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This is William Davidson (1786-1820)
He was born in Jamaica and came to Edinburgh at the age of 14 to
study law. After this and some time spent at sea he became a cabinet
maker.
In 1819 a peaceful protest of men, women and children in Manchester
was ended with a massacre of the demonstrators by the authorities
and came to be known as 'Peterloo'. This event inspired Davidson
and other politically consciousness people of the time do something
to change society.
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Discovery of the Cato Street
Conspirators
Davidson and his fellow radicals considered different ways of making
the government pay attention to their demands. However, amongst the
group was a government spy, an agent provocateur who incited them
to make a very dramatic gesture. One of the suggestions was to blow
up the MPs of the cabinet while they had dinner. The authorities were
informed of the secret plans and they were arrested in a hay loft
in Cato Street in London. This scene depicts the event. Davidson and
the others were hanged.
(picture reproduced courtesy of Westminster City Archives)
For further reading: Peter Fryer, Staying Power: The History of Black
People in Britain (London: Pluto Press, 1984 |
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This is William Cuffay (1788 - 1870)
Chartist and tailor
He was a leader of the Chartists which was the mass political movement
of the working classes in 19th C Britain. He was a tailor whose
father had been born a slave. The Chartists demanded universal male
suffrage, annual parliaments, the payment of MPs, voting by secret
ballot, abolition of property qualifications for MPs and equal electoral
districts. Many of the demands of the Chartists are now common in
democratic countries but at the time they were considered too radical.
Although the history book tell us a lots about the Chartists William
Cuffay is sometimes forgotten yet he was so prominent a figure in
the movement that The Times refered to the London Chartists as "the
black man and his party". Cuffay was punished severely for
his political views.
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This is a map of Tasmania which used to
be called Van Diemen's Land. In 1849 Cuffay was transported here for
his political activities. Pardoned in 1856 he spent rest of his life
committed to radical causes.
For further reading: Peter Fryer, Staying Power: The History of Black
People in Britain (London: Pluto Press, 1984) |
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The Woman in the picture is Dido Elizabeth Belle
(Elizabeth Lindsay) (late 18th Century) Daughter of John Lindsay,
a captain in Royal Navy, this young woman was brought up in aristocratic
London society although her colour prevented her from having the
same status as her white cousin. Half way between a servant and
family member Elizabeth lived in a famous stately home. The accounts
of her relationship with the family comment on the affection with
which she was held.
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This is Kenwood House in Hampstead London where Dido Elizabeth
Belle was raised and spent the first 35 years of her life. When
we see stately homes like this we do not associate them with black
people and assume that people in such costumes were always white.
They were not.
For further reading: Gretchen Gerzina, Black England - Life Before
Emancipation (London: Allison & Busby, 1999) Ref for further
reading
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This is Olaudah Equiano (1745 - 1797)
Writer and anti-slavery activist
This famous writer and anti-slavery activist was born in Nigeria
and captured as a slave. He endured the horrific voyage to the Caribbean
and was then bought by an English naval officer. He managed to gain
an education though this did not prevent him from being sold on
again, this time to work at sea. Though trading and guile he managed
eventually to buy his freedom. He wrote a book, entitled The Interesting
Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa the
African, written by himself (1789), which was a best seller of its
time and became an important tool for the anti-slavery movement,
the cause to which he devoted much of his life.
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View of Falmouth
Equiano's book tells of life in his ordered community in Africa
and also gives his impressions of Britain. He described arriving
in Falmouth in 1757, as a 12 year old boy, and the immediate impressions
of England he gathered, including his first encounter with snow.
At this time lots of European travellers and colonists wrote about
their experiences of 'foreign' places and the exotic things they
found there. Equiano's narrative turns those stories on their heads.
For further reading: Paul Edwards and David Dabydeen, Black Writers
in Britain 1760 - 1890 (Edinburgh University Press, 1991)
Picture ref (ref use Edwards and Dabydeen)
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This is Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (1875 - 1912)
Composer and musician
He was born in Holborn, Central London in 1875. As a child he took
up the violin and at the age of 15 was accepted to a famous music
college were he studied composition. Coleridge -Taylor established
himself as a major talent and the first performance of his piece
entitled Hiawatha's Wedding Feast marked him out as a leading young
composer. He was admired by Elgar and soon became a very popular
composer. He died at the tender age of 37.
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Royal College of Music
This is the Royal College of Music where Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
studied.
When we think about black music in Britain we don't immediately
think of classical music but black composers and performers have
been involved with every type of music. Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
found many ways of fusing his music with his commitment to the liberation
of black people.
He was a supporter of the Pan African movement and combined traditional
forms of black music with his classical compositions.
For further reading: Peter Fryer, Staying Power: The History of
Black People in Britain (London: Pluto Press, 1984
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This is Claudia Jones (1915-1964)
Political activist and journalist
Claudia Jones was an experienced political activist against racism
in the USA when she came to Britain. She, like many black activists
of her time, was a communist intellectual, and had been hounded out
of the USA for her views. When she came to Britain Jones edited a
newspaper called the West Indian Gazette that first appeared in 1958.
The paper was an important focus for Caribbean people in Britain and
laid the foundations for a black press here. The paper called for
unity between Caribbean, African and Asian communities. Jones and
others were important figures in beginning a Caribbean tradition in
London that thrives to this day.
For further reading see Beverley Bryan, Stella Dadzie and Suzanne
Scafe, The Heart of the Race - Black Women's Lives in Britain (London:
Virago Press, 1985)
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Carnival
The Notting Hill Carnival is one of the most splendid and spectacular
events of the year. Now the largest street festival in Europe it
started in 1959 as a much smaller event partly organised through
the West Indian Gazette. The roots of Carnival are fascinating and
hark back to a time when slaves in the Caribbean would use costume,
masquerade and dance to express their creativity and political resistance
to their masters.
Photo by Sam Walker (1995)
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This is Alexandre Dumas (1802 - 1870)
Alexandre Dumas one of the most famous French writers of the nineteenth
century. His grandfather was a nobleman who married an African Caribbean
woman who had been a slave in a colony that is now part of Haiti.
Dumas made his breakthrough as a playwright though he is best known
for his novels. To this day his works are consistently adapted for
popular films.
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The Three Musketeers (1844)
This is an illustration depicting the Musketeers of Dumas' novel which,
along with The Count of Monte Cristo (1844-45) and the work that tells
of the man imprisoned in an iron mask, remains one of his most celebrated
pieces of writing. Dumas reminds us that some of the most celebrated
historical figures in European culture have black ancestry and that
the rest of Europe like Britain have their own stories to tell about
the black presence. |
