21/09/2012
Just
wanted to draw your attention to this great resource. Kathy is the
expert on Africans in the period following mine, and has amassed a huge
database of references to their lives here in Britain. This is a
recording of her speaking at the National Archives last year. You can
download it here.
The talk is described on the site as follows:
"What
was life like for the ‘average’ black person in England before the 20th
century? Most were quietly getting on with their lives, seeking
employment, getting married and raising families. It takes a lot of work
to uncover their life histories because there was no legal
discrimination against these individuals. Glimpses into their lives can
be found buried in The National Archives’ vast collection, which reveals
unexpected stories. Dr Chater’s talk challenges some commonly held
assumptions that have been made about the lives of black Britons during
the period of the British slave trade. Dr Kathleen Chater is an
independent historian and writer. Her doctoral thesis is published as
Untold Histories: Black people in England and Wales during the period of
the British slave trade, c. 1660-1807. She came to the history of Black
British people through genealogy and has written books and articles on
this subject. This talk was part of our diversity week event in
November, highlighting the diversity of The National Archives’
collection."
Kathy has also written a book on the subject which I've illustrated above, and is giving a talk about Black People at the Old Bailey in Islington next month, which looks really interesting. The records of the Old Bailey are available online
and are a fascinating source of information on everyday life
from 1674-1913, containing 197,745 criminal trials held at London's
central criminal court. So once you've listened to Kathy, you can look
up some of the cases for yourself!
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