John Baptist Dasalu and fighting for freedom

Arts & Ideas

BBC

Society & Culture

4.2 • 599 Ratings

🗓️ 29 April 2022

⏱️ 16 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

An 1856 portrait shows a 40 year old man from Benin who managed to secure his freedom after being captured. Dasalu was taken from Dahomey to Cuba, alongside over five hundred adults and children in the ship Grey Eagle. Once in Havana, he worked for the Count of Fernandina but managed to get a letter to a missionary Charles Gollmer back in Africa. Jake Subryan Richard's essay traces the way one man’s migrations reveal the shifting boundaries of slavery and freedom.

Jake Subryan Richards teaches at the London School of Economics and was chosen as a New Generation Thinker in 2021 on the scheme run by BBC Radio 3 and the Arts and Humanities Council which turns research into radio.

Producer: Ruth Watts

Transcript

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0:00.0	Can I just say?
0:01.5	You're about to listen to a BBC podcast.
0:04.0	It's such a wonderful listen.
0:05.6	So nice.
0:06.5	There are loads more like it on BBC sounds.
0:08.8	Different paces, different heights.
0:10.6	The roof is buckling.
0:11.9	Where you can also listen to live sports commentary.
0:14.2	It's right foot goes for goal.
0:16.7	And then enjoy even more podcasts full of analysis and reaction to the big stories.
0:21.7	The stat that is astonishing is they ended with the lowest amount of possession.
0:25.2	And she's had to live with that.
0:26.8	So if you love sport, a passion, it's almost like a religion.
0:29.7	Listen on BBC Sounds.
0:31.7	Sort of expecting that every week now.
0:35.8	BBC Sounds, music, Radio, podcasts.
0:39.3	Hello, I'm Jake Sir Brian Richards.
0:42.3	I'm a new generation thinker working with the BBC and the Arts and Humanities Research
0:47.8	Council on the scheme that turns research into radio.
0:51.3	Coming up in this episode of the Arts and Ideas podcast is a short talk
0:56.6	about how one man's letter reveals the shifting boundaries between slavery and freedom in the
1:03.0	19th century. Journey into the darkness with Radio 3, a live musical adventure from our late night programs.
	...

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