Black History Month in the United Kingdom is celebrated in the month of October. Google Doodle kicked off the month with a celebration of the 230th birthday of Mary Prince, who was born into slavery in Bermuda in 1788.
Here is the text:
On this day in 1788, Mary Prince was born in Brackish Pond, Bermuda. Sold from master to master throughout her life, Prince ended up on the island of Antigua in 1815 where she joined the Moravian church in 1817 and learned to read. Despite not having received a formal education, Prince went on to be recognized as a National Hero of Bermuda for her work to abolish slavery.
In December 1826 Prince married Daniel James, a former slave who had managed to buy his freedom. Her master at the time punished her for marrying a free black man with permission and in two years time the husband and wife were separated because Prince’s family moved to England taking her with them.
After the passage of Great Britain’s Slave Trade Act in 1808, slavery was no longer allowed in England, although the institution of slavery continued in the British colonies. Prince was legally free on British soil, but she had no means to support herself. Under the prevailing rules of the time, if she tried to return home to her husband, she would risk being enslaved again.
In 1829 Prince became the first woman to present a petition to Parliament, arguing for her human right to freedom. That same year some of her associates in the anti-slavery “abolitionist” movement introduced a bill proposing that any West Indian slave brought to England by his or her owners must be freed. It did not pass, but momentum was beginning to shift in favor of the abolitionist cause.
Two years later Prince published her autobiography, making her the first black woman to publish a slave narrative in England. Her book played a decisive role in turning British public opinion against the centuries-old institution of human enslavement.
“I have been a slave myself,” Prince wrote in The History of Mary Prince, a West Indian Slave. “I know what slaves feel—I can tell by myself what other slaves feel, and by what they have told me. The man that says slaves be quite happy in slavery—that they don't want to be free—that man is either ignorant or a lying person. I never heard a slave say so.”
Published in 1731, the book caused a sensation, going through three printings in the first year alone. In one of the book’s many heartbreaking passages, Mary recalled being sold “like sheep or cattle” on the same day as her younger sisters Hannah and Dina were sold to different masters. “When the sale was over, my mother hugged and kissed us, and mourned over us, begging of us to keep up a good heart, and do our duty to our new masters. It was a sad parting; one went one way, one another, and our poor mammy went home with nothing.”
Two lawsuits for libel were filed against the book’s publisher in 1833, and Mary Prince testified at both, effectively rebuking any claims that the book was inaccurate or defamatory. After that there is no record of her movements—she may have stayed in England or returned home to her husband in Bermuda.
On August 1, 1838, some 800,000 slaves living in British colonies throughout the Caribbean were finally set free, following the passage of Great Britain’s Slavery Abolition Act, which was passed by Parliament two years after the publication of Mary Prince’s book.
Happy Birthday Mary Prince!
I am re-posting this segment of a Black Kos diary on Black Abolitionists I wrote in 2013, using materials I taught in a course, “Women in the Caribbean”:
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One of the most important lives and voices we explore to examine the impact of slavery on women is the life and words of Mary Prince.
Mary Prince was born in 1788, to an enslaved family in Bermuda. She was sold to a number of brutal owners and suffered from terrible treatment. Prince ended up in Antigua belonging to the Wood family. in December 1826, she married Daniel James, a former slave who had bought his freedom and worked as a carpenter and cooper.
For this act, she was severely beaten by her master. In 1828, she travelled to England with her owners. She eventually ran away and found freedom, but only in England and she could not return to her husband. Mary campaigned against slavery, working alongside the Anti Slavery Society and taking employment with Thomas Pringle, an abolitionist writer and Secretary to the Anti-Slavery Society.
You can read the full text of her autobiography online. The History of Mary Prince, a West Indian Slave. Related by Herself. With a Supplement by the Editor.
She became the first woman to present a petition to Parliament, on 24 June 1829.
A Petition of Mary Prince or James, commonly called Molly Wood, was presented, and read; setting forth, That the Petitioner was born a Slave in the colony of Bermuda, and is now about forty years of age; That the Petitioner was sold some years go for the sum of 300 dollars to Mr John Wood, by whom the Petitioner was carried to Antigua, where she has since, until lately resided as a domestic slave on his establishment; that in December 1826, the Petitioner who is connected with the Moravian Congregation, was married in a Moravian Chapel at Spring Gardens, in the parish of Saint John's, by the Moravian minister, Mr Ellesen, to a free Black of the name of Daniel James, who is a carpenter at Saint John's, in Antigua, and also a member of the same congregation; that the Petitioner and the said Daniel James have lived together ever since as man and wife; that about ten months ago the Petitioner arrived in London, with her master and mistress, in the capacity of nurse to their child; that the Petitioner's master has offered to send her back in his brig to the West Indies, to work in the yard; that the Petitioner expressed her desire to return to the West Indies, but not as a slave, and has entreated her master to sell her, her freedom on account of her services as a nurse to his child, but he has refused, and still does refuse; further stating the particulars of her case; and praying the House to take the same into their consideration, and to grant such relief as to them may, under the circumstances, appear right. Ordered, That the said Petition do lie upon the Table.
Her narrative is key, for hers is the only surviving voices we have documenting the horrors of enslavement in the Caribbean through the eyes of a woman.
Her description of work in the salt ponds is chilling.
Mary Prince had a number of different owners. One was the owner of saltponds.
I was immediately sent to work in the salt water with the rest of the slaves. I was given a half barrel and a shovel, and had to stand up to my knees in the water, from four o'clock in the morning till nine, when we were given some Indian corn boiled in water.
We were then called again to our tasks, and worked through the heat of the day; the sun flaming upon our heads like fire, and raising salt blisters in those parts which were not completely covered. Our feet and legs, from standing in the salt water for so many hours, soon became full of dreadful boils, which eat down in some cases to the bone.
We came home at twelve; ate our corn soup as fast as we could, and went back to our employment till dark at night. We slept in a long shed, divided into narrow slips. Boards fixed upon stakes driven into the ground, without mat or covering, were our only beds."
Prince was key in inspiring women to become involved in anti-slavery activities. Though women did not have the vote, they could and did organize. Hearing Mary Prince speak wiped away any illusions about what happened to women on those far away plantations.
'Flagellation of a Female Samboe Slave'
Capt. Stedman: "[the] first object which presented itself after my landing ... a young female slave, whose only covering was a rag tied round her loins, which, like her skin, was lacerated in several places by the stroke of the whip. The crime which had been committed by this miserable victim of tyranny, was the nonperformance of a task which she was apparently unequal, for which she was sentenced to receive two hundred lashes, and to drag during some months, a chain several yards in length, one end of which was locked around her ancle, and the other was affixed a weight of at least a hundred pounds..."
I find that even today, students have no clear picture of the lives and deaths of enslaved women. The stereotypes of mammies and maids in the home, have no grounding in the reality of how many women did hard field labor. This print is used on the cover of Slave Women in Caribbean Society, 1650-1838, by Barbara Bush, another one of the texts we use in the class.
Women's groups in Britain were key in organizing the boycott of slave grown sugar.
As the main food purchasers, women played an important role in organizing the sugar boycotts of the 1790s, after the bill for the abolition of the Slave Trade was defeated in Parliament in 1791. Over 300,000 people joined a boycott of sugar which had been grown on plantations that used the labour of enslaved people.
It is important to understand that the abolition movement had a powerful impact on other efforts for social change.
The abolitionists set in motion Britain's first, mass social movement. Their rallying themes of liberty and equality influenced reforming campaigns for the right to vote, to form trades unions and the feminist movement. Their techniques of consumer boycotts and petitions are used to this day.
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Black History Month in the UK has particular significance this year — due to the Windrush scandal, and rising right-wing racism due to Brexit.
The story gives the origins of BHM-UK:
What Is Black History Month?
In 1987, Black History Month was established by Akyaaba Addai-Sebo to raise greater awareness about black history in the UK.
It was a response to the political and social concerns of the time within the black community, which culminated in events such as the Brixton riots and resistance to stop and search laws. Addai-Sebo perceived a lack of understanding of the contribution black people were making to British society.
October was chosen rather than February, when it is celebrated in the US, because of the spiritual relevance of the month in many African cultures - such as harvest season, the Autumn equinox and yam festivals.
It was hoped that Black History Month’s close proximity to the new academic year might enable schools to consider including it in the curriculum.
Although some schools have previously opted to observed Black History Month at some points throughout October, the approach has never been uniform and the battle to get black British history incorporated into the national curriculum is an ongoing one.
The response to BhmUK was so powerful it crashed their website:
We here in the U.S. often fail to look at Black History and contemporary black struggles outside of our own borders. That should change.
I’ll close with this Black History Month poem from UK storyteller/poet Birdspeed
"How much for the coffee?"
No value was placed on the sun that hung on the branch,
No accounts were made of the rot that piled
The quality of malignancy determines the rate of the exchange.
What Nubian ever reaped what they sowed?
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News round up by dopper0189, Black Kos Managing Editor
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Kenyon Strother loves almost every aspect of his job as a hospitality professional at Chick-fil-A. He works in the kitchen of a South Carolina franchise of the fast-food chain, cooking meats and vegetables, and says the company has “great benefits and good wages.”
There’s just one problem: The employee dress code requires him to be clean-shaven. That’s a challenge for Strother because, like many black men, frequent shaving causes him to develop razor bumps, which can lead to dark marks, scar tissue, and even infection.
In addition to painting a very narrow image of what constitutes professionalism, bans on facial hair pose medical risks for men who suffer from razor bumps and can alienate men who wear beards for religious reasons.
Restrictions on beards pose more barriers to employment for men of color, particularly black men and Indian Americans who practice Sikhism, one of the world’s largest religions. Men from both groups have sued over beard bans, but a corporate sector that has historically normalized whiteness and “othered” minorities continues to prohibit facial hair.
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A new language of racial tiptoeing has emerged in recent years, and some say it may be edging close to the linguistic absurdity of the dead parrot skit. It's a racial doublespeak that sometimes evades more than explains.
It's a tendency to call out someone or something as racist but to avoid mentioning the actual words "racist" or "racism" while doing so.
This doublespeak seems to have spread everywhere.
People don't say racism put President Donald Trump in office; they use a term like
"racial anxiety" or
"racial resentment." If a white politician running for governor warns voters that they may "monkey this up" by electing his black opponent, that's not racist; that's
"racially charged."White Americans who are uncomfortable with a changing culture or who believe they're left behind while minority groups get ahead aren't exhibiting racism; that's
"racialized economics."
There's a buffet of racial euphemisms that awaits anyone shopping for a more polite word for racism. There's
"racially freighted" for venomous anti-immigrant remarks. And white voters who resent demographic changes aren't motivated by racism; they're driven by
"ethno-nationalism"or
"white nativism."
Why are these racial euphemisms spreading?
Do we need them to avoid offending people and to give nuance to a complex topic? Or do they sometimes reinforce racism instead of calling it out?
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John David Washington and Reinaldo Marcus Green talk to Colorlines about the Sundance hit’s genesis and plot, which explores the fallout of an NYPD officer killing an unarmed Black man. Color Lines: 'Monsters and Men' Star and Creator On Sweeping Impact of Police Violence
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Audiences who watch ”Monsters and Men” are greeted with a disturbingly familiar scenario: a Latinx man (Anthony Ramos, “She’s Gotta Have It”) films a New York Police Department (NYPD) officer as he kills an unarmed Black man selling cigarettes outside a Brooklyn store.
“Monsters and Men” director and writer Reinaldo Marcus Green previously tackled police violence against Black and Brown New Yorkers in “Stop,” a short film about a Black child caught up in stop-and-frisk policing. The Black and Latinx filmmaker says that “Monsters and Men,” his first feature narrative film, grew out of a conversation with a friend in law enforcement about Daniel Pantaleo, the NYPD officer who killed Eric Garner for selling cigarettes.
“Two o’clock in the morning, we’re eating pizza, and we start talking about the Eric Garner case,” Green tells Colorlines. “We both start talking about the video tape, and what started as a regular conversation between two friends turned into a pretty heated discussion. I saw a guy that should still be alive, but my friend said, ‘Ray, it’s unfortunate, but it does look like he was resisting arrest.’ It shocked me because all I could see were the facts in my head. But it looks totally different to a police officer.”
The conversation planted a seed in Green’s mind that grew into a film that explores police violence from the perspectives of three people: Manny, the Latinx man who considers releasing the video despite opposition from his worried family and the killer cop’s intimidating colleagues; Zee (Kelvin Harrison Jr., “Monster”), a Black teenager who risks a potentially lucrative baseball career to protest the violence; and Dennis (John David Washington, “Ballers”), a Black NYPD officer torn between protecting his co-worker and the knowledge that he could have been the slain man.
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The last time Renata Souza saw her friend and colleague Marielle Franco, they hugged and kissed and said they’d see each other the following morning.
They were scheduled to meet with higher-ups from their political party to finalize Franco as a vice-gubernatorial candidate for the state of Rio de Janeiro.
But minutes after they parted, a reporter called Souza to tell her that Franco had been murdered.
A breakout star on Rio’s political scene, Franco was a black woman from one of the city’s poorest favelas who defied the odds to become the fifth most voted-for councilor in 2016.
She was an outspoken critic of Rio’s heavy-handed police and had recently become the chair of the committee overseeing the city’s federally mandated military intervention.
Franco and her driver Anderson Gomes died instantly when two men opened fire on their car on 14 March in what police believe was a targeted assassination.
No arrests have been made, but as Brazil prepares for legislative elections, Franco’s legacy can be seen across the country: an unprecedented number of black women have registered to run for office – and many invoke her example on the campaign trail.
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RICHARD GATHIGI, a Kenyan entrepreneur, has lived in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou since 2015, oiling the wheels and gears of the low end of globalisation with doses of human trust and acuity. When an African friend had a small but urgent order—450 safety vests bearing the logo of the UN mission to Somalia—Mr Gathigi knew a factory that could help, though he wishes he had asked a higher price. “The UN has a lot of money,” he explains cheerfully, stabbing at a late-night plate of fish and rice in the Xiaobei district of Guangzhou, a hub for African traders. In a world without contracts, confidence is his currency. Near-strangers in Africa trust him to inspect goods ordered online from China. He is an old-timer in Guangzhou’s cramped, fluorescent-lit trading malls. Chinese bosses are cautious about tricking him.
Still, Mr Gathigi is no pioneer of multiculturalism, China-style. He is one of thousands of Africans who work in the city, though their numbers have shrunk since 2014 when officials said 16,000 Africans were living in Guangzhou. He respects his host country. Now 44, he wants his teenage children to study at Chinese universities, after being brought up in Kenya. But in three years he has not learned Chinese, visited the Great Wall or eaten at a local’s home. He first saw China in middle-age, he notes. “Most of my values were formed. Apart from business, I don’t have much interest.”
Listening to Mr Gathigi, he could be an 18th-century “supercargo” or trade agent, sweltering on the riverfront to which Westerners were confined, back when the city was known as Canton. Non-Chinese then were forbidden even to learn the language. Mr Gathigi thinks that China still prefers foreigners to visit, trade with locals, then leave. America and Europe make it difficult for Africans to obtain visas, he observes, but once in the rich world migrants can easily overstay and live in the shadows, doing work that Westerners shun. “With the Chinese it’s the opposite,” he adds. “They make it easy to enter but very difficult to stay.” After all these years, he lives on a business visitor’s visa that must be reset with a run to Hong Kong or Macau every 30 days.
Many countries are questioning the benefits of globalisation. The nastiest rows occur when immigration enters the equation. Citizens chafe against the free movement of goods and capital, but most of all people. China’s leaders speak as globalisation’s champions. President Xi Jinping declared to African leaders in Beijing this month that “with open arms, we welcome African countries aboard the express train of China’s development.”
Yet if Chinese leaders like the idea of goods and capital rushing at express-train speed (ideally with Chinese drivers at the controls), they have never embraced the idea that people should move freely, let alone dream of acquiring hybrid, part-Chinese identities. Even marriage to a Chinese national brings no special residency rights.
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