Hannah Cusworth <\/strong>discusses the fascinating array of documents and techniques that researchers can use to study black British history <\/p>\n\n
Scientific analysis of archaeological finds <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n
Much of the evidence of a black presence in Britain before the 1500s comes from a range of rapidly improving scientific techniques. By extracting and sequencing DNA samples from a skeleton, then comparing it to modern profiles, it is possible to determine skin and eye colour. Isotope analysis of the enamel from a skeleton\u2019s teeth can help work out where that person grew up, too, as well as their diet and whether the water they drank when they were younger matches the water found where they were buried. <\/p>\n\n
Using methods like these, a team at the University of Reading concluded that a skeleton found in York (the \u2018Ivory Bangle Lady\u2019, so named for the jewellery she was buried with) was likely a high-status Roman woman, who had grown up somewhere warmer than northern England, with one parent likely from north Africa.<\/span><\/p>\n\n
Similarly, bioarchaeologists at the Museum of London recently studied the skeletons of 14th-century victims of the Black Death buried in a cemetery in East Smithfield, London. Using a form of forensic archaeology, it was concluded that four of the female bodies were likely to be of mixed heritage, and three were of African descent. <\/p>\n\nThe skull of the \u2018Ivory Bangle Lady\u2019, alongside items found with her remains. Scientific analysis has shown that she had north African heritage <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Church records and legal documents <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n
The parish records and official documents being kept by the Tudor era provide insights into the lives of black British individuals. Historians have argued that it was during this time that modern ideas of race were beginning to develop, and many documents give us an idea of someone\u2019s skin colour. <\/p>\n\n
The descriptors used change over time. In Tudor times, for example, \u201cblackamore\u201d and \u201cEthiope\u201d were more common, before generally being replaced with \u201cnegro\u201d or \u201cblack\u201d by the Georgian and Victorian periods. Parish registers also recorded the baptisms, marriages and burials of black Britons in major cities and in villages, from Cornwall to Lancashire. <\/p>\n\n
In the British Caribbean, where racial slavery underpinned everything, the recording of a person\u2019s race was much more systematic. From inventories (lists of someone\u2019s possessions at their death), it can be determined that free people of colour \u2013 some who were born free, and some who became free in their lifetime \u2013 occasionally died wealthy. Susannah Augier, the 18th-century daughter of a planter and an enslaved woman in Jamaica, died owning fine mahogany furniture, silver plate, and even enslaved people herself. <\/p>\n\nBlack people are more easily identifiable in Tudor documents than earlier sources thanks to the introduction of more stringent record-keeping practices <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Paintings and photographs <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n
Sir Peter Lely\u2019s painting of Elizabeth Murray, c1651, shows her alongside a young black servant or attendant <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
The Westminster Tournament Roll \u2013 depicting a joust held in 1511 by Henry VIII \u2013 features two images of a black trumpeter. Surrounded by other (white) trumpeters, the man is dressed in yellow and grey livery, and the royal standard hangs from the instrument. Other records reveal him to be John Blanke, a \u201cBlacke trumpet\u201d who petitioned for higher wages (and received them), and was given a wedding gift of a violet velvet gown and hat. <\/p>\n\n
Within 100 or so years, another way of depicting black people had become common. When having a portrait done, it became fashionable for wealthy white sitters to be shown alongside a black servant or attendant, who, in many cases, were essentially enslaved people. For example, in Sir Peter Lely\u2019s portrait of Elizabeth Murray, Lady Tollemache (pictured<\/em>), an unnamed black individual holds a dish of roses. This was part of a wider practice for those who made their money from plantation slavery to parade black people as fashion accessories. <\/p>\n\n
Victorian records don\u2019t always state a person\u2019s race, so historians such as Caroline Bressey have used photography when researching black British history in this era. By the late 19th century, institutions such as asylums, children\u2019s homes and prisons utilised new technology and included photographic portraits in their case files. These provide invaluable evidence of everyday black lives, although many were likely taken without consent. <\/p>\n\n
\u201cPhotography is a vital source for black British history during the Victorian period\u201d <\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\nA Victorian gentleman takes a stroll along Morecambe promenade \u2013 a snippet of black British life thanks to the advent of photography <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
The writings of black Britons <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n
The frontispiece and title page of Olaudah Equiano\u2019s 1789 memoir<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n
From the Georgian period onwards, the voices of black Britons themselves enter the list of available historical sources. For instance, for researchers investigating the fight for freedom and abolition, both Olaudah Equiano and Mary Prince\u2019s autobiographies give first-hand insights into the horrors of slavery. <\/p>\n\n
We also have access to personal letters, particularly from more privileged black Georgians, such as Catherine Despard, a mixed-race Jamaican woman. As part of her campaign against the imprisonment of her husband, Edward, an Irish radical, she wrote numerous protest letters, one of which was read out in parliament. <\/p>\n\n
Another key voice is Samuel Ajayi Crowther, the first African Anglican bishop in west Africa. Freed from slavery in 1821, he was resettled in Sierra Leone and briefly educated in England. He later authored several books, mostly focused on the Yoruba language and history. <\/p>\n\n
By the 20th century, a rich textual archive had been left by black Britons, from speeches against racism to accounts of everyday life. <\/p>\n\nBishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther (centre<\/em>) with missionaries in 1873 <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Hannah Cusworth <\/span><\/strong>is a historian who specialises in black British histories. Formerly a schoolteacher, she is currently completing a PhD with English Heritage looking at mahogany, race and the 18th-century Atlantic world <\/span><\/p>\n\n
<\/p>\n\n
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