Scan barcode
A review by mirandaaaa
Black and British: A Forgotten History by David Olusoga
emotional
informative
reflective
slow-paced
5.0
Before reading this book I knew that there were Black Britons from the Roman times onwards and about the slave trade and Windrush but now I’ve finished I realised it’s not a question of knowing (you can never properly know history) but rather one of understanding and that is something that I truely didn’t understand until after reading this book. And that is why I think it is imperative that everyone reads this (either the shortened version or this) because it highlights the history of Britain and how interlinked it was and still is with slave trading and African countries.
There is a “conscious and deliberate forgetting” over the slave trade and the horrors that Black people had to undergo in Britain and the fact that countless generations got blatantly lied to by successive powerful white men that subverted the face of Britain and our acceptance of Britain in all its colourful and cultural history. For instance I’d never heard of Granville Sharp and Frederick Douglass and didn’t realise that there were other better forces than Wilberforce (he had little part to play in abolition tbh) and that Sierra Leone and Freetown was forged from Black Britons and Canadians moving there. As you can see I learned a lot which is all the more impressive as this non fiction didn’t feel like a drag at any point. It was written in a highly accessible and enlightening way which enables outsiders to understand why there are issues today and the importance of accepting and embracing historical past - even the unsavoury aspects. It’s important to realise there is so much more to Black British history than slavery, and immigration especially Windrush and this book helps to realise that.
The vast history is obviously not all covered and there are some parts sped through, particularly at the end of the book post WW2. But nonetheless is enlightening and nuanced. Recommended to all who actually care about anything.
There is a “conscious and deliberate forgetting” over the slave trade and the horrors that Black people had to undergo in Britain and the fact that countless generations got blatantly lied to by successive powerful white men that subverted the face of Britain and our acceptance of Britain in all its colourful and cultural history. For instance I’d never heard of Granville Sharp and Frederick Douglass and didn’t realise that there were other better forces than Wilberforce (he had little part to play in abolition tbh) and that Sierra Leone and Freetown was forged from Black Britons and Canadians moving there. As you can see I learned a lot which is all the more impressive as this non fiction didn’t feel like a drag at any point. It was written in a highly accessible and enlightening way which enables outsiders to understand why there are issues today and the importance of accepting and embracing historical past - even the unsavoury aspects. It’s important to realise there is so much more to Black British history than slavery, and immigration especially Windrush and this book helps to realise that.
The vast history is obviously not all covered and there are some parts sped through, particularly at the end of the book post WW2. But nonetheless is enlightening and nuanced. Recommended to all who actually care about anything.