Britain's Black Past

Expanding upon the 2017 Radio 4 series ‘Britain’s Black Past’, thisbook presents those stories and analyses through the lens of a recovered past. Eventhose who may be familiar with some of the materials will find much that theyhad not previously known, and will be introduced to people, places, and storiesbrought to light by new research. In a time of international racial unrest andmigration, it is important not to lose sight of similar situations that tookplace in an earlier time. In chapters written by scholars, artists, andindependent researchers, readers will learn of an early musician, the sales ofslaves in Scotland, the grave—now a shrine—of a black enslaved boy left to die inMorecombe Bay, of a country estate owned by a mixed-race slave owner, and ofthe two strikingly different people who lived in a Bristol house that is now amuseum. Black sailors, political activists, memoirists, appear in these pages,but the book also re-examines living history, in the form of modern plays,television programmes, and genealogical sleuthing. Through them, Britain’sBlack Past is not only presented anew, but shown to be very much alive in ourown time.