Aikin Notting Hill & Ealing High School
Black History Month Issue
Cover by: Kitty Goodridge
Contents: Who was Harriet Tubman?..............................................2
What was the experience of Black Tudors in Britain?.................................................................................6
Black History, Empire and Commonwealth..................9
The True Impact of Black Lives Matter in America....12
The Hate U Give Book Review......................................18
Mangrove Nine................................................................20
Why was the Haitian Slave Revolution significant, and why was it forgotten?.............................................22
People of colour in Roman Britain, Mary Beard, and Twitter feuds....................................................................26
The Clash of the Civil Rights Movement Giants: A Comparison between Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr...............................................................................28
To what extent was Brown v Board the most significant and influential milestone in the fight for civil rights in the United States?...................................32
About: Welcome to Aikin’s first issue!
We chose to name our magazine after Lucy Aikin, a remarkable historian and writer, who embraced Enlightenment ideals and challenged the cultural oppression of women. She expressed that human traits are not exclusive to a single gender, highlighting the consequences of patriarchal systems and writing on history from a feminist perspective.
This may be our first issue, but it will likely be the most important one we will ever publish. This year has been a reminder that the fight against racism is not over. In the wake of George Floyd’s unjustified murder by an American policeman, the Black Lives Matter movement has been at the forefront of public consciousness. We wanted to highlight this by sharing and remembering the stories of Black people, from people of colour in Roman Britain, all the way to participants in the present day BLM movement.
Black History Month is a time of reflection. It is a time of remembering that Black History goes beyond stories of slavery. It is a time of recognising the achievements of Black citizens that might have been forgotten or ignored by past societies. We are so proud of everyone who submitted their articles, helping to sustain dialogue on this critical issue.
We hope you enjoy this publication.
Beatriz, Freya and Aliyyah
Disclaimer: The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed here by students are not necessarily representative of the views and opinions of Notting Hill & Ealing High School or the GDST.
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Who was Harriet Tubman? ‘Every great dream begins with a dreamer’ Introduction
By: Lauren Clarke and Chris Vroegop
Araminta Ross was born around the year 1820, as a slave on a plantation in Maryland. The exact date is unknown as enslaved people were not valued as people, so their date of birth was rarely recorded. Araminta later changed her name in honour of her mother, Harriet (“Rit”) Green. Rit worked in the owner’s house on the plantation as a cook and Harriet’s father, Benjamin Ross, worked as a timber worker on the plantation. Harriet had eight siblings, but the cruelties of slavery eventually split the family apart.
When Harriet was five, she was made to work as a nursemaid and was whipped whenever the baby cried. At the age of seven, Harriet was set to work setting muskrat traps and when she was twelve, she was sent to work in the plantation fields. This was when she noticed an overseer about to throw a heavy weight at another enslaved person. Harriet stepped between them and the weight hit her head. Harriet never properly recovered from the injury caused by the weight. It left her with narcolepsy (a brain condition that causes someone to fall asleep suddenly) and headaches for the rest of her life.
Enslaved people were not legally allowed to marry but despite this, in 1844, Harriet married John Tubman (who had been freed) and changed her surname from Ross to Tubman and named herself Harriet.
Escape
When Harriet learnt that her two brothers were about to be sold, Harriet came up with an escape plan. On the 17th September 1849, Harriet and her two brothers fled on foot. Even though her brothers changed their minds and returned, Harriet continued alone. Harriet travelled 90 miles north, following the North Star to the northern states where slavery was abolished.
The Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was a web of safe places and kind people where the enslaved people who were trying to escape could stay and get help. Harriet Tubman did not create the Underground Railroad but she helped it grow, becoming one of the most famous “conductors” of the Underground Railroad. Even though Harriet Tubman was finally safe in Philadelphia (where she had found work as a housekeeper), she thought about all the people she had left behind. Harriet made 19 trips to the South and freed over 70 enslaved people (though some biographers claim that the numbers could have been as high as 300).
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Harriet came up with tricks to free enslaved people. She would make her journey on a Saturday night because articles and notices about missing slaves were not printed in newspapers until Monday. This gave her time to get as far away as possible. Harriet would hoot like an owl to signal safety and would write her letters in secret codes. On her most dangerous journey, Harriet led her elderly parents to the North.
Legacy
During the American Civil War, Harriet continued the fight for freedom. She worked as a nurse, spy and scout, fighting for the North’s Union army. When the war ended and slavery was abolished, Harriet moved to New York State where she cared for some elderly freed slaves including her parents. Harriet set up a home to help elderly African Americans and supported the women's suffrage movement in America, working alongside the suffrage leader Susan B. Anthony. Harriet Tubman died 10th March 1913 from pneumonia yet her legacy still lives on. In 2016 her image replaced former slave owner and president Andrew Jackson on the twentydollar note.
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What was the experience of Black Tudors in Britain? By: Sakeena Sanders Contrary to common misconceptions of Tudor Britain, it was not a monoracial, monolingual or monocultural country. Black people were a part of many different levels of society, from musicians to circumnavigators, from merchants to silk weavers. They were present in the households of Sir Walter Raleigh and William Cecil and the royal courts of Henry VII, Henry VIII, Elizabeth I and James I, prominent Tudor figures. Black Tudor’s arrival in Britain was intensified by increased trade between the UK and Africa, as well as more movement within Europe. A striking example of this is Diego, who, having been enslaved by the Spanish, asked to be taken aboard Sir Francis Drake’s ship in 1572 in Panama. In 1577 he circumnavigated the globe with Drake and later in 1579 they claimed California for Queen Elizabeth I.
As Britain was such a religious nation in the Tudor Era, Black Tudors’ acceptance into church life is a key indicator of the lack of discrimination they faced at the time. Records of Black people being baptised are especially significant as according to the church, which was the centre of people’s lives, ‘through baptism you are grafted into the community of God’s holy church’. Therefore, discriminating against them, as fellow Christians, would have been going against God’s will: this directly
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contrasts later centuries when Black people were seen in British law as possessions to be bought and sold. Another measure of Black people’s acceptance into society was their ability to earn their own wage, giving them equal financial independence to their white British peers and allowing them to contribute to their community. A key example of this is John Blanke, a royal trumpet player and Black man, who was paid three times the wage of an average servant and double the average wage of an agricultural labourer. Despite his race, Blanke was selected to hold this prestigious position in the entourage of King Henry VII, performing at his funeral and Henry VIII’s coronation. Another example of Black Tudors’ ability to be present in the middle classes is Dederi Jaquoah, a West African prince, who spent two years living with an English merchant.
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Despite facing less discrimination than Black people today, Black Tudors were often given the surnames ‘Blanke’, ‘Blackman’, ‘Blacke’ and ‘Swarthye’. Even those who had impressive jobs like Reasonable Blackman, a silk-weaver, suffered this same form of, what would today be termed, collective othering. This slight exclusion from the rest of British Tudor society was exacerbated by how few ethnically diverse people there were in Britain. The historian Matilda Kaufmann has found records of only around 360 ethnically diverse people in Britain between 1500 and 1640 of a total Tudor population of 4 million in Britain.
Although some Black Tudors like Annie Cobbie, a prostitute, had difficult lives, their race did not seem to worsen their life. They faced similar obstacles as their white counterparts. However, with such a small black population in Britain they may have felt isolated. For example Cattelena was a woman who lived independently in Almondsbury and whose most valuable item was her cow.
This begs the question of why black Tudors were largely accepted as full members of Tudor society. Perhaps this was because Britain was a relatively weak, small island nation at the time, in religious turmoil and constantly fearing a Spanish invasion, as this could have decimated the country. Perhaps Britain did not yet have any colonies and was not involved in the slave trade. There is a vast contrast between Black Tudors’ relative acceptance in Britain and this same nation becoming the biggest slave traders in the world soon after.
Despite work by historians like Kaufmann, who is trying to piece together Black Tudor life in Britain, historical blanks persist due to the scarcity of complete evidence. This illustrates the effect that subsequent discrimination has had on the history of ethnic minorities. For example many children are still taught that America was ‘discovered’, and Black Tudors are still omitted from the history curriculum, even when learning about the Tudors at A-Level.
As Britain again loses power on the international stage, as a result of leaving the European Union, will this cause race relations to worsen or will it lead to a new age of acceptance?
Has the racism following the Tudor Era irreparably destroyed parts of history?
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Black History, Empire and Commonwealth By: Matilda Hardman What is Black History Month and how can I take part?
Black History Month is an annual celebration which originated in the United States and is also known as African-American History Month. It honours Black people’s struggles and contributions to the country which might not have been recognised the rest of the year. So, many people learn and celebrate Black History Month in the US but how is Black History portrayed in Britain? This Black History Month, it is important for us all to remember those who gave their lives so people of all races and diversities could live as equals, not only in America, but also in the UK.
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We’ve come a long way in the past century but how did the British empire ever end and what has Britain’s journey for equality involved?
Over centuries, Britain had either invaded or colonised many parts of the world. This was called the British Empire. It might have been good for Britain’s power and prestige but it was humiliating and damaging for so many people to be ruled by another country. Worst of all, a lot of them were slaves until Britain abolished slavery in 1833.
1945 marked a huge turning point in the decline of the British Empire. The Second World War had ended, leaving Britain weaker than before with fewer food reserves and fewer workers. Thousands of soldiers had not returned, leaving a gap in the workforce which Britain was rapidly trying to patch up to get the nation back on its feet. Many British colonies also contributed resources and troops to the war effort resulting in a more independent spirit and leading to a steady decrease in the British empire. In 1947, the empire officially came to
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an end after India - the biggest and most important colony of the empire became an independent country. After that, the empire became known as the Commonwealth. It still included many colonies in Africa and the Caribbean where the black majority were still being ruled by a white minority. That had to change. Over time, all the colonies became fully independent countries. Once they were independent, all countries could decide if they still wanted to be a part of the Commonwealth. Most chose to do so. Since then it has been a club with the Queen as the symbolic head. But she has no power. The members can do and say what they like. Some Commonwealth countries have also chosen to keep the monarch as their head of state. It is why Queen Elizabeth II is still monarch of 15 countries as well as the UK.
What has the Commonwealth done and why did it have such a big appeal? Since its establishment in 1949, the Commonwealth has conducted vital work to support its members. The Commonwealth has been working to protect our natural environment, encouraging use of sustainable resources through their new scheme, the Renewable Energy Target, to develop the renewable energy industry in Australia. The Commonwealth has also boosted trade and economic standards within the Commonwealth club as well as promoting democracy and encouraging gender equality. The Commonwealth Foundation participates in democracy development and hosts events for people of all interests. There are many competitions to get involved in such as the Commonwealth Essay Prize, which is the oldest essay prize in the world.
Did you know?... The Commonwealth has 54 members and includes nearly a third of the world’s population. They range from India (with more than a billion people) to the tiny Pacific nation of Tuvalu (which has 10000 people). But when they get together they all speak the same language English!
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Opinion piece: The True Impact of Black Lives Matter in America By: Aliyyah Tahir Since 2013 when Black Lives Matter was founded, the movement has held nonstop protests calling out systemic racism in institutions, unconscious biases and, most significantly in recent years, police brutality. The 2020 protests, after the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, spread like wildfire across the world as people took to the streets to demand justice for Black victims of police violence and an end to the status quo of racism and white supremacy. While there has been some public concern as to the consequences of the Black Lives Matter movement, I feel that some of this is misguided: the real purpose of the movement is not to incite violence but rather to raise a dialogue and offer a united voice on an issue that has persisted for too long.
Over the past several years the Black Lives Matter movement has worked to raise and improve public awareness of the issue regarding American law enforcement’s seemingly discriminatory relationship with African Americans. Through their large number of public marches and protests, the group has become a household name within modern day society, becoming largely synonymous with the present day black struggle for equality. Consequently causing them to come to offer a strong, unified voice to individuals whose voices can not be heard and whose opinions are lost under the voice of their oppressors. This unity of the people serves to legitimise and strengthen the movement as a whole, producing similarities with those of the 1960’s African American civil rights movement. This is evident in the 1955-56 Montgomery Bus Boycott as it demonstrated the viability of organizing a mass movement to challenge segregation. The parallel of the united force of the civil rights activists during this time and the nature of members of Black Lives Matter to propel conversation around the ‘state-sanctioned violence’ towards African Americans throughout the country.
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Today, however, there are arguably more influential members of Black Lives Matter who, through technology and media, are in the public eye and use their position to promote the group's principles and messages. For example, professional American football player Colin Kaepernick, formerly of the San Francisco 49ers, began the protest of ‘taking the knee’ for the duration of the Star-Spangled Banner to protest against the injustice African Americans face. This one act spurred his fellow players and the public as a whole; during the opening weeks of the 2018 NFL football season the trend became popularised with almost every team in the National Football League participating in some form of protest. Due to the mass audience of Americans who tune in to watch the game each week, the message of the Black Lives Matter community has as a result been relayed to millions of individuals across the country. Therefore through the use of large group movements and united protests, Black Lives Matter is able to facilitate their message around the world, accomplishing their goals as a focus group.
One of the greatest claims or rather criticisms of the movement is that the organisation in reality worsens relations between African Americans and police, inciting violence in ethnic minority neighbourhoods, however this claim is simply incorrect. In actual fact African American relations with police officers have been poor throughout American history; the Black Lives Matter organisation has simply been bringing attention to the injustice on a greater and more public scale. The historically deplorable relationship with police can be clearly seen during the 1980s in America; black artists of the decade, like the NWA, created aggressive politically charged music in response to the militaristic, broken window policing of the era that ran rampant in ethnic minority neighbourhoods. Importantly, at this time NWA was also condemned by the FBI for its potential to further damage relations between African Americans and law enforcement. This can be seen when looking at the response to the work of Martin Luther King Jr as the FBI became involved to quell the ‘uprising’, where King received a letter to end his insightful messages which threatened the order of society. This shows how commonplace it became to have the oppressed painted as inciting violence whenever they called for change by those in positions of power and privilege. This shows how the issue of race relations has been highly prevalent in America for years, and how confronting this issue is still ongoing to this day.
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In the years since its creation, the Black Lives Matter organization has had many notable impacts that have worked to better society. By drawing attention and raising public concern, Black Lives Matter has undoubtedly changed the dynamic of modern society regarding embedded racism. While it is impossible to truly and effectively quantify how many discriminatory acts have been prevented by Black Lives Matter, the true value of Black Lives Matter lies in the voice and attention that it lends to an issue that has existed for far too long. The group has unquestionably been effective in this endeavor. The organization has been the topic of conversation on virtually all media outlets over the past three years, as well as gained attention from powerful government leaders such as former President Obama who frequently invited representatives of the group to the White House in 2016. Black Lives Matter allows for more people to become aware of the issue at hand and take part in working to solve the issue by no longer tolerating the unjust aspects of everyday culture. In addition to this, there are many measurable societal advancements and achievements made by the Black Lives Matter movement. One such achievement came with the filling and winning of a lawsuit against Baton Rouge Police in response to the shooting of Alton Sterling. Ninety-two Black Lives Matter members won $100,000 as a result of the “aggressive and unconstitutional tactics” used by the police. This victory for Black Lives Matter demonstrates the effectiveness of the organization to fight for justice and create societal change. Through the examination of cases like this and the ability of the organization to draw public attention, it can be seen that Black Lives Matter is actively working to peacefully improve the lives of African Americans in America.
When looking at the Black Lives Matter organization it is important to remember that all effective protests and movements strive to make the oppressors of society uncomfortable in order to draw attention and create change. Black Lives Matter has used this ideology to spread their message of displeasure with law enforcement across the country. Despite accusations of being overly confrontational, the group has been able to cultivate a dialogue throughout the country and offer a unified voice to call out against the racial inequality which plagues American law enforcement to this day.
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Opinion piece: The Hate U Give Book Review “Sometimes you can do everything right and things will go wrong . The key is to never stop doing right.”
By: Gaia Nikolov The Hate U Give is a young adult novel written by Angie Thomas in 2017 about a girl named Starr who witnesses her friend Khalil get shot by a police officer. This was Angie Thomas’ first book, which tells the story from the point of view of the main character, witness and friend of the victim, and how she felt after the incident.
It also explains how Starr reacted to things differently, depending on the environment, like how she lived in a poor, black neighbourhood, and went to a private high school which was 45 minutes away. She would act normally at her home, but when she was at her school, she didn’t want to appear as the stereotypical “angry, black girl”, so she changed her behaviour to make her like the other girls.
In my opinion, the book was very good at creating tension but at some points it became confusing, for example a character would be mentioned out of nowhere, and
would only be seen or developed afterwards. This made it hard to keep up with the story, however it kept in line with the spoken and written style of a teenager, which I believe was the intention. It is based on the shooting of Oscar Grant, a 22 year old AfricanAmerican man who was also shot by a police officer in 2009 for no reason, and her reaction was writing this book, expressing her feelings about the situation.
This book, even though it is fictional, can help us understand more about the origins of the Black Lives Matter movement and racism, for example, giving scenarios that would or even have happened in real life.
Many people who like modernday young adult novels will enjoy this book, and even if you are not really a fan of teen fiction or young adult fiction, I recommend this book because it can really help understand one of the biggest problems in the world, and its impact on people’s lives: racism.
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Mangrove Nine By:
The Mangrove Nine were: Barbara Beese, Rupert Boyce, Frank Crichlow, Rhodan Gordon, Darcus Howe, Anthony Innis, Altheia JonesLeCointe, Rothwell Kentish and Godfrey Millett.
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Following the post-war Windrush flux of immigration, West London’s black Caribbean community was populous and thriving, despite racial tensions and white supremacist groups being prevalent. In Notting Hill, where much of London’s black population was forced to live due to cheap rent, the Mangrove Hill restaurant was a centre for radical political discussion and a community hub for the Afro-Caribbean residents. However, it was the target of frequent violent police raids - between January 1969 and July of 1970, Mangrove was searched twelve times for drugs. None were found on any occasion.
On the 9th August 1970, supported by the British Black Panthers, over 150 black Londoners took to the streets and marched to the local police station, angry at the “terrorisation” of the restaurant owner, Frank Crichlow. They were met by over 200 police officers “lined in military formation”, and after violence broke out, the nine activists we now know as the “Mangrove 9” were charged with 39 crimes between them; including for “inciting a riot”.
What followed was a riveting, 55 day trial that would be a critical point in the British civil rights movement. Two activists, Altheia Jones-LeCointe and Darcus Howe, asked to represent themselves, becoming a symbolic image of activists directly challenging the British establishment and the very nature of the legal system. Using an American case study, the Mangrove 9 demanded an all black jury to decide the
verdict (which was rejected but was a powerful point). Furthermore, the group based their argument on class struggle as well as race - attacking the court layout in how the judge had a higher post than the working class jury. Their criticisms of racism’s relationship with capitalism energised subsequent radical anti-racist movements.
All nine protestors were cleared of the main charge of inciting a riot, but the most significant outcome was the judge’s admittal of “evidence of racial hatred” by the police. This was the first time this had happened in the British legal system, and would inspire other activists to challenge it.
The impact of the Mangrove 9 cannot be underestimated, as even fifty years later the discussion of racism in the justice system and police remains incredibly relevant. Policies such as “stop and search” have been used on black people 9.6x as often as white people and black Britons make up 22% of the prison population. The issues raised by the Mangrove protestors such as the interaction of race and class, and the legitimacy of the British courts, are still worth discussing today. This year’s Black Lives Matter protests have dominated headlines and reminded us of the problems of police violence against black people. These are the same problems the Mangrove 9 protested in 1970, and their legacy remains significant as ever.
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Why was the Haitian Slave Revolution significant, and why was it forgotten? By: Jaya Emery The Haitian Slave Revolution lasted from the 21st August 1791 to the 1st January 1804 and marked a remarkable turning point in history. Not only was it the first ever successful slave revolt, but Haiti was also the first Caribbean colony to successfully declare independence from a European power. So why is this key event in history not widespread knowledge today? This question can be explored by looking at the history of the uprising, and how that led to Western society systematically downplaying its importance in the making of the modern world.
Haiti, or Saint Domingue as it was known as at the time, was a French colony and the richest in the world. Its wealth came from slave plantations which deported cotton, sugar, indigo, coffee and tobacco produced by a slave population of about 500,000. Inspired by French Enlightenment thought, in particular the Declaration of the Rights of Man, which stated that “all men are born and remain free and equal in rights'', revolts started in Haiti led by free people of colour, Petit Blancs, and slaves. White plantation owners were worried about the effects that this declaration would have on their income which depended upon slaves, while free people of colour revolted against the white plantation owners. This was due to the fact that white plantation owners did not want them to have equal rights as they were descended from slaves. Meanwhile, the Petit Blancs, who were poorer white people, revolted as they were against the idea of the richer free people of colour exceeding their rights. All of three of these social classes however were challenged by the slaves’ uprising, which ultimately succeeded by February 1974 when slavery was formally abolished by the French government and General Toussaint Louverture declared himself leader of the island. The conflict restarted in 1802 when Napoleon tried to take back control of Haiti and reintroduce slavery, but by 1804 French forces had been defeated and Haiti was declared an independent country. This had an immense impact not only on the Western countries that had lost in Haiti, but was also crucial as it hastened the demise of slavery. This was because the West was now far more fearful of the consequences of slavery, and aware that the events of Haiti could be inspire other colonies to seek freedom.
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So why, in spite of the immense historical significance of this event, is it not commonly known or taught in schools? This could be explained by the fact that Britain, France and Spain lost in Haiti despite having more militarily advanced armies, and therefore wished for the expunction of this embarrassing subject from public knowledge. This argument wears thin however, considering that it is not just these three countries that ignore the revolt, but the whole of the Western hemisphere. The reason why this is the case does not have a clear, obvious answer, but it could point to racist attitudes inside the government institutions which control what is studied by the public. Racism towards people of colour meant that, in centuries following the revolution, people would have struggled to believe that the revolution could have succeeded simply due to the strength and determination of the oppressed classes, and instead would have dismissed the failure of the West in Haiti as down to other factors such as disease and differing climates. This dismissal of events would have led to under exaggeration from the West regarding the overall significance of the Revolution, and this therefore would have enabled it to be forgotten in the West. In recent years however, as more conversation is being generated about the lack of Black History on school syllabuses, it is hopeful that the Haitian Slave Revolt can once again be remembered as a momentous event that accelerated the end of slavery in all French colonies.
Haiti today is a country that is defined by the legacy of the 1791 revolution, due to the long lasting consequences of the event. In 1825, France, who had not yet given up hope of regaining their former territory, demanded that Haiti pay 180 million Francs in reparations or face another war. Reparations of this size were justified by France as being a payment that Haiti had to make to the slave owners, who had lost their revenue as a result of the revolution. This amount was more than ten times over Haiti’s yearly budget, and took over 120 years to be paid off, with amounts as much as 80% of Haiti’s income spent annually. Therefore, for 120 years the majority of Haiti’s funds were used solely to pay off unjust reparations, which led to the underdevelopment and under expansion of the country’s industries at a time where there was accelerated growth and industrial revolutions occurring across the West. As a result, Haiti transitioned from a wealthy country with positive future prospects to a country crippled by debt, and, as a result of natural disasters and political instability, has never been able to recover.
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People of colour in Roman Britain, Mary Beard, and Twitter feuds Ah, Twitter, where we all go when in need of racism-fueled drama and BBC Bitesize, the one-stop shop for all things revision and learning. But what does one get when the two are combined? In the case of a particular 2017 set of Twitter feuding, it’s Mary Beard - world-renowned Classicist and Cambridge Professor - and some guy who thinks he knows more about Roman History than she does, fighting over a character in a BBC Bitesize video.
In December 2016, BBC Bitesize posted a video about life in Roman Britain on the BBC Teach YouTube channel, and it featured a Roman family with a dark skinned father who is a soldier. And this angered Nassim Nicholas Taleb, the standard heavily opinionated, but lacking in the brains department troll that Twitter is unfortunately home to, who works at an American far-right radio show called the Infowars. His illthought out tweet was as follows: ‘Thank God the BBC is portraying Roman Britain as ethnically diverse. I mean, who cares about historical accuracy, right?’.
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By: Imogen Day
Mary Beard certainly does. And with years of experience teaching Classics, she’s certainly knowledgeable, replying with a stylish ‘that is indeed pretty accurate, there’s plenty of firm evidence for ethnic diversity in Britain’.
You’d think it would stop there; someone who’s actually knowledgeable about the subject has stepped in. But no! Racist and historically inaccurate Twitter doesn’t work like that. Taleb kept going, and before too long, he had presented a series of evidence about how ‘Sub-Saharan genes have evaporated’ in native Britons, while Beard maintained that there were indeed dark skinned people in Britain at the time.
With hindsight, we can see that they were arguing about slightly different points: Beard about how not every person in Britain at the time was white, and Taleb on how people of colour were such a minority their genes did not get passed down.
However, while Taleb has a point, it is Beard with the stronger argument. Because of geographical reasons, there were not as many people of colour in Roman society as there were white, but there were still some high profile figures with dark skin. One example was Septimus Severus, born in Libya, who commanded legions at Hadrian’s Wall, and later became Rome’s first African Emperor. Or the Ivory Bangle Lady, whose body was found in York - unsurprisingly, wearing ivory bangles - whose skull suggested that she had African ancestry and was brought up in a warm climate.
Because both of these examples were not excavated with exact details of their skin colour, by, for example, having a written record of their appearance buried with them, this just further proves that the BBC Bitesize video is historically accurate. The Romans weren’t a racist society - they were classist. The Romans would have respected a black military commander as they would have respected a white one, but a black slave and a white slave would have been treated with the same contempt.
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The Clash of the Civil Rights Movement Giants: Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. By: Freya McNeill When one speaks about the U.S civil rights movement the collocations that often follow is ‘I had a dream’ or the figurehead of the movement Martin Luther King Jr (MLK). He is hailed for his fight for equality for African-Americans from the mid 1950s and his positive impact in the racial struggle- and rightly so, however another figure’s historical legacy does not often share the same amount of limelight. Malcolm X. Sons of Baptist preachers, Martin Luther King and Malcolm X were both ministers - although for different religions and fought for African-American rights at the same time under FBI surveillance- even being assassinated at the same age. Yet they were different sides of the same coin, Malcolm X (adopting “X” as his last name to reject his slave name) supported Black power, Black separation and wanting freedom by ‘any means necessary’ whereas Martin Luther King Jr supported peaceful protests grounded by Christianity wanting successful integration.
Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr understandably had different schools of thought because they had contrasting realities which helped to shape their stances in the U.S. Civil rights movements. Malcolm X, who was six when his father was allegedly killed by the Black Legionaries - a white supremist group, grew up in foster homes in the North with his siblings after their mother was sent to a mental hospital. He then dropped out after eighth grade (year 9) and by 21 was in jail for larceny. In comparison Martin Luther King Jr. had a much more stable childhood who grew up in the South (Atlanta, Georgia) in the Sweet Auburn neighbourhood which at the time was where some of the most prosperous and prominent African Americans lived in the country. Like Malcom he was a gifted student but pursued formal education; while Malcom X was two years into serving his larceny sentence in 1948, Martin had just graduated from Morehouse College (his father’s and maternal grandfather’s alta mata), likely when Malcom X was studying in the jail library.
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By looking at the North and South divide, they were likely to have different experiences regarding racism; with the South having less integration than the North, Martin Luther King Jr. called for racial integration to try and establish racial harmony. Whereas, Malcom X, shaped by a more integrated North, still faced racism and saw how deep rooted this issue was in society - as it still is today - and therefore took the view that Black separation was best. Black separation being that thriving Black only communities would control their own economy, politics and society with the opinion that Black people were better off without their white counterparts.
Malcom X and Martin Luther King Jr., although the crux of their arguments were polar opposites, slowly drifted towards the middle towards the end of their lives. While Martin Luther King Jr. became more open to the militant approach frustrated by the results of the anti-violence movement, Malcolm X after his Hajj trip in 1964 altered his perspective on racial integration. When going on his Hajj, the Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, he stated ‘in the Muslim World, when one accepts Islam and ceases to be white or Negro, Islam recognizes all men as Men because the people here in Arabia believe that God is One, they believe that all people are also One’. This pilgrimage helped Malcom X to re-evaluate his perspective about racial integration and therefore decided to reach out to Dr King. It is hard to believe that these two giants of the U.S civil rights movement only met once just months prior to Malcolm’s death with the interaction lasting just minutes. If both their assassinations had not taken place, who knows what their collaborative impact could have been on American society, unfortunately we will never know.
Two years after Malcom X’s death MLK’s NBC 1967 interview showed how he thought the original optimism of the civil rights movement was flawed and that his dream had turned into a ‘nightmare’. This piece of the puzzle arguably fell into obscurity when putting together the legacy of the civil rights movement. Certainly public perception has rendered Dr King as a heroic optimist who never faltered in the face of bigotry sticking to his non-violent Christian values - this nearing the end of his life was not the case. Legacy is someone’s lasting impact on the world, how people remember
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them and in regard to MLK especially in Black History Month is the figure who is remembered and praised again and again for his efforts in the civil rights movement. But why not Malcom X? It is important to understand that Malcom X’s hard stances on Black separation and willingness to accept violence as a means of protesting is a hard pill to swallow for white people - even by progressives since oppressors are usually the writers of History he is often cast to the side-lines. It is more comfortable to discuss a Black man who only condoned non-violent practises. The racist stereotype of a Black man being violent and criminal can easily be quashed with the image of Martin Luther King Jr. but introducing Malcom X into the picture forces people to confront this negative stereotype creating a more nuanced picture - one that cannot be tackled with the typical superficial conversations about race.
It is important to recognise how the narrative of Black History is constructed in favour of peaceful Black resistance largely due to the mainstream discussion of race being more tailored to be palatable to the white demographic. So considering this, I invite you to re-evaluate what you know about Black History. Never forget the impact of all the diverse factions of the civil rights movements and the significance of Malcom X and Martin Luther King Jr. who they were and what the world never got to see - who they could have been together.
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To what extent was Brown v Board the most significant and influential milestone in the fight for civil rights in the United States? By: Beatriz Zanellato Imagine living in a world where your quality of life is solely dependent on your race, and the existing rules to protect your basic human rights are, essentially, loopholes that allow a racist society to continue behaving the same, exact and oppressive way. That is a pretty close description of America for the most part of the 20th century - a country that promised that “no person shall… deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws”, under the 14th amendment, but instead preached the absurd lie of “separate but equal”, to justify the huge disparity between treatments of black and white citizens; a sentence that triggered whole generations to act and protest for equality, for protection under law, to break systemic discrimination. From Harriet Tubman to Rosa Parks, W. E. B. Du Bois to Martin Luther King Jr, the fight for civil rights in America goes beyond centuries and is embedded in the history of the country, and it is still not over.
We are accustomed to a multicultural, accepting society that functions on the basis of respect, so it is difficult, revolting even, to imagine segregation and intolerance of different races. Unfortunately, that has once been the reality of millions of African-Americans, denied access to education on the basis of their skin colour, a barrier that stopped many from following and achieving their dreams, an endless cycle that prevented social mobility, and tried to mute voices and remove their influences on the nation. It is important to acknowledge the progress made in 1954 to tackle this huge educational issue, where a constitutional change, a massive victory, set the path for more change to create a fairer country. It was an influential step for desegregation, and though highly significant, it falls just short of most important, as that spot is reserved for the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
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It is funny how history really does repeat itself. In 1946, for instance, Orange county in California was forced by the Supreme Court to desegregate their schools as they were discriminating against Latinos, a case that became known as Mendez v Westminster. Then, almost 10 years later, a huge lawsuit was filed against schools with 5 cases from 4 different states where children were neglected entrance to schools close to their houses and only accepted in sub standard segregate schools because they were black; one of the most famous constitutional cases in American history, called Brown v Board of Education.
It was a rather controversial case, especially in the deeply segregated states in the south, such as Arkansas and Alabama, which had been amongst the first to officially start passing segregation laws in 1865 (known as the “Black Codes”). The lawsuit challenging the “separate but equal” clause in regards to education was filed in 1951 in Kansas, when a little girl named Linda Brown was rejected at an all-white school close to her house, with the lawyer Thurgood Marshall representing her and other clients with the same situation. It raised the question of whether schools could really be equal if students were segregated on the basis of colour. We know the answer to that question, and luckily so did Justice Earl Warren, who set forward the idea that “we must look instead at the effect of segregation itself on public education”. In 1954, the court unanimously decided that separating generates feelings of inferiority, stating: “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal”, and unconstitutional as it went against the 14th amendment, the equal protection clause. This was very significant for the fight for civil rights in the USA, as it showed people that their voices could be heard and that things could change for the better.
However, the process took a long time, and southerners were massively resistant to the campaign, with schools closing themselves so they would not have to desegregate, such as the school in Prince Edward County in Virginia. Furthermore, by the end of the 1950s, fewer than 2% of black students attended integrated schools in the south. And as of international influence and interference, those years became known as “the decade of consensus”, with countries being afraid to criticize American practices for the fear of being labelled “communists”, as the Cold War had just started.
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In a nutshell, although segregation went against most “American values” such as individualism and belief in equal opportunity, desegregation was still highly unpopular, and did not cause much change in many people`s particular ideologies. It was an important milestone, but by itself, had not been as significant. But, one specific event that came out of it was really eye opening to the country, where nine students began to frequent a recently integrated school, in Arkansas, a couple years after Rosa Parks`s refusal to give up her seat which led to the Montgomery Bus Boycotts and kick started the movement. A group of high school students that became known as Little Rock Nine.
In the weeks prior to the start of the semester, the group of pupils took part in intensive counselling sessions to prepare them for the hostile environment they would encounter, and two days before they started school, the governor, Orval Faubus, announced he would use the Arkansas National Guard to prevent the African-American students entering, claiming it was for their own protection. On the day, eight of the students but one carpooled together to school. Elizabeth Eckford did not have a phone so there was no way to contact her, causing her to arrive at school alone, and the image of her walking towards the school, amidst massive crowds of white students and adults screaming at her, is one of the most meaningful and powerful images of the horrible extent of racism in 20th century America, a picture that spread nationally and internationally, bringing awareness to what was taking place. Soon, judges were taking legal action against the governor, with even President Dwight Eisenhower becoming involved. Eisenhower sent 1200 members of the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne Division to control the National Guard, but the governor still opposed the students’ entrance to the school, even closing it for a whole year in 1958. The students endured horrible bullying, discrimination in school activities, being banned from participating in extracurriculars, and even the parents were affected, with Gloria Rays’ mother being fired for not removing her daughter from the school. Yet still they persevered, with eight of the students graduating in ceremonies attended by Martin Luther King Jr himself. This significant event in the history of the civil rights movement only happened because of Brown v Board of Education, which showcases teh case's crucial importance in the fight for racial equality.
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In conclusion, Brown v Board was an extremely important milestone in the fight for civil rights, as it not only helped remove segregation, but also gave hope, hope that it was worth fighting for the cause, hope that their voices would be heard, hope for desegregation, hope for a true “equal protection of the laws”. Brown v Board does not necessarily have to be considered the most important event, since one could argue it was the Civil Rights Act they were aiming for all along, but it was the most influential, it led to more change, it set the example and inspiration needed to really make a difference. Therefore, remember the names of those who contributed to this huge fight for not only education, but also civil rights, remember the names of Justice Earl Warren who helped pass the law for desegregation, remember Thurgood Marshall, the lawyer who went on to become the first African-American Supreme Court Justice, remember Minnijean Brown, Elizabeth Eckford, Ernest Green, Thelma Mothershed, Melba Patillo, Gloria Ray, Terrence Roberts, Jefferson Thomas and Carlotta Walls, the nine courageous students who registered and attended the school despite threats and opposition. Remember them. Next time you accidentally distance yourself from everything that really happened, as we have a tendency to believe historical events happened a long time ago, recall the fact that some of those students are not yet 80.
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