Black and British: A Forgotten History

This episode visits Senegal and the historic sites of the slave trade. We learn how Britain was the First Nation to ban slavery, yet Britain was duplicitous by way of the fact that the Industrial Revolution depended on cotton picked by slaves in the US state of Virginia

David explores the Victorian moral crusade against slavery. The British ban slavery and make it their mission to try to get other nations to follow suit. In the USA civil war, Britain remains neutral and closes their eyes to the fact that the cotton from the USA was fuelling the industrial revolution in Lancashire. At one point due to ship blockades, the cotton cannot get through to the UK, and so begins the Cotton Famine. We see how Queen Victoria came to have a black god-daughter. We see how one town, Rochelle in Lancashire had mill workers that stood in solidarity with enslaved Africans even though the Rochelle citizens were starving due to the Mills laying off hundreds of workers.

David Olusoga begins by telling us of the racist attacks his family and he suffered at age 14 living in Britain. We see the street but the old homes are long gone. In this final episode we see several stories about Britain. He discusses the problems with racism in Britain in the 1970s. Then he talks about Cecil Rhodes in Africa who plans to build a railway through Becuanaland from S.Africa to Rhodesia, with funding coming from selling land each side of the tracks to white settlers. Three Kings from Bechuanaland realize they cannot fight Rhodes so they make plans to sail to Britain. They were Khama, Bathoen and Sebele And they want an audience with Queen Victoria and they wish to win over the public there. We see what transpires in this fascinating narration and film. We hear the story of Leslie Hutchinson (Hutch) a Grenadian, famous black cabaret entertainer from 1920 to 1965. He first moved to New York City then on 1924 to Paris where he became a love of Cole Porter. He arrived in England in 1927 and became the darling of society but could not escape racial prejudice. To be black and British was still out of reach. We see how the 130,000 black US troops stationed in Britain during WW2 had a long lasting affect by way of relationships they had with native Britains. In post war Britain and with the new National Nealth service, Britain needed medical staff, lots of them, and fast, so recruiting occurred from the Caribbean islands.