Human Resources

Moya and Kris Manjapra discuss his book Black Ghost of Empire, a revelatory historical indictment of the long afterlife of slavery in the Atlantic world.

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As abolitionist campaigns gained traction in the late 1700s, the population of formerly enslaved people grew. Those who had been enslaved in the British colonies were ‘freed’ - at first in dribs and drabs, then all at once via two landmark pieces of legislation in 1807 and 1834.

But a new question arose: what would the formerly enslaved do with their freedom?

Featuring historian and researcher, Melissa Bennett and Iyamide Thomas, NHS Engagement Lead, Sickle Cell Society, together they curated ‘The Krios of Sierra Leone’ exhibitions at the Museum of London.

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At the height of the British slave trade, there were no cameras to capture the experiences of the children who found themselves forced into enslavement. There are not even exact numbers for how many youths were sucked into the system - estimates suggest a quarter of the roughly 12 million Black Africans enslaved between the 16th and 19th centuries would be categorised as children. Their stories are some of the hardest to dig up - but people are persisting anyway.

Featuring Christine Whyte, lecturer in global history at the University of Glasgow.

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In the last episode, ‘Abolition, Now part 1’,  I was talking with Historian Diana Patton about the real timeline of Aboliton and what Abolition really meant for those previously enslaved. Towards the end of the episode we began speaking about Apprenticeships and how those previously enslaved were then forced to work for the people who formerly owned them. Should they not want to work, the punishments were fast and brutal.

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Most people know the basics of this moment. Josiah Wedgewood made some pottery, William Wilberforce made some speeches, John Newton wrote Amazing Grace, and boom! Britain’s narrative arc of national moral redemption was complete and slavery was abolished. Or at least – that’s what we’re told.

Featuring Historian of the Caribbean, Diana Paton.

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In southwest London, there is an area that plays an outsized role in British history. Today, if you walk through Clapham, you will be greeted by formerly grand black and white manor houses, now playing home to the likes of popular coffee chains. So why are we in the verdant, growing suburb of Clapham today? To examine the congregation of a particular site of religious worship, the Holy Trinity Church.

Featuring Dr. Katie Donnington, senior lecturer in Black Caribbean and African history at the Open University.

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Like Scotland, Ireland was another notch on England’s colonial bedpost, ruled from England continuously since the Tudors re-established the Kingdom of Ireland in the 16th century and made sure it was subordinate to English political authority.

But this isn’t a podcast about what England did to Ireland – many of those exist and tell the story far better than I could. This is a podcast about Britain's slaving past.

Featuring researcher Giselle Gonzalez Garcia. 

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Why do we swim? 

It’s not new, we’ve been swimming for 10,000 years… apparently. But why? We don’t live in the water and so what draws us to it? In this first episode of the podcast we explore the history of humans in the water to get an idea of why we do it.

Hosted by Rebecca Achieng Ajulu-Bushell.

Featuring Bonnie Tsui, Why We Swim

Listen to the full series here 

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I love fitness. I love sports. I go to the gym, I walk, I run, I cycle. In my youth, I played team games. And everyone said I was good at sports because of my heritage. My Jamaican ancestry. As a child, this confused me - my white British mother was as sporty as my father, representing her county at tennis in her teen years. But my sporting ability - which is enthusiastic rather than particularly gifted - is always attributed to the half of me that’s Black. It feels - and I’ll just say it - racialised, an echo of the ideas that saw things like superhuman strength and endurance attributed to Black people.

Featuring senior lecturer in American Studies at the University of Manchester, Natalie Zacek

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In this episode we’re venturing onto the bustling city streets of 18 century London, trying to uncover the traces of the Black individuals who became part of the working class communities – and sometimes elite society – of the British capital, the seat of power that directed the trade that has usually brought them to these shores in the first place.

Featuring PhD researcher at the University of Birmingham, Montaz Marché.

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