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Black history, white history and slavery
Franklin Johnston
Saturday, April 14, 2007
It is the 200th anniversary of the Act ending the transatlantic slave trade for Britain. Other European, African, Arab nations and Americans continued the trade, and today, slavery still exists in some African and Arab countries. William Wilberforce is a hero. He was a wealthy playboy politican, who found religion and became the "face" of the anti-slavery movement. Britain did the right thing, maybe for the wrong reasons - but they did right! Let the British celebrate their Abolition Act and we West Indians our slave revolts and heroes! Respect is due!
This slave trade involved the capture and warehousing of Africans and their long, perilous sea voyage to the West Indies, with most horrendous consequences to life and limb. This was not about religion, nation, race or colour - it was business. Most ancient peoples practised slavery and were slaves at some time. A slave is a labour-saving device and slavery emerged in societies with low-labour productivity, which aspired to move from subsistence to surplus. There is often a strong correlation between development and slavery. In affluent societies, slaves did the hard work, were used for votive sacrifice, to fight wars and for personal pleasure, just as in modern slavery. The shame is not with the slave; the shame is on those who condone and practise slavery.
African tribes practised slavery among themselves from ancient times. By 650, Africans were trading slaves to Arabs across the Sahara, and by 1413 they traded slaves by sea with the Europeans. Beginning in the 15th century, African slave merchants sold some 20 million of our foreparents to European middlemen in the transatlantic slave trade. How many more did they sell to the overland trade? These merchants kept no records on slaves or on their practices in harvesting, warehousing and bartering our ancestors.
Africans are the "first nations" of Africa; they were never exterminated and they still live in Africa. They didn't explore lands overseas, their exploits are in Africa and the brief 400 years of European presence did not displace the substrate of African society. Yet, they have not written the history of the continent. African academics continue to use the archives in Lisbon, Seville and London; they use European archaeology, carbon dating and other scientific work to research Africa, slavery and Caribbean roots. Africans have strong governments, universities, mineral wealth and oil-rich dynasties with bulging Swiss Bank accounts, yet there is no serious work by African ethnolinguists, ethnobiologists, molecular and isotope experts, scientists, archaeologists, researchers. We in the African diaspora are more than disappointed.
Slavery among British people ended before 1100 and so the line from the song Rule Brittania, "Britons, never, never shall be slaves", is an aspiration, not a fact. In 1807, the masses were illiterate and exploited, but they were free. Back then, the transatlantic slave trade, slavery and sugar were the global, leading-edge industries and they built Britain. The triangular trade energised research, invention, innovation and technology to produce goods for Africa, support sugar and run the factories processing West Indian materials. Every aspect of British society flourished - shipbuilding, agriculture, factories, professions and trades; engineering, thermodynamics and hydraulics; roads, rail and communications; legal, trade and financial services. The arts did well too; theatre for the nouveau riche and working-class entertainment; workers' housing, mansion blocks and stately homes for the wealthy; Caribbean and African artifacts enriched the Royal Societies, museums, zoos and gardens.
There even emerged an Anglican theology, in sync with free black people, now equal with whites. Britain never looked back!
The British were cruel, ruthless slave traders and masters, when abroad. At home they were elegant gentlemen, heroes, in whose honour public works and statues were erected.
Slave traders lived well; neighbours saw their wealth, not their work. In contrast, African slave merchants lived in communities beside their sordid businesses; heard the cries and saw the pain. The Act of 1807 was a major upset for them as they were given no notice; the ships did not arrive, they had large inventories of slaves in pens and slaves were perishable and high maintenance. Yet, they did not set the slaves free so they could make their way home. African slavers were the first global traders. They supplied precious metals and produce to the Old World and manpower to the New. Today, the West African slave warehouses are monuments to their "Golden Age".
West Indians are a unique people. We have lived a brief 400 years in these islands, but we research the first inhabitants - Tainos and Caribs, and are writing the history of our rainbow nations. We are the African diaspora - the descendants of Africans sold into transatlantic slavery, and we should monitor the discussions on reparation and be vigilant, lest we are made pawns like our foreparents. African merchants bartered our ancestors, British middlemen and planters traded and tasked them, and both peoples were enriched thereby. We, the scions of transatlantic slaves, are the aggrieved parties in this suit, and the joint and separate liability of those nations is not diminished or mitigated by time. We should therefore be proactive and support the quest for reparation from all those who benefited from slavery. Their apologies are less important!
- franklinjohnston@tiscali.co.uk
Franklin Johnston
Saturday, April 14, 2007
It is the 200th anniversary of the Act ending the transatlantic slave trade for Britain. Other European, African, Arab nations and Americans continued the trade, and today, slavery still exists in some African and Arab countries. William Wilberforce is a hero. He was a wealthy playboy politican, who found religion and became the "face" of the anti-slavery movement. Britain did the right thing, maybe for the wrong reasons - but they did right! Let the British celebrate their Abolition Act and we West Indians our slave revolts and heroes! Respect is due!
This slave trade involved the capture and warehousing of Africans and their long, perilous sea voyage to the West Indies, with most horrendous consequences to life and limb. This was not about religion, nation, race or colour - it was business. Most ancient peoples practised slavery and were slaves at some time. A slave is a labour-saving device and slavery emerged in societies with low-labour productivity, which aspired to move from subsistence to surplus. There is often a strong correlation between development and slavery. In affluent societies, slaves did the hard work, were used for votive sacrifice, to fight wars and for personal pleasure, just as in modern slavery. The shame is not with the slave; the shame is on those who condone and practise slavery.
African tribes practised slavery among themselves from ancient times. By 650, Africans were trading slaves to Arabs across the Sahara, and by 1413 they traded slaves by sea with the Europeans. Beginning in the 15th century, African slave merchants sold some 20 million of our foreparents to European middlemen in the transatlantic slave trade. How many more did they sell to the overland trade? These merchants kept no records on slaves or on their practices in harvesting, warehousing and bartering our ancestors.
Africans are the "first nations" of Africa; they were never exterminated and they still live in Africa. They didn't explore lands overseas, their exploits are in Africa and the brief 400 years of European presence did not displace the substrate of African society. Yet, they have not written the history of the continent. African academics continue to use the archives in Lisbon, Seville and London; they use European archaeology, carbon dating and other scientific work to research Africa, slavery and Caribbean roots. Africans have strong governments, universities, mineral wealth and oil-rich dynasties with bulging Swiss Bank accounts, yet there is no serious work by African ethnolinguists, ethnobiologists, molecular and isotope experts, scientists, archaeologists, researchers. We in the African diaspora are more than disappointed.
Slavery among British people ended before 1100 and so the line from the song Rule Brittania, "Britons, never, never shall be slaves", is an aspiration, not a fact. In 1807, the masses were illiterate and exploited, but they were free. Back then, the transatlantic slave trade, slavery and sugar were the global, leading-edge industries and they built Britain. The triangular trade energised research, invention, innovation and technology to produce goods for Africa, support sugar and run the factories processing West Indian materials. Every aspect of British society flourished - shipbuilding, agriculture, factories, professions and trades; engineering, thermodynamics and hydraulics; roads, rail and communications; legal, trade and financial services. The arts did well too; theatre for the nouveau riche and working-class entertainment; workers' housing, mansion blocks and stately homes for the wealthy; Caribbean and African artifacts enriched the Royal Societies, museums, zoos and gardens.
There even emerged an Anglican theology, in sync with free black people, now equal with whites. Britain never looked back!
The British were cruel, ruthless slave traders and masters, when abroad. At home they were elegant gentlemen, heroes, in whose honour public works and statues were erected.
Slave traders lived well; neighbours saw their wealth, not their work. In contrast, African slave merchants lived in communities beside their sordid businesses; heard the cries and saw the pain. The Act of 1807 was a major upset for them as they were given no notice; the ships did not arrive, they had large inventories of slaves in pens and slaves were perishable and high maintenance. Yet, they did not set the slaves free so they could make their way home. African slavers were the first global traders. They supplied precious metals and produce to the Old World and manpower to the New. Today, the West African slave warehouses are monuments to their "Golden Age".
West Indians are a unique people. We have lived a brief 400 years in these islands, but we research the first inhabitants - Tainos and Caribs, and are writing the history of our rainbow nations. We are the African diaspora - the descendants of Africans sold into transatlantic slavery, and we should monitor the discussions on reparation and be vigilant, lest we are made pawns like our foreparents. African merchants bartered our ancestors, British middlemen and planters traded and tasked them, and both peoples were enriched thereby. We, the scions of transatlantic slaves, are the aggrieved parties in this suit, and the joint and separate liability of those nations is not diminished or mitigated by time. We should therefore be proactive and support the quest for reparation from all those who benefited from slavery. Their apologies are less important!
- franklinjohnston@tiscali.co.uk