The shadow of slavery
Arts & Ideas
BBC
4.2 • 599 Ratings
🗓️ 12 February 2020
⏱️ 45 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
From sugar and spice, to reparations and memorials: slavery and how we acknowledge it is debated by Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough and her panel of writers and academics: Dr Katie Donington, Dr Christienna Fryar, author Rosanna Amaka, and playwright and journalist Juliet Gilkes Romero.
Dr Katie Donington teaches history at London South Bank University. Her research focuses on the cultural, commercial, political, and familial worlds of slave owners in Jamaica and Britain. She was an historical advisor for the BAFTA award-winning BBC2 documentary, Britain’s Forgotten Slave Owners (2015), and was co-curator of Slavery, Culture and Collecting at the Museum of London Docklands.
Dr Christienna Fryar is leading a new MA in Black British History at Goldsmiths, University of London, following her role as Lecturer in the History of Slavery and Unfree Labour at the University of Liverpool.
Rosanna Amaka's novel is called The Book of Echoes, and is published by Doubleday.
The Whip by Juliet Gilkes Romero runs at the RSC Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon until 21 March 2020.
You can find the Legacies of British Slave Ownership database here https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/
In the Free Thinking archives you can hear: Author Esi Edugyen in Slavery Stories https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0001bch Artist and film director Steve McQueen and a debate about Slavery narratives https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03pdf14
Steve McQueen runs at Tate Modern until 11 May 2020. The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates is out now
Producer: Emma Wallace
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome back to the home of the oxymoron. Evil genius. He asked the newspaper to print his obituary early so he'd enjoy it. That's like hiding at your own funeral. Yeah, a big, great gig. I'm Russell Kane. Join me to weigh in on whether the biggest players in history are more evil or genius. Becoming that rich, I'd say that is some level of genius. It also helps |
| 0:21.2 | it. It's a long time ago, right? It's like the podcast version of telling your kids the ice cream |
| 0:26.1 | van plays music when it's out of ice cream. Listen to evil genius on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:33.3 | BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. Hello, I'm Eleanor Rosamond Barakloff. |
| 0:39.5 | Welcome to BBC Radio 3's Arts and Discussion Program, |
| 0:43.2 | which brings together leading artists, writers and thinkers in conversations and debate. |
| 0:48.8 | Today on Free Thinking, how the legacy of slavery is being talked about in the arts and academia. |
| 0:55.0 | Joining me in the studio, Rosanna Amaker, who's written a novel called The Book of Echoes, |
| 1:00.7 | two historians, Dr. Christina Freyer, who's leading a new course in Black British history |
| 1:05.8 | at Goldsmith's University of London, and Dr. Katie Donington from London South Bank University. |
| 1:13.1 | And finally, joining us from Stratford upon Avon, from the studios of the Royal Shakespeare Company, |
| 1:19.1 | playwright and journalist Juliet Gilks Romero, whose new play play, The Whip, takes us back to 1833 |
| 1:26.5 | and a politically turbulent England at the dawn of the social reform laws, the 10-hour factory bill and abolition. |
| 1:35.3 | And this is a history that's very present in today's world. |
| 1:39.1 | Juliet, your new play is set in the thick of 19th century social reform, so the abolition of slavery, proper |
| 1:46.3 | working conditions for cotton mill workers. What's the story you're telling here and who are the |
| 1:51.9 | protagonists? So I'm talking about slavery, who is enslaved and people finding their true voice and being able to speak truth to power. |
| 2:06.0 | The drama is driven by a chief whip who's been tasked with gaining the support of MPs |
| 2:13.5 | with interests in the cotton industry and in the slave trade, because up until about then, MPs didn't |
| 2:20.6 | have to earn a living. The Reform Acts actually made it more possible for men who weren't of the |
| 2:28.2 | elite to enter Parliament and represent their constituents. But the drama is then energized by two women, |
| 2:37.7 | one who is based on the real Mary Prince, |
... |
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