In the first episode of Black and British: A Forgotten History, the true past of Britain and some of its first black settlers is revealed and honored. From Beachy Head Lady, Francis Barber, to John Blanke, David Olusoga takes the audience on a tour throughout Britain and Ghana to remember the forgotten past of the black lives in early Britain. In each town that they discovered to have been a home to a black person centuries and decades before was given a plaque so that the life of that person wouldn’t be forgotten again.  Centuries ago Africa was viewed as the land of plenty, many still see it this way, and Ghana in particular is a place rich with gold and where the trading took place.

Out of all that was discussed in this episode what surprised me most was the relationship between Africa and Europe before the slave trade really took off. Learning that they once traded with each other in a civil manner, and that Elmina was a place of bartering before it became a slave fort really shocked me.

Watching this episode led me to believe that the history of black people in Britain was just forgotten, but after reading a part of Paul Gilroy’s “There Ain’t No Black in the Union Jack,” I don’t believe the history was forgotten so much as it purposefully ignored to protect the idea of a homogenous nation. As Gilroy writes:

“As a part of their lament the national heart no longer beats as one, Peregrine Worsthorne has pointed out that ‘though Britain is a multi-racial society, it is still a long way from being a multi-racial nation”(46).

And

“It has been revealed that, at the suggestion of Churchill, a conservative cabinet discussed the possibility of using ‘Keep Britain White’ as an electoral slogan as early as 1955″(46).

Black people in Britain didn’t fit into the ideal white nation, therefore their history was erased. While they might have lived in Britain or were even born there, the color of their skin didn’t allow them to be apart of the nation like they could have if they had been born with white skin. Learning all of this and getting a small idea of what being black and British is like has really opened my eyes to the fact that black people in Britain are constantly facing the struggle of having their history be ignored and whitewashed. Although, with actions such as creating plaques and informing people of past and black people played a role in it, this can soon change. 

Gilroy, Paul. “There Ain’t no Black in the Union Jack.” University of Chicago Press, 1991