In St Mary's churchyard in Henbury, near Bristol, is the grave of an enslaved eighteen year old African, who was named Scipio Africanus by his owners - he was born into the household of the Earl of Suffolk. The original Scipio was a Roman general who won victories against the Carthaginians.
He died in 1720, and the two gravestones that mark his grave are beautifully decorated, brightly painted and with black cherubs. That is, they were beautiful, until someone came along and smashed them a few days ago. A message was left in chalk nearby: "Look at what you made me do. Put Colston's statue back or things will really heat up."
So there seems to be no doubt that the vandal who smashed the headstones is a supporter of Edward Colston the slave trader, whose statue was toppled during the recent protests in Bristol. The statue has since been fished out of the river, and will be installed in a local museum, along with placards from the protest.
An archaeologist, Richard Osgood, set up a JustGiving page to raise £1,000 towards repairing Scipio Africanus' grave, and has actually raised more than £3,400.
The inscription on the footstone reads:
I who was Born a PAGAN and a SLAVE
Now Sweetly Sleep a CHRISTIAN in my Grave
What tho' my hue was dark my SAVIORS sight
Shall Change this darkness into radiant light
Such grace to me my Lord on earth has given
To recommend me to my Lord in heaven
Whose glorious second coming here I wait
With saints and Angels Him to celebrate
Showing posts with label black history. Show all posts
Showing posts with label black history. Show all posts
Saturday, 20 June 2020
Wednesday, 17 June 2020
Black Archaeologists: John Wesley Gilbert
It's been quite a long time since I did a post about archaeologists. Usually I've been looking for women archaeologists, but other minorities get overlooked too. So this time I thought I'd take a look at John Wesley Gilbert.
His archaeological career was short, but he was the first black man to attend the American School of Classical Studies in Athens, where he worked on the dig at Eritrea with John Pickard, and helped to produce the first map of the ancient city. He won a scholarship from Brown University to go, and the work he did there contributed to his Master's degree - the first awarded by Brown University to a black student.
There's a fascinating and detailed account of his time in Greece at https://nataliavogeikoff.com
He was also one of the first ten black students to attend Brown University, and the first black professor at the Paine Institute, which he had also attended as a student. He taught Greek, Latin, Hebrew, French and German.
In 1911, he went to the Congo with a Methodist mission, where he spent time translating the Gospels into the local Bantu language, Tetela. He also contracted an illness from which he never really recovered.
He was born in 1863 to enslaved parents in Georgia, and died in 1923 as a respected educator. During the early 20th century he was focused on improving the education of African Americans. He was critical of textbooks that were written for white students, without considering the contributions of black people throughout history. He also advocated for interracial co-operation and harmony, though his ideas were criticised by some other black intellectuals of the day.
His wife Osceola was also a teacher, and they had four children.
Few African Americans have followed a career in archaeology, but in 2011 the Society of Black Archaeologists was formed to address the treatment of African material culture and to encourage African Americans to enter the field.
His archaeological career was short, but he was the first black man to attend the American School of Classical Studies in Athens, where he worked on the dig at Eritrea with John Pickard, and helped to produce the first map of the ancient city. He won a scholarship from Brown University to go, and the work he did there contributed to his Master's degree - the first awarded by Brown University to a black student.
There's a fascinating and detailed account of his time in Greece at https://nataliavogeikoff.com
He was also one of the first ten black students to attend Brown University, and the first black professor at the Paine Institute, which he had also attended as a student. He taught Greek, Latin, Hebrew, French and German.
In 1911, he went to the Congo with a Methodist mission, where he spent time translating the Gospels into the local Bantu language, Tetela. He also contracted an illness from which he never really recovered.
He was born in 1863 to enslaved parents in Georgia, and died in 1923 as a respected educator. During the early 20th century he was focused on improving the education of African Americans. He was critical of textbooks that were written for white students, without considering the contributions of black people throughout history. He also advocated for interracial co-operation and harmony, though his ideas were criticised by some other black intellectuals of the day.
His wife Osceola was also a teacher, and they had four children.
Few African Americans have followed a career in archaeology, but in 2011 the Society of Black Archaeologists was formed to address the treatment of African material culture and to encourage African Americans to enter the field.
Sunday, 5 May 2019
Black History in Manchester- Henry Box Brown
I've recently discovered the website "I Love Manchester", and alongside the current news about what's on around Manchester, they are running a series of posts about Manchester history.
Some time ago I got interested in trying to find out about black people living in the UK throughout history, but I wasn't able to find out very much about Manchester - until now.
#16 of the series The Story of Manchester in 101 Objects is about the campaign to abolish slavery.
As Cottonopolis, Manchester imported vast amounts of cotton from the Southern States of the USA - cotton that was picked by slaves. But towards the end of the 18thC, the case for the abolition of slavery began to be made, and Thomas Clarkson came to speak at what is now Manchester Cathedral (then just the parish church) in 1787, to make the case for the end of slavery. A huge crowd attended his speech, including a group of 40 or 50 black people standing near the pulpit.
So in 1787 there were at least 40 or 50 black people living in Manchester.
The talk led to abolition societies being set up in Manchester, and when William Wilberforce was collecting signatures for a petition to present to Parliament on the subject 10,639 signatures were collected in Manchester, which was the largest single petition. Sadly, it was lost in the fire in Parliament in 1834.
In 1792, there was a boycott of West Indies sugar to protest about slavery.
One former slave settled in Manchester. He escaped his owners in Virginia in 1849 by posting himself in a box to a group of abolitionists in Philadelphia, and was thus known as Henry "Box" Brown. For a while, he became an abolitionist speaker in the US, but in 1850 the Fugitive Slave Act was passed, and Henry was worried about his safety, so he travelled to Liverpool. He toured with an anti-slavery panorama, becoming a showman and magician.
Back in the US, Henry had escaped his master after he had refused to buy Henry's wife and children when they were put up for sale. In England, he married again, to Jane, a Cornish tin miner's daughter, and later toured the US as a performer with his new family.
While in England, he settled in Manchester. In 1871 the Census shows him living in Cheetham with his wife and a servant.
Finally he returned to the States, some time after the Civil War was over, and died in Toronto in 1897. He wrote an autobiography - Narrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown, Written by Himself - the first edition in Boston in 1849 and a later, revised edition, in Manchester in 1851.
Some time ago I got interested in trying to find out about black people living in the UK throughout history, but I wasn't able to find out very much about Manchester - until now.
#16 of the series The Story of Manchester in 101 Objects is about the campaign to abolish slavery.
As Cottonopolis, Manchester imported vast amounts of cotton from the Southern States of the USA - cotton that was picked by slaves. But towards the end of the 18thC, the case for the abolition of slavery began to be made, and Thomas Clarkson came to speak at what is now Manchester Cathedral (then just the parish church) in 1787, to make the case for the end of slavery. A huge crowd attended his speech, including a group of 40 or 50 black people standing near the pulpit.
So in 1787 there were at least 40 or 50 black people living in Manchester.
The talk led to abolition societies being set up in Manchester, and when William Wilberforce was collecting signatures for a petition to present to Parliament on the subject 10,639 signatures were collected in Manchester, which was the largest single petition. Sadly, it was lost in the fire in Parliament in 1834.
In 1792, there was a boycott of West Indies sugar to protest about slavery.
One former slave settled in Manchester. He escaped his owners in Virginia in 1849 by posting himself in a box to a group of abolitionists in Philadelphia, and was thus known as Henry "Box" Brown. For a while, he became an abolitionist speaker in the US, but in 1850 the Fugitive Slave Act was passed, and Henry was worried about his safety, so he travelled to Liverpool. He toured with an anti-slavery panorama, becoming a showman and magician.
Back in the US, Henry had escaped his master after he had refused to buy Henry's wife and children when they were put up for sale. In England, he married again, to Jane, a Cornish tin miner's daughter, and later toured the US as a performer with his new family.
While in England, he settled in Manchester. In 1871 the Census shows him living in Cheetham with his wife and a servant.
Finally he returned to the States, some time after the Civil War was over, and died in Toronto in 1897. He wrote an autobiography - Narrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown, Written by Himself - the first edition in Boston in 1849 and a later, revised edition, in Manchester in 1851.
Tuesday, 5 September 2017
The Wreck of the SS Mendi
I was reading the latest issue of British Archaeology magazine when a small story caught my eye - it was about the wreck of the SS Mendi, which sank in 1917 with great loss of life off the Isle of Wight, and the rediscovery of the ship's bell, which had somehow found its way to Swanage Pier in Dorset.
So I went looking for a few more details, and found a fascinating story of the First World War.
The SS Mendi was built in 1905, as a passenger steamship, for the British and African Steam Navigation Company. In 1916 the ship was chartered by the Admiralty as a troop ship, and in 1917 she was being used to bring 823 African troops of the 5th battalion of the South African Native Labour Corps from Cape Town to France. They were on their way across the Channel from Plymouth to Le Havre, escorted by HMS Brisk, in thick fog, when the Mendi was hit by the Darro, a cargo ship - sinking the Mendi with the loss of 607 black troops and 30 crew, many of whom were also black. Many of the troops had never been to sea before their voyage from Cape Town, and few could swim. Some were trapped below decks.
The Darro did not stay to assist, but the Brisk lowered life boats to rescue survivors.
The master of the Darro was later found guilty of having travelled too fast during fog, without sounding the proper fog warnings, and his license was suspended for a year. The Darro sustained damage that put the ship out of action for three months.
The wreck of the Mendi was rediscovered in 1974, and in 2009 it was designated a protected war grave.
There was a commemoration of the sinking in February this year, on the 100th anniversary, and there are monuments in South Africa, as well as a short film telling the story, and a Radio 4 documentary featuring a memorial poem by Jackie Kay.
The hero of the hour, who was one of the men who drowned, was Isaac Williams Wauchope, a Xhosa Congregational minister and noted South African journalist who stayed with the men on the sinking ship. He was 64 when he died. Here's part of his obituary:
(From Wauchope’s obituary by S.E. Krune Mqhayi)
…On 20 February 1917 the ship Mendi left England to cross the straits known as the English Channel, between England and France. Everyone thought they were beyond enemy threat, but danger lurked close at hand. That night was pitch black in the sea fog and the lights were ineffective. At dawn on the 21st a thunderous crash was heard as the Mendi was rammed by another ship, truly gigantic. They could not see each other. The Mendi was pierced in the side, and a huge fissure was opened through which the water poured in, eliminating all hope of saving her. The other ship struggled to rescue those who were drowning, but the confusion of darkness and war hampered the effort.
Reader, observe the frantic thrashing of people trying to save themselves! Danger of this sort was something new: they had no experience of it! Some woke befuddled by sleep and had no idea where to head for safety! It’s said there were too few lifeboats for the crowds on board. Then in an instant the ship went down like a stone! Reader, please observe your boys sucked down into a watery expanse without beginning or end! See them clutch at each other, ignorant of their actions! See them filling that boat there, more weight than it can bear, so that now all the dozens in it are engulfed by the sea! Never forget, reader, the cold of that country, and in water too! Think of the groups in that cold, their manly arms failing, their bodies sinking from sight! Never forget, reader, that the young men of your country worked wonders in that crisis, wonders in rescuing large numbers of white men who were their superiors, and lost their own lives in saving others!
Was there ever such a sacrifice? Don’t shut your ears, reader, to the cry of your country’s children. Does a sacrificial beast not cry because of the pain? Without it that sacrifice would not be acceptable! The cry is a sign that the sacrifice has been accepted. Didn’t our Lord utter a confused cry on Golgotha? Today that rock juts over the whole world.
But wait! Please do the right thing, my friend, my reader. Where exactly is the son of Citashe at this juncture?
Those who were there say the hero from Ngqika’s land, descended from heroes, was standing to one side now as the ship was sinking! As a chaplain he had the opportunity to board a boat and save himself, but he didn’t! He was appealing to the leaderless soldiers urging them to stay calm, to die like heroes on their way to war. We hear that he said:
Now then stay calm my countrymen!
Calmly face your death!
This is what you came to do!
This is why you left your homes!
Peace, our own brave warriors!
Peace, you sons of heroes,
Today is your final day,
Prepare for the ultimate ford!
So I went looking for a few more details, and found a fascinating story of the First World War.
The SS Mendi was built in 1905, as a passenger steamship, for the British and African Steam Navigation Company. In 1916 the ship was chartered by the Admiralty as a troop ship, and in 1917 she was being used to bring 823 African troops of the 5th battalion of the South African Native Labour Corps from Cape Town to France. They were on their way across the Channel from Plymouth to Le Havre, escorted by HMS Brisk, in thick fog, when the Mendi was hit by the Darro, a cargo ship - sinking the Mendi with the loss of 607 black troops and 30 crew, many of whom were also black. Many of the troops had never been to sea before their voyage from Cape Town, and few could swim. Some were trapped below decks.
The Darro did not stay to assist, but the Brisk lowered life boats to rescue survivors.
The master of the Darro was later found guilty of having travelled too fast during fog, without sounding the proper fog warnings, and his license was suspended for a year. The Darro sustained damage that put the ship out of action for three months.
The wreck of the Mendi was rediscovered in 1974, and in 2009 it was designated a protected war grave.
There was a commemoration of the sinking in February this year, on the 100th anniversary, and there are monuments in South Africa, as well as a short film telling the story, and a Radio 4 documentary featuring a memorial poem by Jackie Kay.
The hero of the hour, who was one of the men who drowned, was Isaac Williams Wauchope, a Xhosa Congregational minister and noted South African journalist who stayed with the men on the sinking ship. He was 64 when he died. Here's part of his obituary:
(From Wauchope’s obituary by S.E. Krune Mqhayi)
…On 20 February 1917 the ship Mendi left England to cross the straits known as the English Channel, between England and France. Everyone thought they were beyond enemy threat, but danger lurked close at hand. That night was pitch black in the sea fog and the lights were ineffective. At dawn on the 21st a thunderous crash was heard as the Mendi was rammed by another ship, truly gigantic. They could not see each other. The Mendi was pierced in the side, and a huge fissure was opened through which the water poured in, eliminating all hope of saving her. The other ship struggled to rescue those who were drowning, but the confusion of darkness and war hampered the effort.
Reader, observe the frantic thrashing of people trying to save themselves! Danger of this sort was something new: they had no experience of it! Some woke befuddled by sleep and had no idea where to head for safety! It’s said there were too few lifeboats for the crowds on board. Then in an instant the ship went down like a stone! Reader, please observe your boys sucked down into a watery expanse without beginning or end! See them clutch at each other, ignorant of their actions! See them filling that boat there, more weight than it can bear, so that now all the dozens in it are engulfed by the sea! Never forget, reader, the cold of that country, and in water too! Think of the groups in that cold, their manly arms failing, their bodies sinking from sight! Never forget, reader, that the young men of your country worked wonders in that crisis, wonders in rescuing large numbers of white men who were their superiors, and lost their own lives in saving others!
Was there ever such a sacrifice? Don’t shut your ears, reader, to the cry of your country’s children. Does a sacrificial beast not cry because of the pain? Without it that sacrifice would not be acceptable! The cry is a sign that the sacrifice has been accepted. Didn’t our Lord utter a confused cry on Golgotha? Today that rock juts over the whole world.
But wait! Please do the right thing, my friend, my reader. Where exactly is the son of Citashe at this juncture?
Those who were there say the hero from Ngqika’s land, descended from heroes, was standing to one side now as the ship was sinking! As a chaplain he had the opportunity to board a boat and save himself, but he didn’t! He was appealing to the leaderless soldiers urging them to stay calm, to die like heroes on their way to war. We hear that he said:
Now then stay calm my countrymen!
Calmly face your death!
This is what you came to do!
This is why you left your homes!
Peace, our own brave warriors!
Peace, you sons of heroes,
Today is your final day,
Prepare for the ultimate ford!
Friday, 19 May 2017
Black Victorians - Walter Tull, footballer and First World War officer
Walter Tull was born in Folkestone in 1888, but grew up in a Methodist Children's Home in Bethnal Green, along with his brother Edward, as his parents died when he was nine. His father Daniel Tull was a carpenter from Barbados, and his mother was Alice Elizabeth Palmer, from Kent. Edward went on to be adopted by the Warnock family in Glasgow, and became the first mixed race dentist in Britain.
In 1909, he joined Tottenham Hotspurs, playing inside forward. He was the third black player in the football league, the first being Arthur Wharton, who I wrote about a couple of years ago, and the second being Billy Clarke of Aston Villa.
He went on tour with the team to Argentina and Uruguay, becoming the first mixed race professional footballer from the UK to play in Latin America. However, in October 1909, while playing at Bristol City, he was subjected to serious racial abuse. The Football Star reporter at the match was so angered by this that his report on the match was entitled "Football and the Colour Prejudice", in which he praised Walter for his professional approach, and said that he had been the best forward in the game. This was probably the first time racial prejudice had been highlighted in the newspapers in British football. However, he was dropped from the A team, and in 1911 he transferred to Northampton Town.
During the First World War, Walter served with the Footballers' Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment, where he was promoted to Second Lieutenant in 1917. He was recommended for promotion despite a rule against non-European soldiers becoming officers. He also fought in the Battle of the Somme in 1916, as a sergeant. In 1917, he was sent to Italy, where he was praised for his coolness under fire. He returned to France in 1918, and was killed during the Spring Offensive. His body was never found.
A memorial to him was unveiled at Northampton Town FC in 1999, and there is a Walter Tull Memorial Cup, which was won by Rangers in 2004, when they beat Tottenham Hotspurs 2- 0.
Saturday, 14 January 2017
An 18th Century Indian in England - Sake Dean Mahomed
Sake Dean Mahomed (born Shiekh Din Muhammad) was born in Patna, India, in 1759. His father worked for the East India Company. His father died when he was young, and he went into service at the age of ten with Captain Godfrey Evan Baker, serving in the army of the British East India Company as a trainee surgeon. In 1782, Captain Baker resigned from the army, and Sake also resigned, choosing to follow the Captain to England.
He married an Irish girl, Jane Daly, who he met while living with Captain Baker in Ireland. Her family were opposed to the match, so they eloped in 1786, and Sake converted to Anglicanism as it was illegal for non-Protestants to marry Protestants at the time.
In 1794, he wrote his first travel book, The Travels of Dean Mahomed, in which he described several cities in India as well as military conflicts in India.
In 1810, the family moved to London and opened the first ever Indian restaurant in England. It was called the Hindoostanee Coffee House, in George Street near Portman Square. As well as serving curry, it offered hookahs to smoke - but the venture was not successful and ended due to financial difficulties.
He moved on to Brighton, where he opened a massage parlour and steam bath - which he termed "shampooing" from the Indian word champooi, for massage. This was described as a remedy for aches, sprains, rheumatism and other similar ailments, and Sake became famous - he was known as Dr Brighton, and George IV and William IV both used his services.
He died in 1851, and was buried in Brighton.
His son Frederick opened a gymnasium in Brighton where he taught fencing, boxing and gymnastics, and ran a Turkish Bath.
His grandson, another Frederick, became a renowned physician, working at Guy's Hospital in London and doing work on high blood pressure.
Another grandson, James, became Vicar of Hove in Sussex.
He married an Irish girl, Jane Daly, who he met while living with Captain Baker in Ireland. Her family were opposed to the match, so they eloped in 1786, and Sake converted to Anglicanism as it was illegal for non-Protestants to marry Protestants at the time.
In 1794, he wrote his first travel book, The Travels of Dean Mahomed, in which he described several cities in India as well as military conflicts in India.
In 1810, the family moved to London and opened the first ever Indian restaurant in England. It was called the Hindoostanee Coffee House, in George Street near Portman Square. As well as serving curry, it offered hookahs to smoke - but the venture was not successful and ended due to financial difficulties.
He moved on to Brighton, where he opened a massage parlour and steam bath - which he termed "shampooing" from the Indian word champooi, for massage. This was described as a remedy for aches, sprains, rheumatism and other similar ailments, and Sake became famous - he was known as Dr Brighton, and George IV and William IV both used his services.
He died in 1851, and was buried in Brighton.
His son Frederick opened a gymnasium in Brighton where he taught fencing, boxing and gymnastics, and ran a Turkish Bath.
His grandson, another Frederick, became a renowned physician, working at Guy's Hospital in London and doing work on high blood pressure.
Another grandson, James, became Vicar of Hove in Sussex.
Saturday, 8 October 2016
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