave trade.

In his book Cugoano was the first African to demand publicly the total abolition of the slave trade and the freeing of all slaves. In 1793 Cugoano upset William Wilberforce by describing him as a hypocrite when he refused to support the campaign to end slavery.

 Time has drawn a kindly veil over many composers. But [...]]]>  Born in Guinea on West Coast of Africa – Buried in Kenwyn Church, Truro
Extract from Dr. Richard McGrady’s ‘An African in Cornwall’,  (Musical Times, November 1986).   With thanks to The Hidden Routes, An African in Cornwall, compiled by Galena Chester

 Time has drawn a kindly veil over many composers. But there are a few instances when the activities of a forgotten individual are so remarkable that a case must be made for them. Joseph Antonia Emidy is one such figure. Although the only traces of his activities are in historical records (for all his music seems to have disappeared), and although he led his professional life within a remote community -Cornwall – and made no wider impact, his story deserves to be told, not only for its inherent interest but also in the hope that its wider circulation might lead to the discovery of scores that could provide a fascinating insight into aspects of music of the early 19th century.
 
The most important account of Emidy’s life is contained in the autobiography of the Cornish-born politician James Silk Buckingham. Buckingham, reformist MP for Sheffield from 1832 and a fierce opponent of the slave trade, was born near Falmouth in 1786. In a lively account of his youth he tells of a growing love of music,
 
“finding it a most agreeable recommendation in female society, of which I was always fond”
 
Playing the flute appeared to offer the quickest way of acquiring the necessary skills, and he engaged the services of the only teacher procurable at Falmouth’,  
 
“An African Negro, named Emidee, who was a general proficient in the art, an exquisite violinist, a good composer, who led at all the concerts of the county and who taught equally well the piano, violin, violoncello, clarionet, and flute.”Buckingham lost contact with Emidy sometime after 1807, which explains his ignorance of the later stages of the composer’s life. In fact, Emidy moved his home to Truro in the second decade of the century, probably because it offered a better center from which to operate as a professional musician.
 
Emidy had been born in 1775 in Guinea on the west coast of Africa, and in 1787 sold into slavery to Portuguese traders who took him to Brazil and ultimately to Lisbon. His slave master recognized a love of music in the boy and provided him with a violin and teacher; over three or four years his progress was sufficient for him to gain a place among the second violins of the Lisbon Opera. One night in 1795 he was heard playing at a Lisbon Opera House performance by Captain Sir Edward Pellow and was kidnapped by his command when leaving after the performnce. Pellow had him impressed on his frigte HMS Indefatigable as replacement for a missing fiddle player. In 1799 Emidy was given his discharge at Falmouth.
 
When Emidy settled in Falmouth, in 1799, the cultural social life in Cornwall, as in most areas throughout the country, was centered on three principal activities the theatre, assemblies and balls and ‘harmonic societies’ of amateur musicians. Both towns with which he was principally associated, Truro and Falmouth, had small, purpose-built theatres that served as a base for a professional company which divided its activities between these towns and toured other local communities.
 
The theatre building in Truro also provided a home for the assembly, which met throughout the year and provided the principal focus for social life. In almost every town there are records of similar organisations, usually meeting in a room at a local inn if no purpose-built accommodation was available.
 
Those towns which had a regular military or naval presence – and that includes both Truro and Falmouth in the anxious Napoleonic years – not only had a wider social mix to enliven the assemblies with the attendance of officers and their families but could also call upon the militia bands regularly to provide music for the balls. Nevertheless, in spite of the popularity of the militia bands, Emidy managed to build up a wide group of contacts with the assemblies and his presence at the ball provided an attraction to the participants.
 
As well as work in Truro and Falmouth, he had a connection with the assemblies of Helston, Lostwithiel and Bodmin: his advertisement in the West Briton of 1st December 1820 gives some indication of the peripatetic nature of his work in an area where travel was not easy, as well as the range of services he offered to the gentry of Cornwall: ‘Violin, Tenor, Bass-Viol, Guitar, and Spanish Guitar, taught as usual; Balls and Assemblies attended; Harps tuned, and Piano-Fortes buffed, regulated and tuned, according to the directions of Messrs. Broadwood and Sons, in any part of the County.’
 
Balls were normally preceded by a concert, and here we find evidence of Emidy’s working with most of the harmonic societies which met regularly for more sophisticated musical pleasures. Often, the amateurs met purely for private recreation, though the more ambitious gave performances to invited audiences, generally closely associated with the assemblies. It is possible to piece together from occasional references some idea of the sort of music these groups performed. We find mention of orchestral works by Haydn, Stamitz, Pleyel and, on one occasion, Beethoven, as well as lesser figures of the contemporary scene such as Johann Paul Martini , Eichner and Gyrowetz: the taste for the classical orchestral style appears to have been fashionable, though vocal selections from Handel also seem to have been perennially popular.
 
Apart from the inherent interest offered by Emidy’s story of survival from such traumatic beginnings, this documentation of a working musician in a remote community might appear to have little significance but for the fact that, throughout his career in England, Emidy continued to compose and introduce major works of his own in these provincial concerts.
 
An occasional new composition is mentioned in later records, indicating that the creative urge had not been entirely killed by the routine drudgery of work and travel necessary to earning a living or by the lack of appreciation for his work’s quality. A ‘Concerto for the French Horn’, played by a member of the Royal Cornwall Band, was announced for a concert in Truro on 14 December 1821 and on 2 April 1828 the Gazette announced:
 
“We understand that Mr Emidy, the leader of our Philharmonic Society, has lately employed his talents in a rather navel manner for a professor of the violin, and has produced some Variations on the subject of a Grecian Aire for the pianoforte, which evince not only a correct taste but considerable judgment, as regards the nature of the latter instrument. The production has been submitted to the inspection of competent judges, and highly commended. It is intended to publish it by subscription’
 
As with all the other compositions there is no later reference to performance nor indication that the Grecian Aire Variations were ever published. Like all of Emidy’s compositions, these two works have completely disappeared: Joseph Emidy died at 24 April 1835, in his 61st year and was buried in Kenwyn churchyard Truro. Both local papers carried a short obituary, the West Briton of 1st May recording after a brief biographical note:
 
“His talents as a musician were of the first order and he was enthusiastically devoted to the science.’
 
The Gazette, on 25 April, had carried a slightly longer notice of his death, which has some strangely similar wording:
 
“His talents may be said to have ranked under the first order while his enthusiastic devotedness to the science has rarely been exceeded. As an orchestral composer his sinfonias may be mentioned as evincing not only deep musical research, but also those flights of genius which induce regret that his talents were not called into action in a more genial sphere than that in which he has moved’

A Musical Club 1808 Anon, Royal Institute of Cornwall, (the only known representation of Joseph Antonia Emidy)

Close up of Emidy

England’s first slave trader who was Mayor of Plymouth

Johns’ father, William Hawkins senior, was one of the five richest men in Plymouth in 1543. He was worth £150 a year (to get a sense of scale bear in mind that the towns total income in that year was £63). Another fact:- during [...]]]>

England’s first slave trader who was Mayor of Plymouth

Johns’ father, William Hawkins senior, was one of the five richest men in Plymouth in 1543. He was worth £150 a year (to get a sense of scale bear in mind that the towns total income in that year was £63). Another fact:- during that year he was accused of being responsible for a fellow townsman’s near death by beating. He managed to avoid trial over this.

But these were dangerous times; merchant ships trading in coastal waters around Europe had to be prepared to repel borders by force as pirates of many nations were active. In those times Kings & Queens licensed pirates who were then called privateers. Captured ships were called prize, the crew and passengers butchered, their possessions shared among the privateer crew.

William commanded privateers to Brazil at least three times and then continued to develop the trade from home to his immense profit. He became infamous to the Spanish and Portuguese colonies where his violent piracy was feared. As elected Lord Mayor William seems to have benefited during the dissolution of the monasteries. This was the time when Henry the VIII wanted to divorce Katherine of Aragon. The friars that upheld Church Law against the King lost their property and valuables (never mind lives) in the following conflagration. The Lord Mayor was the most powerful person in a town at that time; not a ceremonial position but for instance he would be in charge of the city militia and responsible for the defences of the city.

In 1544 William received the Kings Commission to ‘annoy the King’s enemies’. William trod a fine line between legality and piracy. He was sent to prison at one point but this did not prevent him on release from more piracy. When William died his estate went to his two sons William and John. William Junior managed the business at home and John took control at sea.

After marrying the daughter of the Treasury of the Navy, John formed a syndicate of wealthy London merchants to back a new venture trading against Spanish law with the Spanish Colonies in the Americas. These colonies were very short of labour and John Hawkins aimed to take slaves by force in Africa and trade them for the produce of Spanish America. This would produce a double turnover in one voyage. A huge profit would be made.

He sailed from Plymouth in 1562 with three ships. He violently kidnapped about four hundred Africans in Guinea and traded them in the West Indies for Elizabethan luxuries:- pearls, ginger, sugar and hides. He had become England’s first slave trader. He sailed again in 1564 from the Cattewater (part of the estuary of the river Plym) with four ships. The syndicate this time included Queen Elizabeth I, Navy Board Officers and members of the Privy Council. He violently enslaved around five hundred people in Guinea and traded them in the West Indies. His personal profit was huge and the Queen gave him a coat of arms. It had a bound slave as the crest (see below).

John Hawkins was responsible for seven ships in two squadrons sailing to Guinea in 1566. Another member of this expedition was Hawkins’ cousin Francis Drake. In 1567, after a service in St Andrews Church attended by the 400 men of his crews, he sailed to the West Indies via Guinea again. After much bloodshed on the Guinea coast 500 slaves were transported to the Caribbean. According to slavers accounts of the time this would probably have involved killing at least three times that number of people. Hawkins made three voyages to what is now Sierra Leone between 1562 and 1569 – enslaving around 1,200 Africans.

William Hawkins Junior was Mayor elect of Plymouth in 1568. In this year there were believed to be 50 Huguenot privateers operating in the English Channel. Thirty of them were English. William had the biggest stake in the fleet and was virtually Pirate-in-chief. During the period up to 1572 the state records are full of the screams of those Europeans and others who suffered under these marauders. Plymouth became the main base of their operations. In 1572, under political pressure from Spain, their fleet shifted to the other side of the channel. William and John went on buying cargoes in Plymouth from privateers and ‘ransoming’ Huguenot prizes. London Merchants were still financing slaving voyages to West Africa out of Plymouth. Ships were still sailing to the Caribbean, eight Hawkins vessels and six others in 1575.

The Hawkins crest (below) wasn’t on the plaque:-

Hawkins crest