Slavery and Colonialism Are Everyone’s History

[GodessOfThunder]

I was on a thread recently where posters were complaining of slavery and colonialism being “shoehorned” into exhibitions, and were strongly “pushing back” against it being given prominence as a topic in museums and at historic sites. Indeed, transatlantic slavery and colonialism often seem to be regarded as niche historical subjects of interest more to people of colour, and involving only a small number of rich white slave owners and colonial officials.

This perception however, does not reflect reality. Transatlantic slavery effected not only millions of Africans, but pretty much everyone in Britain too. Similarly, colonialism effected not only millions of subjects in the British Empire, but everyone “at home” also. The economy these projects fuelled changed what ordinary people ate and drank and what they wore. They changed how British people thought about non-European people in ways that continue to shape their mindset and create injustice today. Slavery and colonialism helped fund the Industrial Revolution and the jobs people in Britain performed, and much more too.

I’m not suggesting anyone today should feel guilty for these activities. But, these subjects are still all too often not regarded as part of all of our histories. This means attempts to give them proper prominence are met with resistance. If we are to understand British history at a public level properly there is still a great deal of work to do.

But it's not boring shit and confined to the past. It's affecting us now, today. 700 years of the British in Ireland is STILL causing issues to this day. To understand why they were bombing us last century or why the orange marches are so contentious you need to look to history.

@Newusername1273 but NI is so recent. There is no comparison with the American war. It just colours people's views on things when you've grown up seeing war on the news (or worse, having to live through it). I might be talking/thinking myself round in circles here, so if i am, i apologise.

Yes, I find it depressing that people spend so much time talking about things that happened in the past while there are millions of people across the world in modern slavery.

Would be interesting to hear how many of the people so upset about the British empire buy cheap crap from temu. Or are typing on an iPhone made in China using slave labour. But caring about that would require them to make a (small) sacrifice of their own desire to buy stuff.

Maybe in a hundred years people might start caring about the slavery happening now.

And possibly still alive in the early 1960's when I was born.

Try telling that to Americans... and with the heavy use of social media teenagers are really influenced by what they see coming over from America. It's shaping their views of British history

I feel not one jot of guilt over whatever my ancestors may or may not have done, as I didn’t do it! I have heard people who think we should be groveling and apologizing till kingdom come when we have personally done nothing wrong. It’s history, people were treated terribly (and still are in some places )and we should learn from it and move on if there is nothing we can actually do about it now.

Those who forget history are condemned to repeat it.

What are they seeing wrt British history if you don't me asking?

Ok, I’ll say it - I agree with your sentiments OP, but as a white person of extremely downtrodden Irish heritage and growing up in the 1980s with the ‘no Irish, no dogs, no blacks’ signs in local buildings, I feel what I describe as a kind of kinship to those with ancestors affected by slavery….but that seems to not be allowed because I’m ‘white’.
I wasn’t taught about slavery of any type, not even the colonisation of the Irish at school. It’s wrong.

The Irish situation is very relevant, as even in Ireland a large number don't actually know why the hatred of each other is there. It is just catholic protestant.

Here in Scotland, We have the dafties on both religious sides shouting obscenities at each other all because of the chosen bloody football teams. Few know why they believe 'King Billy Rools OK' or 'Ooh Aah Up the Ra'.

Hopefully the ingrained hatred is begining to abate.

It would be difficult to be proud of a future event, so I'm afraid we're stuck with past ones. Every nation/group/person since the dawn of time has done bad things, with slavery being a perennial feature across the world.

Also, I don't believe you, especially with regards to the 'shame' bit, since that is clearly what you're trying to achieve here. Why do you care what I or anybody else is proud of?

The British are allowed to be proud of their heritage and the achievements of their ancestors.

Consider the magnitude of the fact that Britain and the Empire succeeded in drawing a pretty good line under something that had been occuring for thousands of years.
This is also something to be proud of, and since my taxes have gone towards paying for it, perhaps you'll even allow that.

Also this ^

Good points here

Do you recall conversations with a 100 year old person as a newborn? Then appreciate that 100 year old person was just being born themselves when slavery was ending.

Respectfully, it is way more than catholic v protestant. There is an elemenant of that, but there's a huge part of it where the country was colonialised, the language was surpressed. There's a lot to unpick.

That is exactly what I'm saying. But to large amounts of the neanderthals jumping up and down on football terraces etc. They have no idea the true history.

I'm perfectly able to be concerned about modern slavery and support attempts to tackle it, and cope with learning about historic slavery and empire at the same time.

Sorry if i misunderstood. It's just that for a lot of people, that is the narrative. It's convenient. But it's so complicated in reality.

But slavery was only abolished in England 30 years before that so it's not like it was ancient history. And there are many states here where slavery was never legal.

Whose version of ''history'' do we take as being accurate? Several people can witness a car accident, but all will have their version of events...

I'm watching a local club honour past and current active members, but they have completely left out the names of the inaugural local members who started the club and with less resources than the current day. Several current active members know of course, but that would mean the focus shifts...

I also agree with a previous poster who said let's concern ourselves with the current day slave trade which include the trade of children. Let's do something about those wrongs while we can, rather than pearl clutch about the doings of the past, of which we cannot change.

Be proud of whatever you like, but personally I reserve my pride for my own accomplishments, not those of a bunch of people the vast majority of whom I’m not even related to, who lived several centuries ago.

History is always an ongoing debate. But we seem to accept a version (or a number of versions) as being accurate enough to be used to create plenty history books, documentaries, museums and educational materials. So, I don’t see this as a stumbling block.

History in education and academia is about what happened, why and how in the past not moral balance sheets judged by today’s standards.

But would you not be proud of UN Peacekeepers for example? I would be for sure. (My own accomplishments being abysmal and all that ;))

I’m glad they exist and support that, but their accomplishments aren’t mine to be proud of. I’d rather give them respect and gratitude than make them a source of my own unearned pride.

Family have lived in the West country for centuries.
One ancestor took part in the Monmouth rebellion in 1685. Barbadosed by judge Jefferies at the bloody assizes. That is sent to the West Indies to be a slave.
As you say sugar, tobacco, cotton all farmed by slaves.

As pointed out by this poster, the English ruling class used working class English people as slaves and indentured labourers too, often alongside West African slaves.

The descendants of the working poor in the UK are also still affected by a long term legacy of historical poor treatment. Even today, the heirs of the slave-owning, mill and mine owning class are significantly taller than the working class population.

Working class history in the UK is almost entirely ignored. How many schoolchildren know as much about the Peterloo Massacre or the Irish famines as they do about the Tudor monarchs?

Fair enough (and a lovely way of espressing that!)