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Black England: Life Before Emancipation
A study of black people in England in the 18th century. In Shakespeare's England, black people were numerous enough for Elizabeth I to demand they all leave the country but by the eighteenth century blacks could be found in pubs and clubs. There were churches for blacks, balls held for blacks only and organizations to help blacks in trouble or out of work. Some were wealthy and respected but many more were servants or beggars. Then there were the slaves and the dark business of kidnapping blacks and exporting them to the West Indies.
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First published January 1, 1995
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 62 reviews
April 6, 2015
Whilst there have been Black communities in the British Isles since at least the Roman times, their presence has almost been forgotten. This excellent work focuses on eighteenth-century England. Getchen Gerzina shows how people of African descent were present in many aspects of British society during that period. I would recommend "Black England" to anyone wishing to learn about the history of Black people in the Britain prior to the 20th Century.
April 12, 2011
I thought this was excellent -- an eminently readable account of the lives of black people living in Britain in the eighteenth century thereabouts. At one point it pretty much becomes a string of known historical black British people's life stories, but that's the kind of thing I like, so I didn't object. Of course part of the reason why it was so interesting is because it's relatively difficult to find such details of non-white people in history, compared to the vast amount of material that's to be found on white people's lives. Only relatively difficult, though, I should say; there's obviously a fair amount of stuff out there.
Educational and interesting! I liked it. Went on to start reading Ignatius Sancho's letters; he is delightful!
Educational and interesting! I liked it. Went on to start reading Ignatius Sancho's letters; he is delightful!
July 10, 2024
It took me a while to get through due to the density of the information presented. I found the first half much more interesting, but overall, it was well researched and I learned a lot.
July 13, 2020
Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina had been looking for a book about the history of blacks in England, and when she couldn't find out, decided to write one herself. And this book is fascinating. Gerzina takes us from when it is believed that people of African descent first showed up on England's shores (around 1555 for trade) all the way to the abolishment of slavery in England.
I learned quite a lot in this relatively short book of how the numbers of blacks grew steadily from their first appearance, and by the mid-1700s, blacks were throughout English society, from its poor all the way to visiting African princes sent to England to study. There were merchants, sailors, prostitutes, musicians, actors, and in people service in the gentry's homes as cooks, footmen and maids.
The history Gerzina is complex and treatment of individuals varied greatly; there were black servants who were free and commanded respect within households, even while there were people stolen off London streets, put on slave ships and sent to plantations. And there were black children dressed in fine silks and seen as essentially pretty baubles, accompanying their ladies, until the time the gentry tired of the children or the children became adolescents, and then they were sent to plantations. There were also blacks, who having helped the British in their colonies (e.g., black soldiers and others who aided the Brits during the American revolution), began arriving in England because of promises of some sort of remuneration. This led even abolitionists to consider ideas of sending them all away somewhere else, such as a colony in Africa, which led to the settlement by former black soldiers and freed slaves in what became Sierra Leone. (This reminds me of Nisi Shawl's thought experiment in Everfair.)
Sometimes violent, sometimes cordial, the history is messy and complicated, as expected, and this book has whetted my appetite for more information about the often difficult history Blacks had with England's government and its people over the centuries of their coexistence.
I learned quite a lot in this relatively short book of how the numbers of blacks grew steadily from their first appearance, and by the mid-1700s, blacks were throughout English society, from its poor all the way to visiting African princes sent to England to study. There were merchants, sailors, prostitutes, musicians, actors, and in people service in the gentry's homes as cooks, footmen and maids.
The history Gerzina is complex and treatment of individuals varied greatly; there were black servants who were free and commanded respect within households, even while there were people stolen off London streets, put on slave ships and sent to plantations. And there were black children dressed in fine silks and seen as essentially pretty baubles, accompanying their ladies, until the time the gentry tired of the children or the children became adolescents, and then they were sent to plantations. There were also blacks, who having helped the British in their colonies (e.g., black soldiers and others who aided the Brits during the American revolution), began arriving in England because of promises of some sort of remuneration. This led even abolitionists to consider ideas of sending them all away somewhere else, such as a colony in Africa, which led to the settlement by former black soldiers and freed slaves in what became Sierra Leone. (This reminds me of Nisi Shawl's thought experiment in Everfair.)
Sometimes violent, sometimes cordial, the history is messy and complicated, as expected, and this book has whetted my appetite for more information about the often difficult history Blacks had with England's government and its people over the centuries of their coexistence.
July 20, 2022
First published in 1995 and now updated, Gretchen Gerzina's Black England is just as important as when it was first released. Reading a review copy in 2022 was the first time I had heard of this work, and it saddens me that I had not heard of it earlier. The stories, histories, and voices that make up this exemplary historical study should be taught in schools. I learned more in the few hours it took me to read this book than I have the rest of the year so far, perhaps even for years, and I read widely! So many of the names of the white figures here I knew facts about, but with very few exceptions, the black figures were all new to me. This should not be the case.
This is vital, important history. Its focus is centred on the 18th century more than any other - which is not surprising as black voices earlier than this have become lost to time, so it is only through others work that we know any names - but the narrative takes us from Elizabeth I's reign through to the abolition of the slave trade. It highlights the mass injustices black people suffered during these years, but also shows how some of the attitudes of those days remain into the present. To read that 18th century white Englishmen were afraid that the blacks were taking our jobs reminded me of our gutter press in the 21st century who stoke xenophobia using the same rhetoric. For reasons like this alone, works like this should be on the curriculum from an early age.
This is a magnificent work and I am extremely grateful to the publishers and Netgalley for the ARC and to Gretchen Gerzina for updating this work and sharing it with us all.
This is vital, important history. Its focus is centred on the 18th century more than any other - which is not surprising as black voices earlier than this have become lost to time, so it is only through others work that we know any names - but the narrative takes us from Elizabeth I's reign through to the abolition of the slave trade. It highlights the mass injustices black people suffered during these years, but also shows how some of the attitudes of those days remain into the present. To read that 18th century white Englishmen were afraid that the blacks were taking our jobs reminded me of our gutter press in the 21st century who stoke xenophobia using the same rhetoric. For reasons like this alone, works like this should be on the curriculum from an early age.
This is a magnificent work and I am extremely grateful to the publishers and Netgalley for the ARC and to Gretchen Gerzina for updating this work and sharing it with us all.
February 18, 2017
It took me a while to read because the chapters are really long, but it is full of interesting and important information.
January 16, 2021
This was a really fascinating and unique book, highlighting many aspects of British history that often go unrecognized and ignored. This includes the history of Samuel Johnson's secretary and valet Francis Barber, as well as the former slave Olaudah Equiano's role in establishing a new colony of Sierra Leone. I read this for my JASNA group, so was particularly interested in Lord Mansfield's often equivocal (though finally positive) attitude in favor of abolition in the famous court case associated with his name which also shares its name with Jane Austen's even more famous fictional estate.
My main criticism of the book is structural--it was intended for an academic audience, and tries to cram a great deal of information into a very short span of pages. There is a presupposition of knowledge of dates and names, as well as occasionally shifting into different biographies of individuals mid-paragraph. More chapter headings would have been very useful, and also made it easier to refer back to specific incidents.
I still really enjoyed the book, and it's a reminder of how much history is lost and forgotten, because history narratives are often written by those with a powerful agenda that has little to do with accuracy.
My main criticism of the book is structural--it was intended for an academic audience, and tries to cram a great deal of information into a very short span of pages. There is a presupposition of knowledge of dates and names, as well as occasionally shifting into different biographies of individuals mid-paragraph. More chapter headings would have been very useful, and also made it easier to refer back to specific incidents.
I still really enjoyed the book, and it's a reminder of how much history is lost and forgotten, because history narratives are often written by those with a powerful agenda that has little to do with accuracy.
August 17, 2015
In Black London: Life before Emancipation, Gretchen Garzina looks at the history of black people in England, a history that - despite the common belief of many - stretches back for centuries. In her Introduction, Grezina sets out her intention to document the black presence in England which, as stated in a quotation from scholar Peter Freyer, 'goes back some 2,000 years and has been continuous since the beginning of the sixteenth century or earlier.’ Grezina goes on to identify the scope of the sources she draws on:
"While nearly five centuries have passed since the beginning of that continuous presence, a vivid trail of diaries, memoirs, public records and pictures remains. The satirical prints sold by seventeenth-, eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century booksellers still appear in shop windows on the King’s Road and in Bloomsbury; the dozens of novels containing black characters from the same period are still in many libraries. My task in this book is to reconstruct London, and indeed the entire country, by altering our vision."
Beginning with the presence of black entertainers and servants in the courts of Queen Elizabeth, and the slave trade which she supported - although she also expressed concern at the number of black people entering England, slave or free, who threatened the livelihood of white Britons - there have been black people living and working in Britain. What Gerzina achieves here is to paint a detailed picture of their lives, of the range of black experiences, from honoured courtiers to enslaved workers.
"... once the lens through which we view the eighteenth century is refocused, the London of Johnson, Reynolds, Hogarth and Pope—that elegant, feisty, intellectual and earthy place of neo-classicism and city chaos—becomes occupied by a parallel world of Africans and their descendants working and living alongside the English. They answer their doors, run their errands, carry their purchases, wear their livery, appear in their lawcourts, play their music, drink in their taverns, write in their newspapers, appear in their novels, poems and plays, sit for their portraits, appear in their caricatures and marry their servants. They also have private lives and baptize their own children, attend schools, bury their dead. They are everywhere in the pictures we have all seen and the pages we have turned. They were as familiar a sight to Shakespeare as they were to Garrick, and almost as familiar to both as they are to Londoners today."
Grezina also explores the legal cases touching on the issue of the legitimacy of slavery in Britain, illustrating the slow evolution in law of abolitionist ideas. She spends considerable time on the 1772 Somerset v. Stewart case which, despite its narrow applicability - resolving only the question of whether one man, James Somerset, was to be considered slave or free under British law - became a significant precedent and influenced the politics of slavery far beyond the effect specified by the judge, William Murray, Lord Mansfield (who was the great-uncle and guardian of Dido Elizabeth Belle [2]).
"All over Britain and America, slaves, abolitionists, lawyers and judges cited the Somerset case as ending slavery in Britain, a precedent which many saw as applying to America as well: slaves who crossed into free states with their masters, even temporarily, tested the legality of slavery. Despite Mansfield’s many pains to reassert the deliberate narrowness of his decision, he seemed powerless to stem the tide of misinterpretation, demonstrating ‘a legal world where things are not what they seem, a world of deceptive appearances and unforeseen consequences’.... Despite the decision, slaves were still sold and sent out of the country for years afterward, often quite openly."
As unrest grew in the American colonies, British colonial governors began to offer escaped slaves and freedom in return for enrolling in the British armies. These freedmen fought for the British side and after the Revolution, many - though not all - were evacuated, along with other British Loyalists. Ironically, many of these free blacks sailed alongside white Loyalists departing for other British colonies with their slaves. In all, approximately 14,000 free blacks were transported to Nova Scotia, Jamaica, St Lucia, Nassau and England. Unfortunately, the British Empire was not prepared for such an influx of free black displaced British citizens.
"Up until 1783 Britain’s black population consisted mainly of servants and former servants, musicians and seamen. Suddenly, with the end of the war with America, England felt itself ‘overwhelmed’ by an influx of black soldiers who had served the loyalist cause and who crossed the Atlantic for their promised freedom and compensation. Refugees from slavery shuttled between the West Indies, America, Canada, Europe and Africa looking for freedom, homes and work in a western world still financially dependent upon slavery and the slave trade. There was, it seemed, no safe harbour, no one to trust, no way to escape the effects of the African diaspora and 250 years of the triangular trade."
British response to the increase of the black population was, ultimately, to try to get rid of it. Grezina details the disastrous history of the scene to resettle as many blacks as possible from Britain to Sierra Leone, noting that "From beginning to end, even with the most altruistic and charitable of motives, England’s involvement with the Sierra Leone colony had involved intrigue, greed and poor planning." After suffering years of mismanagement, chaos, and neglect, the situation in the colony finally began to improve with the arrival of a second group of black settlers from Nova Scotia.
Ironically, once the government plan to send blacks from Britain to Sierra Leone was embarked upon, the momentum of the abolitionist movement in Britain began to build up speed. In the last section of her book, Grezina examines the key events marking the movement's progress, ending in the adoption on March 25, 1807, of a bill stating that as of 1 January 1808 the slave trade was to be ‘utterly abolished, prohibited and declared to be unlawful’.
Grezina's work is well- and widely-researched, highly readable, and full of detail that brings to life both the experience of black people in the heart of England and the struggle for freedom.
[1] Peter Fryer, Black People in the British Empire: An Introduction
[2] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dido_...
"While nearly five centuries have passed since the beginning of that continuous presence, a vivid trail of diaries, memoirs, public records and pictures remains. The satirical prints sold by seventeenth-, eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century booksellers still appear in shop windows on the King’s Road and in Bloomsbury; the dozens of novels containing black characters from the same period are still in many libraries. My task in this book is to reconstruct London, and indeed the entire country, by altering our vision."
Beginning with the presence of black entertainers and servants in the courts of Queen Elizabeth, and the slave trade which she supported - although she also expressed concern at the number of black people entering England, slave or free, who threatened the livelihood of white Britons - there have been black people living and working in Britain. What Gerzina achieves here is to paint a detailed picture of their lives, of the range of black experiences, from honoured courtiers to enslaved workers.
"... once the lens through which we view the eighteenth century is refocused, the London of Johnson, Reynolds, Hogarth and Pope—that elegant, feisty, intellectual and earthy place of neo-classicism and city chaos—becomes occupied by a parallel world of Africans and their descendants working and living alongside the English. They answer their doors, run their errands, carry their purchases, wear their livery, appear in their lawcourts, play their music, drink in their taverns, write in their newspapers, appear in their novels, poems and plays, sit for their portraits, appear in their caricatures and marry their servants. They also have private lives and baptize their own children, attend schools, bury their dead. They are everywhere in the pictures we have all seen and the pages we have turned. They were as familiar a sight to Shakespeare as they were to Garrick, and almost as familiar to both as they are to Londoners today."
Grezina also explores the legal cases touching on the issue of the legitimacy of slavery in Britain, illustrating the slow evolution in law of abolitionist ideas. She spends considerable time on the 1772 Somerset v. Stewart case which, despite its narrow applicability - resolving only the question of whether one man, James Somerset, was to be considered slave or free under British law - became a significant precedent and influenced the politics of slavery far beyond the effect specified by the judge, William Murray, Lord Mansfield (who was the great-uncle and guardian of Dido Elizabeth Belle [2]).
"All over Britain and America, slaves, abolitionists, lawyers and judges cited the Somerset case as ending slavery in Britain, a precedent which many saw as applying to America as well: slaves who crossed into free states with their masters, even temporarily, tested the legality of slavery. Despite Mansfield’s many pains to reassert the deliberate narrowness of his decision, he seemed powerless to stem the tide of misinterpretation, demonstrating ‘a legal world where things are not what they seem, a world of deceptive appearances and unforeseen consequences’.... Despite the decision, slaves were still sold and sent out of the country for years afterward, often quite openly."
As unrest grew in the American colonies, British colonial governors began to offer escaped slaves and freedom in return for enrolling in the British armies. These freedmen fought for the British side and after the Revolution, many - though not all - were evacuated, along with other British Loyalists. Ironically, many of these free blacks sailed alongside white Loyalists departing for other British colonies with their slaves. In all, approximately 14,000 free blacks were transported to Nova Scotia, Jamaica, St Lucia, Nassau and England. Unfortunately, the British Empire was not prepared for such an influx of free black displaced British citizens.
"Up until 1783 Britain’s black population consisted mainly of servants and former servants, musicians and seamen. Suddenly, with the end of the war with America, England felt itself ‘overwhelmed’ by an influx of black soldiers who had served the loyalist cause and who crossed the Atlantic for their promised freedom and compensation. Refugees from slavery shuttled between the West Indies, America, Canada, Europe and Africa looking for freedom, homes and work in a western world still financially dependent upon slavery and the slave trade. There was, it seemed, no safe harbour, no one to trust, no way to escape the effects of the African diaspora and 250 years of the triangular trade."
British response to the increase of the black population was, ultimately, to try to get rid of it. Grezina details the disastrous history of the scene to resettle as many blacks as possible from Britain to Sierra Leone, noting that "From beginning to end, even with the most altruistic and charitable of motives, England’s involvement with the Sierra Leone colony had involved intrigue, greed and poor planning." After suffering years of mismanagement, chaos, and neglect, the situation in the colony finally began to improve with the arrival of a second group of black settlers from Nova Scotia.
Ironically, once the government plan to send blacks from Britain to Sierra Leone was embarked upon, the momentum of the abolitionist movement in Britain began to build up speed. In the last section of her book, Grezina examines the key events marking the movement's progress, ending in the adoption on March 25, 1807, of a bill stating that as of 1 January 1808 the slave trade was to be ‘utterly abolished, prohibited and declared to be unlawful’.
Grezina's work is well- and widely-researched, highly readable, and full of detail that brings to life both the experience of black people in the heart of England and the struggle for freedom.
[1] Peter Fryer, Black People in the British Empire: An Introduction
[2] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dido_...
January 11, 2020
A healthy reveal (to me) of the prevalence and nature of black participation in society (18th C mostly); the British belief in being special and free, and how in a perverse way, amidst the pursuit of profit and ever-present racism and xenophobia, slavery came to an end. In fits and starts, muddling towards the right thing and against strong opposition. Even the helpers hindered. Hurrah for the black folk who come to life in these pages in the 1730s, 1770s, 1780s. Not just London but Liverpool, Bristol, Sierra Leone come to life; the effects of the American War for Independence, too. Super stuff.
Read
October 14, 2023DNF. This is an unusual one for me in terms of that it's very clearly a well-written book, impeccably researched, and brings to light a little-known section of British history.
However, the style is simply far too academic for my liking. The blurb purports that it "brings history alive" - for me, it was just too much of a slog and I prefer my non-fiction to be either more conversational in tone or almost fictional in terms of how the story is told (think Maya Angelou, or Educated by Tara Westover).
I never felt connected to any of the subjects Gerzina discusses, but perhaps in retrospect that was to be expected, given how scantly black people in Georgian England had their lives documented. For the historians and academics among you who enjoy thorough and meticulously referenced non-fiction, this is for you.
However, the style is simply far too academic for my liking. The blurb purports that it "brings history alive" - for me, it was just too much of a slog and I prefer my non-fiction to be either more conversational in tone or almost fictional in terms of how the story is told (think Maya Angelou, or Educated by Tara Westover).
I never felt connected to any of the subjects Gerzina discusses, but perhaps in retrospect that was to be expected, given how scantly black people in Georgian England had their lives documented. For the historians and academics among you who enjoy thorough and meticulously referenced non-fiction, this is for you.
Read
February 15, 2019A really interesting book. It provided a detailed history of how slavery came to be thoroughly outlawed in England, and public outcry against the slave trade grew. The most interesting part, though, were the pieces about specific individuals, the black men and a few women who lived in England, mostly in the 1700s, in various circumstances. Some were miserable, but quite a few lived well and had interesting and far-reaching social circles that were not circumscribed by race. Definitely worth reading to get a better picture of life in England at the time.
January 19, 2023
Interesting. Very interesting. Makes a lot of sense. Interesting to compare to other cultures and modern day. Also to my own ideologies and how they may have formed. Some self analysis need as always must wrestle with privilege. Also I knew very little about this and knowledge is good. This tells me a lot. Quite a dense read tho wont lie.
June 2, 2023
Excellent read, learnt a lot.
October 28, 2023
Lots of interesting historic stories of PoC.
July 8, 2024
Do yourself a favour and read this
September 16, 2023
Very informed reading,
March 8, 2024
This book is essential. Black history happened, and the bones of this particular history are still being discussed today. Contrary to what we’ve been taught, black Georgians existed in Britain. We share a past with them!In fact around 20,000 people were recorded by the end of the 1700s which is a staggering statistic. Did you know that centuries before, Queen Elizabeth I issued an edict demanding that the black population of England leave? Yikes.
Those long overlooked people finally make their debut.
In Black England we meet the likes of Dido Belle ( a black British gentlewoman as seen on the cover) and Ignatius Sancho ( the first black man in Britain to cast his vote in 1774 and 1780). Gerzina offers glimpses into their lives and represents people of different backgrounds. Really extraordinary research and writing.
I loved it so much. It is both heartbreaking and hugely resourceful. The material itself is short but so thorough that Gerzina provides us with indispensable knowledge about society and classist culture all the way back in the eighteenth century.
Life was far more rich and complex than we can begin to imagine. We may perceive the eighteenth century as a time of great dances and glittering fortune, but running beneath all the Georgian amusement was a “ cold hearted and violent era”. We cannot ignore the fact that people of colour were treated monstrously. This treatment was rampant in England and overseas, up until the abolitionists like Sancho stepped in and changed the discourse entirely ✨
Black people served a dual role in society: slaves and servants, artisans and publicans. All of their fortunes heavily relied on societal ideals and attitudes. While it was a period of great social and cultural change, Gerzina carefully points out the greed and “ vulgar pomposity” of the upper white class. Shockingly this behaviour is still happening today- I’m just glad we’re waking up ✨
Those long overlooked people finally make their debut.
In Black England we meet the likes of Dido Belle ( a black British gentlewoman as seen on the cover) and Ignatius Sancho ( the first black man in Britain to cast his vote in 1774 and 1780). Gerzina offers glimpses into their lives and represents people of different backgrounds. Really extraordinary research and writing.
I loved it so much. It is both heartbreaking and hugely resourceful. The material itself is short but so thorough that Gerzina provides us with indispensable knowledge about society and classist culture all the way back in the eighteenth century.
Life was far more rich and complex than we can begin to imagine. We may perceive the eighteenth century as a time of great dances and glittering fortune, but running beneath all the Georgian amusement was a “ cold hearted and violent era”. We cannot ignore the fact that people of colour were treated monstrously. This treatment was rampant in England and overseas, up until the abolitionists like Sancho stepped in and changed the discourse entirely ✨
Black people served a dual role in society: slaves and servants, artisans and publicans. All of their fortunes heavily relied on societal ideals and attitudes. While it was a period of great social and cultural change, Gerzina carefully points out the greed and “ vulgar pomposity” of the upper white class. Shockingly this behaviour is still happening today- I’m just glad we’re waking up ✨
March 11, 2017
This was an excellent book, full of interesting facts and surprisingly readable. On plus, the author has granted free accesss to the text through the Darmouth College Library website (link).
Essentially, the book portrays the life of black people in eighteenth-century London. It describes the general context, the lives of some personalities like Jack Beef, Francis Barber, Elizabeth Clemens, Olaudah Equiano, Ignatius Sancho, Jonathan Strong, Henry Soubise and the abolishment of slavery.
I specially like the section about the situation of women and the careful analysis of the relative importance given to race and class depending of the events. One thing that bothers me in some social analysis is the focus on only one factor like genre, class, race, etc. in spite of a balanced and accurate analysis of a time. Some researchers get married with an approach or type of study and end up with an irresponsible distorsion of events in order to fit their framework.
Also, several of the arguments used by the pro-slavery groups are very similar with some arguments used against immigrants, refugees and poors. It's frightening but enlightening and a good reminder of the need to be vigilant. One of the strongest reflections I got from the book was that, even if you bought or were given freedom, you would never have the guarantee and tranquility of being free as long as slavery was socially and legally accepted. Another good reminder for the people who are indifferent to problems because "they aren't their business/situation/I'm legal/citizen/rich". As long as the structural mechanisms of inequality and injustice persists, we will never be truly free. In the end, one can naturalize or justify discrimination against any group, there are many examples in History, as long as someone benefits from it and as long as it's accepted.
Anyway, I recommend this book to everyone! It made me want to approach the history of the abolishment of slavery in my country with new eyes. Similar to American, one learns at school the name of the president who signed it but the process must be far more complex.
Read as part of Diversity Bingo 2017 (square: Diverse Non - Fiction)
Quotes that I liked:
"Yet he [Sharp], like most abolitionist, never became a proponent of racial equality while devoting his life to racial justice" p. 2
"For example, most historians give 1555, when five Africans arrived to learn English and thereby facilitate trade, as the beginning of a continual black presence in Britain. By 1596 there were so many black people in England that Queen Elizabeth I issued an edict demanding they leave" p. 3
"As early as the beginning of the sixteenth century black entertainers had begun to appear in Scotland. Imported by the royal courts they quickly became not only popular but fashionably essential in England as well. Elizabeth herself, like her father before her, brought into her court an African entertainer and a page, making it 'clearly difficult for her to take a stand against the employment of Blacks when monarchs and their court favourites had themselves seen fit to find a niche for them at court." p. 4
"More than simply working their way into the language, such example prove the intricate weaving of Africans into a developing sense of an English identity in which, as Stuart Hall says, 'images produce and sustain an uncodified but immensely powerful conservative sense of Englishness.' The English only began to see themselves as 'white' when they discovered 'black' people." p. 4
"In 1768 Sharp and others put the number of blakc servants in London at 20,000, out of a total London population of 676,250."
"In the later eighteenth century there were black pubs, churches and community meeting places, changing the picture of isolated individual domestic service and roving beggars on London streets to that of a thriving and structured black community" p. 5
"The underside was in Africa, on slave ships, and in the Caribbean and the Americas. The livery and the turbans resulted from the slave trade, New World slavery, and a plantation economy. Trade had brought silk and cotton to English backs, coffee, tea and sugar to their tables, and a romantic primitivism to their art and literature. But the tea, the sugar they stirred into it, and sometimes the very cups themselves existed because of the forced labour of black people, and the reminders of this inequality were around them daily." p 18
"In 1783 this poverty-stricken population was drastically augmented by black immigrants from North America, those who had fought for Britain in the American war and now arrived for their promised freedom" p. 18 y 19
"Mixed-race marriages tended not to be seen as probleamtic to the English because they primarily occured among the lower working classes" p. 21
"As long as they appeared to have no voice or power, black people's enslavemente could be viewed as an improvement not only over their former unchristian state, but over the the difficult lives of millions of white English citizens" 26
"While the general concern was that bringing unpaid black servants to England led to increased unemployment among white servants, since no slave required a salary, the real fear was that they would no longer consider themselves as slaves and might expect the rights afforded to white people." p. 41
"Francis was lucky to be able to reach adulthood in England, for the biggest difficulty facing young black males of the period was that they were prized for their youth and scorned for their manhood. The most common solution to adolescence was deportation; when they outgrew their usefulness as fashion accesories they were sold back into plantation slavery much as one would get rid of a difficult lapdog. Those were allowed to remain in England were often apprentinced, sold or turned into faithful family retainers." p. 53
"..the Duke [of Devonshire] didn't want a negro servants because it 'was more original to have a Chinese page than a black one; everybody had a black one.'" p. 53
"Here and elsewhere appears in his [Ignatius Sancho] letters what W. E. B. Dubois would much later refer to as the 'double consciousness' that was an inevitable part of the black experience, the simultaneous and sometimes conflicting awareness of being both part of the political and social organism as a citizen, and of being a descendant of Africa." p. 63
"As the battle over slavery heated up, British factions promoted two opposing images of black women. To the promoters of slavery black women were sexual creatures, necessary to colonial labour and complicit in an open system of concubinage. To abolitionist they were wives and mothers torn from family and home." p. 68
Quoting "...Cartoonist and caricaturists, those graphic barometers of English society in the late eighteenth century, took great delight in bringing to their curious audience the saucy truth or mischievous innuendo of sexual relations between black and white. There were of course instances of happy, stable relations between black and white which managed to survived the pressures of society. But these were generally ignored as society of all levels fixed its sordid gaze on the more titillating aspects of sexual relations." p. 72
"Notoriously spoiled in both the East and West Indies, white women in the eighteenth century, like those in earlier centuries, frequently used darker, subservient women to elevate themselves socially and to appear fairer complexioned. Much more tangible than these aesthetic concerns were those of personal safety and welfare, for during the frequent slave revolts whites were often rescued by faithful blacks. It was to this as well as to the image of thwarted motherhood that abolitionists turned, but in England these faithful servants and their masters and mistresses had different relationships." p. 75
"Even so, a number of black women able to remain in England achieved a reasonably comfortable life. Many were baptized, some of course hoping thereby to gain official freedom, but others out of true religious and communal feeling." p. 79
"Oddly enough, despite the glowing and famous example of Anne and Ignatius Sancho, part of the novelty for eighteenth-century Britons was not in seeing black people individually, but in seeing black people marry and set up house together." p. 90
"Most black women seem to have been far less well off than their male counterparts, unable to get the kind of secure domestic positions available to men. The latter were still seen as exotic appendages or brute labour and had more appeal to employers than black women who were in competition with white servants for jobs." p. 87
"In the opinion of Sharp, the only way black people could be denied the same legal rights as other English people would be if their owners could prove, which naturally they could not, that they were not human." p. 102
"The timing of the Somerset case affected both countries in ways that Sharp probably never anticipated. While he and others were fightin to resolve the issue of freedom for British slaves, the American colonists adopted similar rhetoric to agitate for white colonists' freedom from England. The hypocrisy of whites proclaiming themselves 'enslaved' by the British government and declaring a few years later the 'self-evident' truth 'that all men were created equal' was lost on neither American and British slaves." p. 133
"Up until 1783 Britain's black population consisted mainly of servants and former servants, musicians and seamen. Suddenly, with the end of the war with America, Englad felt itself 'overwhelmed' by an influx of black soldiers who had served the loyalist cause and who crossed the Atlantic for their promised freedom and compensation." p. 136
"Most of the recipients were not only in desperate and immediate need but were hoping to find a more permanent solution to their poverty. There was barely any work for them in Britain if they were unattached to white people or, unlike Sancho and Barber, they had no independent income to use in setting up a business.
There seemed to be one possible solution to black poverty in England, and oddly enought it was one on which the government, the philanthropists and the poor themselves agreed. They could leave Britain, individually or en masse, and try to make a go of it somewhere else." pp. 140 -141
"Outside of London, where black servants were common, the loneliness of African slaves must have been overwhelming no matter how well they were treated." p. 154
"By this time African princes were stock characters in English literature and, like Aphra Behn's Oroonoko, the wrongly enslaved African prince or the noble savage was of literary use on a number of fronts. The anti-slavery movement used him as a plea for abolition. Novelists and poets used him for sentimental value, both as a main character or as a tale within a tale. And the moralists, mainly writing didatic literature for children, used him as a religious and behavioural exemplum." p. 176
"Particularly amongst women writers, abolition and fiction seemed to go hand in hand, even when the works did not preach equality. By the end of the century black characters appeared in both West Indian and English settings. No longer was it sufficient merely to place them in exotic settings; now they also could be used to point out the hypocrisies of class at home." p. 187
"While the black residents and citizens of England were aware of and grateful for the abolitionists' work, they too were involved in the movement to end the slave trade and slavery" p. 190
[About Granville] "The modern mistake is assuming that such compassion and devotion to a just cause naturally equated to an egalitarian view, especially in a world where egalitarianism led to wars in France and America. Yet, like abolitionists in northern America, such selflessness had little to do with personal relations. Indeed, in a society changing rapidly on many fronts, it was natural that Sharp's unflagging dedication to humanitarian causes would coincide with a religious and scientific enquiry." p. 196
"The real difficulty with the attempt to abolish the slave trade stemmed from the smugness with which the English embraced the supposed freedom of their own air, while enjoying the rewards of slavery elsewhere." p. 199
"The fact was, as a number of subsequent historians have noted, that slavery did not end by unflagging work and good intentions alone, but because the trade was nearing the end of it commercial worth, related to the need to stem the overproduction of sugar." p. 201
"There had been by Jacobs' time many generations of blacks in England, the descendants of slaves (and often of whites too) who were never slaves themselves. They 'no longer thought of themselves as constituing a distinct black community. They were part of the British poor', Fryer writes. Perhaps because the importation of black slaves slowed and finally ceased, and because the existing black English population commonly intermarried with whites, black people themselves once again acquired a kind of exoticism and sympathy when they were enslaved elsewhere." p. 203
"What became of the many thousands of black people who remained in England after the abolition of the slave? Like the children and granchildren and great-grandchildren of Francis Barber, they married and raised families and worked - in England. They became, in short, English people, even though the 'records of their lives are obscured and scattered, and they have for the most part been forgotten by their descendants. But there must be many thousands of British families who, if they traced their roots back to the eighteenth or early nineteenth century, would find among their ancestors an African or person of African descent.'
Their descendants live among us. From London to Liverpool they walk the same streets as their ancestors, with lineage that goes back, for some, even to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. They have intermarried and become inextricably entwined in England's past and present. While individuals have doubtless been long forgotten, theirs is nonetheless an unbroken living legacy, a continual and a very English presence." p. 204
Essentially, the book portrays the life of black people in eighteenth-century London. It describes the general context, the lives of some personalities like Jack Beef, Francis Barber, Elizabeth Clemens, Olaudah Equiano, Ignatius Sancho, Jonathan Strong, Henry Soubise and the abolishment of slavery.
I specially like the section about the situation of women and the careful analysis of the relative importance given to race and class depending of the events. One thing that bothers me in some social analysis is the focus on only one factor like genre, class, race, etc. in spite of a balanced and accurate analysis of a time. Some researchers get married with an approach or type of study and end up with an irresponsible distorsion of events in order to fit their framework.
Also, several of the arguments used by the pro-slavery groups are very similar with some arguments used against immigrants, refugees and poors. It's frightening but enlightening and a good reminder of the need to be vigilant. One of the strongest reflections I got from the book was that, even if you bought or were given freedom, you would never have the guarantee and tranquility of being free as long as slavery was socially and legally accepted. Another good reminder for the people who are indifferent to problems because "they aren't their business/situation/I'm legal/citizen/rich". As long as the structural mechanisms of inequality and injustice persists, we will never be truly free. In the end, one can naturalize or justify discrimination against any group, there are many examples in History, as long as someone benefits from it and as long as it's accepted.
Anyway, I recommend this book to everyone! It made me want to approach the history of the abolishment of slavery in my country with new eyes. Similar to American, one learns at school the name of the president who signed it but the process must be far more complex.
Read as part of Diversity Bingo 2017 (square: Diverse Non - Fiction)
Quotes that I liked:
"Yet he [Sharp], like most abolitionist, never became a proponent of racial equality while devoting his life to racial justice" p. 2
"For example, most historians give 1555, when five Africans arrived to learn English and thereby facilitate trade, as the beginning of a continual black presence in Britain. By 1596 there were so many black people in England that Queen Elizabeth I issued an edict demanding they leave" p. 3
"As early as the beginning of the sixteenth century black entertainers had begun to appear in Scotland. Imported by the royal courts they quickly became not only popular but fashionably essential in England as well. Elizabeth herself, like her father before her, brought into her court an African entertainer and a page, making it 'clearly difficult for her to take a stand against the employment of Blacks when monarchs and their court favourites had themselves seen fit to find a niche for them at court." p. 4
"More than simply working their way into the language, such example prove the intricate weaving of Africans into a developing sense of an English identity in which, as Stuart Hall says, 'images produce and sustain an uncodified but immensely powerful conservative sense of Englishness.' The English only began to see themselves as 'white' when they discovered 'black' people." p. 4
"In 1768 Sharp and others put the number of blakc servants in London at 20,000, out of a total London population of 676,250."
"In the later eighteenth century there were black pubs, churches and community meeting places, changing the picture of isolated individual domestic service and roving beggars on London streets to that of a thriving and structured black community" p. 5
"The underside was in Africa, on slave ships, and in the Caribbean and the Americas. The livery and the turbans resulted from the slave trade, New World slavery, and a plantation economy. Trade had brought silk and cotton to English backs, coffee, tea and sugar to their tables, and a romantic primitivism to their art and literature. But the tea, the sugar they stirred into it, and sometimes the very cups themselves existed because of the forced labour of black people, and the reminders of this inequality were around them daily." p 18
"In 1783 this poverty-stricken population was drastically augmented by black immigrants from North America, those who had fought for Britain in the American war and now arrived for their promised freedom" p. 18 y 19
"Mixed-race marriages tended not to be seen as probleamtic to the English because they primarily occured among the lower working classes" p. 21
"As long as they appeared to have no voice or power, black people's enslavemente could be viewed as an improvement not only over their former unchristian state, but over the the difficult lives of millions of white English citizens" 26
"While the general concern was that bringing unpaid black servants to England led to increased unemployment among white servants, since no slave required a salary, the real fear was that they would no longer consider themselves as slaves and might expect the rights afforded to white people." p. 41
"Francis was lucky to be able to reach adulthood in England, for the biggest difficulty facing young black males of the period was that they were prized for their youth and scorned for their manhood. The most common solution to adolescence was deportation; when they outgrew their usefulness as fashion accesories they were sold back into plantation slavery much as one would get rid of a difficult lapdog. Those were allowed to remain in England were often apprentinced, sold or turned into faithful family retainers." p. 53
"..the Duke [of Devonshire] didn't want a negro servants because it 'was more original to have a Chinese page than a black one; everybody had a black one.'" p. 53
"Here and elsewhere appears in his [Ignatius Sancho] letters what W. E. B. Dubois would much later refer to as the 'double consciousness' that was an inevitable part of the black experience, the simultaneous and sometimes conflicting awareness of being both part of the political and social organism as a citizen, and of being a descendant of Africa." p. 63
"As the battle over slavery heated up, British factions promoted two opposing images of black women. To the promoters of slavery black women were sexual creatures, necessary to colonial labour and complicit in an open system of concubinage. To abolitionist they were wives and mothers torn from family and home." p. 68
Quoting "...Cartoonist and caricaturists, those graphic barometers of English society in the late eighteenth century, took great delight in bringing to their curious audience the saucy truth or mischievous innuendo of sexual relations between black and white. There were of course instances of happy, stable relations between black and white which managed to survived the pressures of society. But these were generally ignored as society of all levels fixed its sordid gaze on the more titillating aspects of sexual relations." p. 72
"Notoriously spoiled in both the East and West Indies, white women in the eighteenth century, like those in earlier centuries, frequently used darker, subservient women to elevate themselves socially and to appear fairer complexioned. Much more tangible than these aesthetic concerns were those of personal safety and welfare, for during the frequent slave revolts whites were often rescued by faithful blacks. It was to this as well as to the image of thwarted motherhood that abolitionists turned, but in England these faithful servants and their masters and mistresses had different relationships." p. 75
"Even so, a number of black women able to remain in England achieved a reasonably comfortable life. Many were baptized, some of course hoping thereby to gain official freedom, but others out of true religious and communal feeling." p. 79
"Oddly enough, despite the glowing and famous example of Anne and Ignatius Sancho, part of the novelty for eighteenth-century Britons was not in seeing black people individually, but in seeing black people marry and set up house together." p. 90
"Most black women seem to have been far less well off than their male counterparts, unable to get the kind of secure domestic positions available to men. The latter were still seen as exotic appendages or brute labour and had more appeal to employers than black women who were in competition with white servants for jobs." p. 87
"In the opinion of Sharp, the only way black people could be denied the same legal rights as other English people would be if their owners could prove, which naturally they could not, that they were not human." p. 102
"The timing of the Somerset case affected both countries in ways that Sharp probably never anticipated. While he and others were fightin to resolve the issue of freedom for British slaves, the American colonists adopted similar rhetoric to agitate for white colonists' freedom from England. The hypocrisy of whites proclaiming themselves 'enslaved' by the British government and declaring a few years later the 'self-evident' truth 'that all men were created equal' was lost on neither American and British slaves." p. 133
"Up until 1783 Britain's black population consisted mainly of servants and former servants, musicians and seamen. Suddenly, with the end of the war with America, Englad felt itself 'overwhelmed' by an influx of black soldiers who had served the loyalist cause and who crossed the Atlantic for their promised freedom and compensation." p. 136
"Most of the recipients were not only in desperate and immediate need but were hoping to find a more permanent solution to their poverty. There was barely any work for them in Britain if they were unattached to white people or, unlike Sancho and Barber, they had no independent income to use in setting up a business.
There seemed to be one possible solution to black poverty in England, and oddly enought it was one on which the government, the philanthropists and the poor themselves agreed. They could leave Britain, individually or en masse, and try to make a go of it somewhere else." pp. 140 -141
"Outside of London, where black servants were common, the loneliness of African slaves must have been overwhelming no matter how well they were treated." p. 154
"By this time African princes were stock characters in English literature and, like Aphra Behn's Oroonoko, the wrongly enslaved African prince or the noble savage was of literary use on a number of fronts. The anti-slavery movement used him as a plea for abolition. Novelists and poets used him for sentimental value, both as a main character or as a tale within a tale. And the moralists, mainly writing didatic literature for children, used him as a religious and behavioural exemplum." p. 176
"Particularly amongst women writers, abolition and fiction seemed to go hand in hand, even when the works did not preach equality. By the end of the century black characters appeared in both West Indian and English settings. No longer was it sufficient merely to place them in exotic settings; now they also could be used to point out the hypocrisies of class at home." p. 187
"While the black residents and citizens of England were aware of and grateful for the abolitionists' work, they too were involved in the movement to end the slave trade and slavery" p. 190
[About Granville] "The modern mistake is assuming that such compassion and devotion to a just cause naturally equated to an egalitarian view, especially in a world where egalitarianism led to wars in France and America. Yet, like abolitionists in northern America, such selflessness had little to do with personal relations. Indeed, in a society changing rapidly on many fronts, it was natural that Sharp's unflagging dedication to humanitarian causes would coincide with a religious and scientific enquiry." p. 196
"The real difficulty with the attempt to abolish the slave trade stemmed from the smugness with which the English embraced the supposed freedom of their own air, while enjoying the rewards of slavery elsewhere." p. 199
"The fact was, as a number of subsequent historians have noted, that slavery did not end by unflagging work and good intentions alone, but because the trade was nearing the end of it commercial worth, related to the need to stem the overproduction of sugar." p. 201
"There had been by Jacobs' time many generations of blacks in England, the descendants of slaves (and often of whites too) who were never slaves themselves. They 'no longer thought of themselves as constituing a distinct black community. They were part of the British poor', Fryer writes. Perhaps because the importation of black slaves slowed and finally ceased, and because the existing black English population commonly intermarried with whites, black people themselves once again acquired a kind of exoticism and sympathy when they were enslaved elsewhere." p. 203
"What became of the many thousands of black people who remained in England after the abolition of the slave? Like the children and granchildren and great-grandchildren of Francis Barber, they married and raised families and worked - in England. They became, in short, English people, even though the 'records of their lives are obscured and scattered, and they have for the most part been forgotten by their descendants. But there must be many thousands of British families who, if they traced their roots back to the eighteenth or early nineteenth century, would find among their ancestors an African or person of African descent.'
Their descendants live among us. From London to Liverpool they walk the same streets as their ancestors, with lineage that goes back, for some, even to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. They have intermarried and become inextricably entwined in England's past and present. While individuals have doubtless been long forgotten, theirs is nonetheless an unbroken living legacy, a continual and a very English presence." p. 204
February 20, 2017
For the most part the writing was pretty accessible. Though sometimes there was an assumption that you'd be moderately familiar with English history, which I'm not. People and events would be referred to as though you were supposed to just get the point of the reference, rather than explaining it, sometimes even when the event discussed was thoroughly discussed later in the same book. (I should really look up who David Garrick is..)
I was struck by how much the racism described by Gerzina from the 1790s and early 1800s resembles that of today. Though that shouldn't really come as a surprise, given that Black people have been saying this all along. One contrast I did notice, though, was in how the abolitionists of the day realized that believing in this cause would mean fundamentally altering how they would conduct their lives. At least for some of them it wasn't this half-assed liberal thing you see nowadays.
As always when I read history, I was amazed at the sort of... unevenness of laws, social mores, cultural practices, and public opinion. It's as if I expected that just because slavery was a thing that existed in the 'West Indies', everything in England would also be in perfect alignment with that fact, and there would be little way for some random people off the street to have much effect on how things are done. I was reminded yet again that 'random people off the street' are how history happens. People make choices, pursue goals by whatever means they can get their hands on.
I was struck by how much the racism described by Gerzina from the 1790s and early 1800s resembles that of today. Though that shouldn't really come as a surprise, given that Black people have been saying this all along. One contrast I did notice, though, was in how the abolitionists of the day realized that believing in this cause would mean fundamentally altering how they would conduct their lives. At least for some of them it wasn't this half-assed liberal thing you see nowadays.
As always when I read history, I was amazed at the sort of... unevenness of laws, social mores, cultural practices, and public opinion. It's as if I expected that just because slavery was a thing that existed in the 'West Indies', everything in England would also be in perfect alignment with that fact, and there would be little way for some random people off the street to have much effect on how things are done. I was reminded yet again that 'random people off the street' are how history happens. People make choices, pursue goals by whatever means they can get their hands on.
May 4, 2017
The title is a bit misleading, as this is more about black people in Britain as a whole, rather than just in London. Not a criticism; just a heads-up. Very thorough, with ample use of primary sources (although it could have used a keener editing eye in the second half). If gaps exist in the telling, and they do, they're the result of the scarcity of historical detail on individual black people's lives. This is an excellent attempt at filling in those lacunae.
Off to look up Ignatius Sancho now. The letter excerpts Gerzina quotes are intriguing.
3.5
Off to look up Ignatius Sancho now. The letter excerpts Gerzina quotes are intriguing.
3.5
Want to read
April 3, 2014Really frustratingly, the Kindle edition is so full of massive typesetting errors (in which several lines or even paragraphs are lost, each time) that I found the sample almost unreadable, and the cheapest secondhand paper edition I can find online is over £99. If anyone ever spots an affordable used copy, please let me know, because what I did manage to read in the Kindle sample was absolutely fascinating!
April 11, 2022
I really enjoyed the first half of the book the most— am more focused on every day life, well known black people in Britain, and representations of black people in the arts. The second half was very focused on court cases that led to emancipation and a (somewhat disastrous) resettlement project in Sierra Leone.
November 13, 2025
Originally published in 1995, this 2025 reissue of Gretchen Gerzina's "Black England: A Forgotten Georgian History" has been updated and has an introduction by novelist Zadie Smith. When the author was told by a bookseller that there were no Black people in Britain until 1945, she decided to put the record straight. The result is this fascinating, well-researched and readable book.
We discover that Black communities have existed in Britain for centuries. Indeed, back in the late 16th century, Elizabeth I issued a proclamation that all Black people in England should be deported (sound familiar?) because of fears they may take work away from white people. The Queen's proclamation proved ineffective.
The bulk of this book is concerned with the roles and experiences of Black people in 18th century England, as well as attitudes towards them from the white majority, influential people and the state. Then, as now, Black people could be found in every strata of society, from wealthy entrepreneurs to those living in poverty, with one major difference being the existence of slavery. Many Black people were slaves until court cases made it illegal for people to have slaves in Britain. Many of those freed slaves ended up living in slums.
Despite this, Black people were often kidnapped and taken to places where slavery was legal, places such as the Caribbean and America. Even the wealthiest Black person knew they were at risk of this.
We also discover there were exclusively or predominantly Black social structures built around certain pubs, coffee shops, churches and residential areas. (For a fictional account of one such community, I can recommend "Blackbirds of St Giles" by Lila Cain, which I reviewed a while back).
We meet many Black individuals such as Francis Barber, who was Dr Samuel Johnson's manservant; Ignatius Sancho, who was a friend of novelist Laurence Sterne (author of "Tristram Shandy" and "A Sentimental Journey" among other works); the Cambridge scholar Francis Williams; and Olaudah Equiano, whose autobiography "The Interesting Narrative..." described his birth in the Igbo region of Nigeria, his enslavement and him buying his freedom in 1766.
As a way of relieving their poverty (or to get poor Black people out of sight) it was proposed that Black people who wanted to would be offered free passage to Sierra Leone, as well as the means to support themselves. The motives of those involved were at times questionable, there were many delays and the few that made it to Sierra Leone found the land they'd been given to be inhospitable.
We also discover that during the American War of Independence, the British government said that any free Black Americans who fought on the side of the British would after the war be offered a home in England. We read that when free Blacks attempted to take advantage of this after the war, barriers were put in their way (reminiscent perhaps of the way we have treated Afghans who worked with the British army).
We also read about the attitudes of many white people at the time, both those who opposed and those who supported the rights of Black people. There were many White people who genuinely supported racial equality, such as Dr Johnson and later William Wilberforce. But there were those, like Granville Sharp, whose motives were more commercial. We also meet those who, like Scottish philosopher David Hume, considered Black people to be inferior, even in some cases sub-human.
We discover both the parallels and differences between 18th century and 21st century attitudes towards race and racial minorities. Ultimately, we discover that back then, as now, Black people fought back against the daily racism they experienced. It is necessary reading for anyone interested in the history of race in Britain.
We discover that Black communities have existed in Britain for centuries. Indeed, back in the late 16th century, Elizabeth I issued a proclamation that all Black people in England should be deported (sound familiar?) because of fears they may take work away from white people. The Queen's proclamation proved ineffective.
The bulk of this book is concerned with the roles and experiences of Black people in 18th century England, as well as attitudes towards them from the white majority, influential people and the state. Then, as now, Black people could be found in every strata of society, from wealthy entrepreneurs to those living in poverty, with one major difference being the existence of slavery. Many Black people were slaves until court cases made it illegal for people to have slaves in Britain. Many of those freed slaves ended up living in slums.
Despite this, Black people were often kidnapped and taken to places where slavery was legal, places such as the Caribbean and America. Even the wealthiest Black person knew they were at risk of this.
We also discover there were exclusively or predominantly Black social structures built around certain pubs, coffee shops, churches and residential areas. (For a fictional account of one such community, I can recommend "Blackbirds of St Giles" by Lila Cain, which I reviewed a while back).
We meet many Black individuals such as Francis Barber, who was Dr Samuel Johnson's manservant; Ignatius Sancho, who was a friend of novelist Laurence Sterne (author of "Tristram Shandy" and "A Sentimental Journey" among other works); the Cambridge scholar Francis Williams; and Olaudah Equiano, whose autobiography "The Interesting Narrative..." described his birth in the Igbo region of Nigeria, his enslavement and him buying his freedom in 1766.
As a way of relieving their poverty (or to get poor Black people out of sight) it was proposed that Black people who wanted to would be offered free passage to Sierra Leone, as well as the means to support themselves. The motives of those involved were at times questionable, there were many delays and the few that made it to Sierra Leone found the land they'd been given to be inhospitable.
We also discover that during the American War of Independence, the British government said that any free Black Americans who fought on the side of the British would after the war be offered a home in England. We read that when free Blacks attempted to take advantage of this after the war, barriers were put in their way (reminiscent perhaps of the way we have treated Afghans who worked with the British army).
We also read about the attitudes of many white people at the time, both those who opposed and those who supported the rights of Black people. There were many White people who genuinely supported racial equality, such as Dr Johnson and later William Wilberforce. But there were those, like Granville Sharp, whose motives were more commercial. We also meet those who, like Scottish philosopher David Hume, considered Black people to be inferior, even in some cases sub-human.
We discover both the parallels and differences between 18th century and 21st century attitudes towards race and racial minorities. Ultimately, we discover that back then, as now, Black people fought back against the daily racism they experienced. It is necessary reading for anyone interested in the history of race in Britain.
July 17, 2024
I first heard about this book when the author was interviewed on the Rex Factor podcast following their series on the Hanoverian consorts. She described the same event on the interview that she includes in her introduction - the experience of entering a London bookshop (in the late 80s or early 90s I think) looking for a copy of a book by Peter Fryer about the history of black people in England, and being told by the snooty white salesperson that there were no black people in England before 1945. Knowing that was not true, she set out to write a book amassing all the history she could find to show that woman was wrong.
My library had the original edition, which has apparently been updated and reissued, but the one I read was the original one. In the interview, Gerzina said that one of the things addressed in the update is current ideas about language, for example that it's quite different when you use the words "enslaved people" and "enslavers" than "slaves" and "masters."
The book is gracefully written at every turn, and discusses known and documented people of African descent specifically in London (although that is not the only place they were documented), as well as white English people who both tried to assist them and tried to re-enslave them in the Caribbean. Her nuanced portraits of people like Granville Sharp portray both their tireless efforts to abolish slavery and their more ambivalent feelings about the presence of black people in their little England. As she succinctly states, "The English only began to see themselves as 'white' when they discovered 'black' people." This goes for Europeans as a whole.
There were two things I did not previously know, that I found out in this book. The main reason there are so many portraits of wealthy white women that include a black page or servant is that the blacker the slave a woman was seen with, the whiter she looked in this era of admiration of the palest possible skin. I also had never read the story of the colonization scheme/scam that sent black English people to settle in Sierra Leone in the late 1700s. The people were in a jam - England was determined to export some of their growing population of poor black people, and it was going to be either Africa, or the Caribbean where they had no faith that a document certifying they were free would protect them from being re-enslaved. It turned out as you might expect, with most of them dying either while waiting to embark, or while trying to set up a living with few resources in a part of Africa frequented by slave traders. The whole thing began as a boondoggle and ended as a tragedy.
I had in mind while I read the comment of the director of the (British) Institute of Race Relations: "We are here because you were there."
My library had the original edition, which has apparently been updated and reissued, but the one I read was the original one. In the interview, Gerzina said that one of the things addressed in the update is current ideas about language, for example that it's quite different when you use the words "enslaved people" and "enslavers" than "slaves" and "masters."
The book is gracefully written at every turn, and discusses known and documented people of African descent specifically in London (although that is not the only place they were documented), as well as white English people who both tried to assist them and tried to re-enslave them in the Caribbean. Her nuanced portraits of people like Granville Sharp portray both their tireless efforts to abolish slavery and their more ambivalent feelings about the presence of black people in their little England. As she succinctly states, "The English only began to see themselves as 'white' when they discovered 'black' people." This goes for Europeans as a whole.
There were two things I did not previously know, that I found out in this book. The main reason there are so many portraits of wealthy white women that include a black page or servant is that the blacker the slave a woman was seen with, the whiter she looked in this era of admiration of the palest possible skin. I also had never read the story of the colonization scheme/scam that sent black English people to settle in Sierra Leone in the late 1700s. The people were in a jam - England was determined to export some of their growing population of poor black people, and it was going to be either Africa, or the Caribbean where they had no faith that a document certifying they were free would protect them from being re-enslaved. It turned out as you might expect, with most of them dying either while waiting to embark, or while trying to set up a living with few resources in a part of Africa frequented by slave traders. The whole thing began as a boondoggle and ended as a tragedy.
I had in mind while I read the comment of the director of the (British) Institute of Race Relations: "We are here because you were there."
June 17, 2024
While [Granville Sharp] and others were fighting to resolve the issue of freedom for British slaves, the American colonists adopted similar rhetoric to agitate for white colonists’ freedom from England. [loc. 2957]
Black England was sparked by a London bookseller who told Gerzina ‘Madam, there were no black people in England before 1945’: a falsehood which Gerzina explores in this account of Black people, history and culture in Britain. There's been a continuous Black presence in the UK since the 16th century, and by the 18th century there were over 20,000 Black people living in Britain: some were slaves, but others were free.
Gerzina examines aspects of Black life in England, from the entertainers and translators in Elizabethan London to the hypocrisies of the slave trade -- a trade that was condemned by many Britons. "From Yarmouth to Penrith, from Newcastle to Leeds to Cardiff, from cities to small villages, British citizens signed petitions and implored their government to stop trading in human lives." [loc. 3967] There's a thorough examination of how the British class system intersected with notions of race: "Black footmen might and did marry white serving maids without eyebrows being raised, but anyone marrying his cook, of whatever colour, committed a different, and far worse, sort of social transgression." [loc. 1701] Gerzina argues that there was generally less prejudice against Black people in Britain than in America (though still too much) and examines the 'myth' that Black slaves would become free as soon as they set foot on British soil. And even the most well-meaning and philanthropic individuals, Black as well as white, were prone to double standards and snap judgements.
I learnt a lot from this book, not least the history of the Sierra Leone Colony, which was founded as a settlement for freed slaves, but foundered due to mismanagement, delays, disease and conflict with local tribes. And I am inspired by the work of those who fought, with their time and their money and their energy, for the abolition of the slave trade.
First published in 1995, this updated edition has an impassioned foreword by Zadie Smith, and a Note from the author, written in 2022, that highlights some of the changes since the 1990s: research methods have changed, but so has society. Black Lives Matter, better racial representation in media, and international political movements. "This is still a past that deserves to be remembered."
April 1, 2025
Black England reveals a forgotten chapter of Black history in Georgian England. The author mentioned that her mission was to reconstruct London, and the entire country, by altering our vision, and bring to life many of the people alive then, the well-known as well as the obscure.
In the late eighteen century, there were Black pubs, churches, and community meeting places, changing the the picture of isolated individual domestic servants and beggars on London streets to that of a thriving and structured Black community. All of the prosperous citizens and newly freed slaves ran the risk of being kidnapped and sold to plantations. The book discusses the trials and tribulations of the Black community during this period before emancipation and after.
“We were here! No one ever told me that we were here!”
From what I remember (I’m almost 30 LMAO), we didn’t learn nearly any of this in school! Especially about the horrific Zong massacre. In the United States, American slavery is mainly discussed. We didn’t really go into the nitty gritty of Black history and slavery in Europe.
The book was very informative and thought-provoking. There was a lot I didn’t know of course but I’m glad to have a good reference to come back to and recommend to others interested in this important part of history.
There are a couple of things keeping this from being a 5⭐️
- I didn’t care for the chapter lengths. I think they could have broken up more. I don’t want to read 50 page chapters😭.
- The author could have went into a little bit more detail on a few things. For example, Dido Elizabeth Belle and her life. She’s on the cover but only had two pages of text about her.
- I would have liked to hear more about the triumphs of the Black community after emancipation. A small chapter at the end would have been appreciated.
Overall, I liked the book and would recommend it!
In the late eighteen century, there were Black pubs, churches, and community meeting places, changing the the picture of isolated individual domestic servants and beggars on London streets to that of a thriving and structured Black community. All of the prosperous citizens and newly freed slaves ran the risk of being kidnapped and sold to plantations. The book discusses the trials and tribulations of the Black community during this period before emancipation and after.
“We were here! No one ever told me that we were here!”
From what I remember (I’m almost 30 LMAO), we didn’t learn nearly any of this in school! Especially about the horrific Zong massacre. In the United States, American slavery is mainly discussed. We didn’t really go into the nitty gritty of Black history and slavery in Europe.
The book was very informative and thought-provoking. There was a lot I didn’t know of course but I’m glad to have a good reference to come back to and recommend to others interested in this important part of history.
There are a couple of things keeping this from being a 5⭐️
- I didn’t care for the chapter lengths. I think they could have broken up more. I don’t want to read 50 page chapters😭.
- The author could have went into a little bit more detail on a few things. For example, Dido Elizabeth Belle and her life. She’s on the cover but only had two pages of text about her.
- I would have liked to hear more about the triumphs of the Black community after emancipation. A small chapter at the end would have been appreciated.
Overall, I liked the book and would recommend it!
March 2, 2018
Fantastic history that reveals the many black people of London (a net that's cast pretty widely as we see figures who come in and out of the city - I think that's really positive!) in the long eighteenth century. Gerzina drops back to the Tudor & Stuart period and forward into the twentieth century to provide context for her study's time.
The eighteenth century is alight with contradictions - this is at the height of Britain's role in the slave trade so enslaved people in London are hardly unremarkable, yet there are so many free black people in London whose lives might otherwise be missed if it weren't for the careful research that tells us about servants, businesspeople, artisans, and advocates. The eighteenth century also saw a strong push against the practice and idea of slavery with the rise of abolitionist groups and ideas - Gerzina shows how these played out for the black people at the centre of it all in London.
Wonderfully researched, easy to read, entirely worthwhile and freely available as an ebook from Dartmouth university's website.
The eighteenth century is alight with contradictions - this is at the height of Britain's role in the slave trade so enslaved people in London are hardly unremarkable, yet there are so many free black people in London whose lives might otherwise be missed if it weren't for the careful research that tells us about servants, businesspeople, artisans, and advocates. The eighteenth century also saw a strong push against the practice and idea of slavery with the rise of abolitionist groups and ideas - Gerzina shows how these played out for the black people at the centre of it all in London.
Wonderfully researched, easy to read, entirely worthwhile and freely available as an ebook from Dartmouth university's website.
February 17, 2023
As a mixed woman, I was told once by a “friend” that if I woke up in 1700s England, as I’d sometimes dreamed, that I would only be a slave. Whilst it’s true that many black people who found themselves in Europe would find themselves in that station, Black England, now serves as an answer to that friend that black England was far more complex and rich than we could imagine.
I really enjoyed the stories of black individuals in the 18th and 19th century. So many I’d never heard before!
I enjoyed less the end chapters on the abolishment of slavery in England - They’re quite dry, but the follow up chapter on Sierra Leone and the 19th century were way more interesting.
I thought the book would concentrate more on Dido Belle, but even with her small section, I didn’t feel like much was missed.
I just hope now I can do the book justice by recommending it and passing it down to other black Britons.
I really enjoyed the stories of black individuals in the 18th and 19th century. So many I’d never heard before!
I enjoyed less the end chapters on the abolishment of slavery in England - They’re quite dry, but the follow up chapter on Sierra Leone and the 19th century were way more interesting.
I thought the book would concentrate more on Dido Belle, but even with her small section, I didn’t feel like much was missed.
I just hope now I can do the book justice by recommending it and passing it down to other black Britons.
June 1, 2024
A breathless read, the world of 18th century black people in England - who very soon became black Englishpeople and in what was probably most cases later were ethnically absorbed into the white English population - is so vast and filled with characters both great and small, whose every remaining shred of evidence opens up exciting vistas of social history, that this small volume needs must power through an absorbing and dramatic story filled with as-good-as-fiction vignettes, such as a very cautiously technical judge ruling on matters of slavery as a property issue with fussy focus on technicalities, while having a black relative at home. A magic read that, as ever, reminds us that a nation cannot (and should not) be simply an ethnicity, but a shared bond mutually engaged with.
August 22, 2025
I read this on Zadie Smith’s recommendation and it was great. Considering when this was written it feels so relevant to today’s society and so important. It was fascinating to read about how black people were viewed in England at this time and I was honestly surprised at some of the information in this.
Favourite quotes - “Their descendants live among us.111 From London to Liverpool they walk the same streets as their ancestors, with lineage that goes back, for some, even to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. They have intermarried and become inextricably entwined in England's past and present. While individuals have doubtless been long forgotten, theirs is nonetheless an unbroken living legacy, a continual and very English presence.”
Favourite quotes - “Their descendants live among us.111 From London to Liverpool they walk the same streets as their ancestors, with lineage that goes back, for some, even to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. They have intermarried and become inextricably entwined in England's past and present. While individuals have doubtless been long forgotten, theirs is nonetheless an unbroken living legacy, a continual and very English presence.”
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