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HSAP BRITISH BLACK HISTORY DIGEST

No. 22 – JUNE 2013

Published by History & Social Action Publications. Edited by Sean Creighton. 4 June 2013

Articles, reviews and notes are always welcome for inclusion in future issues of the Digest and should be

emailed to sean.creighton1947@btinternet.com

Blog: http://historyandsocialaction.blogspot.com Publications website: https://sites.google.com/site/historysocialaction

Please copy to others you think might be interested.

Black History Digest 20 placed on web by Tayo Aluko http://cmr.tayoalukoandfriends.com/links/BBHD%2020%20April%202013.pdf.

Feedback: Keep up the good work!

Contents: Diary; News & Information; Historic Notes; Paul Robeson News; War and Freedom Project; Launch of British Black History Research Unit; Black Victorian Sailors – Part 1 (by Jeffery Green)

Following a friend looking at Martin Hoyle’s William Cuffay,

I have been asked to recommend simply written books for children and busy adults on

British Black & Asian and on working class history which can be promoted. Please let me have your suggestions?

DIARY

Wednesday, 5 June. 6-8pm. BBM Songs of Empowerment & Socio-Political Awareness Quiz ‘Many of us can look to the US, particularly during its civil rights period, and point to several songs that highlight empowerment and socio-political issues. The same can be done with reggae music from Jamaica, particularly from the roots & culture strand of reggae. But what about Britain - where are the songs from the British Black Music (BBM) canon that empower

and deal with socio-political issues? BBM/BMC founder and quiz master Kwaku will show that they are there, and not just within reggae. Westminster Reference Library, 35 St. Martin's Street, Leicester Square, London, WC2. Free: book at http://bbmm2013empowerquiz-eorg.eventbrite.co.uk. Click to submit your BBM Songs of Empowerment & Socio-Political list.

Friday 7 June. 6pm. Red Tails. Showing of George Lucas’s film on the Tuskegee Airmen, who battled

Nazis in the air and racism on the ground. Join new Harrow Mayor Cllr Nana Asante and her Mayoress Ms

Awula Serwah. Flash Musicals Theatre, Methuen Road, Edgware, London, HA8. Organised by British Black

Music.

Saturday 8 June. Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Promotion at Croydon Heritage Festival Street Stall Event. I will be running a stall to promote the Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Network, and to sell my publications and second hand history books at the Whitgift Foundation Heritage Festival day event in Market St in Croydon Town Centre. Saturday 8 June. Doors open 7pm. Talk starts 7.30pm. The legacy of the Moors and their contribution to the development of European culture, etc. Talk by Robin Walker. The legacy has been largely ignored, hidden, or denied. Western scholarship has generally obscured their significance. Those who would expose the truth of Europe’s indebtedness to the Moors have been overlooked. There can be no doubt that the explorations of the new world, the scientific, social, political, and even public health and urban development would not have happened the way they did without long standing, constant, and fundamental contact with Moorish influence. To the general public, the word

‘Moor’ conjures up an image of barbarous and fanatical individuals or a group of people who threatened Christianity and even civilisation itself. In the opinion of some Western scholars, the medieval followers of Mohammad are often regarded as being little more than gallant soldiers. The Moors occupied Spain from the 8th century AD to 15th century AD, and Spain and Portugal became the centres of Moorish/Muslim civilisation. Cities like Granada and Seville were places where Moorish culture was the norm, and students from other European cities attended

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local Muslim centres of learning. The event also features: Audrey Scott (former member Lovers Rock Group ‘The Sadonians’ in the late 1970s, comedian Travis Jay and Creative Unity Steel

band. Bernie Grant Arts Centre, Tottenham Green, London, N15. Tickets: £10 each. Box office: 020 8365 5450. Windrush Foundation.

Tuesday 11 June. 1.15-55pm. Legacies of Slave-ownership Talk Catherine Hall (UCL Project). The Wilberforce Theatre, Museum of London Docklands West India Quay, Canary Wharf, London, E14. Once abolition was secured, Britons were keen to overlook slavery and emphasise the memory of emancipation. But Britain and Britons benefitted in multiple ways from slavery. By focusing on the role of the many slave-owners who lived here, should British history be reconsidered to take slavery into full account? You can also watch the

lecture live online. Please see http://events.ucl.ac.uk/event/event:swc-hdcvcy55-kt12fh/lunch-hour-lectures-on-tour-at-the-museum-of-london-britain-and-the-legacies-of-slavery?utm_medium=email&utm_source=UCL+%28Events%29&utm_campaign=2556838_Lunch+Hour+Lectures+on+tour&utm_content=slaverlhl&dm_i=GTF,1ISVA,6JQ236,56SPF for more details.

Saturday 15 June. 3pm - 5:30pm. Obeah Cases in Caribbean Courts Talk by Diana Paton and Gemma Romain (Newcastle University). Lambeth Town Hall, Brixton, London, SW2. Part of ‘Emancipation 1838’, funded by Heritage Lottery Fund, marking the 175th anniversary of the August 1838 liberation of nearly a million African people in the Caribbean. It is also about celebrating those

who resisted enslavement, those who fought to end it, and others who worked in Britain and the Caribbean for better social, economic, and cultural conditions for the latter.’ You can read more about the project here: www.hlf.org.uk/news/Pages/Liberation1838.aspx#.UaUrMpxi2BU.

Friday 21- Sunday 23 June. When Jim Crow met John Bull: The Battle of Bamber Bridge 1943. University of Central Lancashire and Preston Black History Group present a weekend of commemorative events. Friday 21 June, 1-7pm, University of Central Lancashire. Symposium with Film Showing and Performance. Speakers: Graham Smith (Author: When Jim Crow Met John Bull) Neil Wynn (Author: The Afro-American and the Second World War) Steven Bourne (Author: The Motherland Calls: Britain’s Black Servicemen and Women 1939-45) Alan Rice (Author: Creating Memorials, Building Identities) Gregory Cook (Producer: Choc’late Soldiers from the USA) Film showing of Choc’late Soldiers from the USA (first shown at the Smithsonian, Washington DC,

2009) and discussion with producer Gregory Cook from Philadelphia Lie Back and Think of America. Fresh from the Edinburgh Fringe, a one-woman show and post-show discussion with Front Room Theatre Company’s Natalie Wicox. Symposium is free and open to all: please book with Professor Alan Rice arice@uclan.ac.uk by June 7th Saturday 22 – Sunday 23 June. Events in Bamber Bridge including church service, walking tour of sites of the “battle”, exhibition and first showing in Bamber Bridge of Choc’late Soldiers from the USA Organised by Preston Black History Group, Chair Clinton Smith clinton@Prestonblackhistorygroup.org.uk

Monday 24 June. 7-9pm. Look How Far We’ve Come: Racism, The Bristol Bus Boycott, Black History Month, The Black Sections, And Where Are We In Today's Union Jack? Resources which document African British histories within the context of racism and equalities researched and produced by history consultant Kwaku, will be launched at the House of Commons. For more information: Kwaku, editor@BritishBlackMusic.com. Friday 28 & Saturday 29 June. Business history in the 21st century Conference To celebrate having its 21st annual conference in the 21st century, this year’s Association of Business Historians conference theme of “Business History in the 21st Century” is intentionally forward-looking and welcomes innovative approaches to conducting business history in the new millennium. Hosted by Lancashire Business School and the Lancashire Institute for Economic and Business Research. Full programme at: www.uclan.ac.uk/conference_events/assets/ABH_conference.pdf. Papers of interest to readers inc:

Kofi Asante, Northwestern University: “Collusion, Cooperation and Conflict: How Indigenous Gold Coast Merchants Shaped the Emergence of the State and Market Institutions, 1850-1950” Awing Ollong, University of Bamenda: “Paradox of CSR in Africa: The case of some French MNCs” Sheryllynne Haggerty, University of Nottingham: “The African Slave Trade” Suzanne McCoskey, Frostburg State University: “Cashing-in on the Promised Land? African American Emigration to Liberia in Search of Economic Opportunity”

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The Future of African Business History – general discussion by session Emily Buchnea, University of Nottingham: “Movement and Mobility in Transatlantic Business

Networks: Evidence from the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries” Vikram Visana, University of Cambridge: “Banks, Bonds, and Business: The Economic Thought of Dadabhai Naoroji”

Saturday 29 June. 1pm. Socialist History Society Annual General Meeting, plus talk at 2pm - The Economics of Killing—How the West fuels war and poverty in the Developing World by Vijay Mehta, author and chair of Uniting for Peace. Marchmont Centre, near Russell Square, London. www.socialisthistorysociety.co.uk/news.htm. Friday 5 July. 7.30pm. An evening with Samuel Coleridge-Taylor. Talk by Sean Creighton as part of South Norwood Festival. Samuel Coleridge-Taylor Centre, 194 Selhurst Rd, London, SE25. Saturday 19 October. "Music around the Atlantic Rim". Joint conference hosted by the British Forum for Ethnomusicology and the AHRC Research Networking Project 'Atlantic Sounds: Ships and Sailortowns'. School of Music, Cardiff University in association with University of Liverpool and The Open University www.open.ac.uk/arts/research/tackley-atlantic-sounds/colloquia/colloquium-3-cardiff-22-october-2013

NEWS AND INFORMATION New Books from Every Generation. The indefatigable Patrick Vernon of Every Generation Media has published two books:

Michael Ayre. The Caribbean in Sepia. A History in Photographs 1840-1900. £36.50 (UK) Softback. ISBN 9780955106873.

Dave V.J. & Lindsay Wesker. Masters of the Airwaves: The Rise & Rise of Underground Radio. £36.50 (UK). Hbk. ISBN 9780955106880. http://mastersoftheairwaves.tumblr.com.

Every Generation Media, Coppergate House, 16 Brune St, London, E1 7NJ. Patrick@everygeneration.co.uk. 0845 260 5565. www.everygeneration.co.uk. John Blanke Commemorated on Radio in USA. You can read and hear the broadcast (parts of which are cringe making). http://blackamericaweb.com/126862/little-known-black-history-fact-john-blanke-black-trumpeter. Black Eagles. From 1 November for 6 months the RAF Museum in London will be mounting an exhibition entitled Black Eagles: Volunteers of African Heritage in the Royal Air Force. It will then transfer to RAFM Cosford for a further six months. The exhibition is being curated in partnership with Black Cultural Archives and may be shown at their new building in Brixton in two years’ time." Flying Sikhs. www.rafmuseum.org.uk/documents/press_releases/london/Flying_Sikhs.pdf. John Archer Stamp Featured on Caribbean Broacasting Corporation. www.cbc.bb/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6743:barbadian-honoured-on-uk-stamp&catid=36:local-news&Itemid=59. King Alonso 1 of Kongo. See details about this 16thC African Christian king at http://blackamericaweb.com/130183/little-known-black-history-fact-king-alfonso-of-the-kongo. Wiltshire Black History. For details of the progress with work on the history of the Black presence in Wiltshire and Swindon see www.wshc.eu/wiltshire-black-history-resources.html and www.seemewiltshire.co.uk. The first site includes a list of relevant material covering slavery, anti-slavery, baptisms deaths, etc. It also includes material that is relevant to other parts of Britain. The first site wage is brand new poste dup by Terry Bracher on 30 May. Emancipation 1838 On 25 May, Nick Draper and Kate Donington of the Legacies of British Slave-ownership Project (UCL) attended a meeting at Lambeth Town Hall organised by Arthur Torrington of Emancipation 1838. ‘The room was full, with some participants standing at the back, and there were many generations represented in the audience. Nick began with an introduction to the LBS project and explored the uses and limitations of the database. Kate presented a case study of the slave-owning Hibberts which was designed to

explore the various legacies which the family left behind in London - for example, George Hibbert’s involvement in the building of the West India Docks. The audience debate following the initial presentation proved the highlight of the event with discussions about the place of indentured labour in un-free labour practices in the Caribbean and the role of the Church of England in slave-ownership. Questions on the role of West Africa in the slave trade as well as the impact of slavery on the area expanded the

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debate away from the Caribbean and provided new perspectives on the work we have been doing. There was also a timely discussion on the

use of the LBS research in schools - something we are looking to develop and expand on.’ (From LBS May Newsletter)

Africans in Tudor and Stuart London. On 16 May Miranda Kaufmann and Kate Donington gave a talk at the Camden History Society which explored the presence of Africans in London during the Tudor and Stuart periods and also considered the ways in which London slave-owners profited from the exploitation of Africans during the slavery era. ((From LBS newsletter May) Legacies of British Slave-ownership Blog Postings:

Researching the Dawkins Family, by James Dawson

Displaced Memories of Slavery and Slave-ownership by Catherine Hall

Rhode Island Slavery Symposium May 10-11 by Nick Draper.

Abolitionist Politicians in the Slave Compensation Records by Rachel Lang

Connections Between the East India Company and the Caribbean by Chris Jeppesen http://lbsatucl.wordpress.com. The British East India Company - The Chinese Opium Trade. See excellent video at www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJksnNM2P-c. Lascar Lives and the East India Company. Research project at University of Southampton. www.southampton.ac.uk/archaeology/research/projects/lascar_lives_and_the_east_india_company.page. Photos of and Pamphlets by Shapurji Saklatvala. A number are on sale through Amazon at www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Dkitchen&field-keywords=saklatvala.

HISTORIC NOTES From The National Reformer 1887 ‘Dr. C. S. Taylor, M. D., B.Sc, “a gentleman of color”, speaking at the Isle of Man, lately, on slavery, said, in reference to missions, that “the missionary efforts that were found in Dr. Livingstone, Mungo Park, Overweg, Richardson, Speke, and Grant were not what was found in the present missionaries that were sent out to convert the poor slaves, but whose mission was money making, drink, and in some instances, luxuries and vice. Indeed some of the missionaries were damnation to the so –called poor Africans. (Applause.)’ (6 February. p. 88) ‘Mr. Dadbhai Naoroji reprints from the Contemporary review of August and September last, two articles on Sir Henry Grant’s views on India . He recognises that the British influence has done much for education in India; he complains of the conduct in India of British officials. He urges that the pledges solemnly made in the name of Great Britain towards the natives have not been kept. He maintains that the average income in India is less than the cost of absolute necessities of life for a common agricultural labourer. He points out that the Indian National Congress asks this country to fulfil its formal promises, and says: “If India is to be retained to Britain, it will be by men who insist on being just.”’ (Pamphlet Grant Duff’s Views about India. 20 November. p. 348)

PAUL ROBESON NEWS 1958 Concerts and influence in India. http://week.manoramaonline.com/cgi-bin/MMOnline.dll/portal/ep/theWeekContent.do?tabId=13&programId=1073755417&categoryId=-1073908161&contentId=14102155. Soviet Anthem in English (1949). www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0HuGOlDzqQ. Joe Hill. Perhaps one of the best recordings. Also interesting debate by views on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qs-8Zd4ykmo.

WAR AND FREEDOM PROJECT The War & Freedom: The British Caribbean and the First World War commemoration project is a collaboration between Sweet Patootee (London-based producers of heritage educational resources) and the Open University. The subject is the British Caribbean experience in the First World War era. The initial consultation was to evaluate demand for a resource to support teaching, learning and discovery around First World War themes.

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The key assets of the proposed resource will be oral testimony recordings with Black British Caribbean veterans and civilians of the First World War era (the only audio/visual interviews with Black First World War servicemen in the UK. The next step funding permitting is the Development Phase of the project commencing September. There will be a series of workshops and consultations in Newcastle, Liverpool, London, and Seaford. These will enable the planning and delivery of activities to commence in autumn 2014, the key aspects being: planning and delivery of historical interpretation workshops; design and building the War and Freedom resource; planning and delivery of national launch activities, presentations, seminars and planning and delivery of a national touring exhibition. In the First World War one third of the men

under imperial British command were non-White. 15,204 Black volunteers were recruited in former slave colonies. They enlisted to prove worth and equality, served on every battle front, and upon their return, led struggles for civil rights as British citizens. Our WW1 centenary project will build on the stories of Black enlistees in Britain such as Walter Tull, increasing knowledge and understanding of WW1, and its legacy of shared heritage and citizenship in modern Britain. Creating a Website and App to conserve free public access to oral histories and sources for the first time, and documenting the experience and impact of the British West Indies Regiment, we will allow the veterans and civilians themselves to reveal a defining turning point in British racial attitudes and heritage, that shaped the upbringing and identity of Windrush generation migrants to Britain.

A clip from the previous resource on the British West Indies Regiment: http://vimeo.com/36902360 War and Freedom Project. Open University/Sweet Patootee. Tel: 0207 686 5101. www.sweetpatootee.co.uk.

LAUNCH OF BRITISH BLACK MUSIC RESEARCH UNIT One of the lasting legacies of Samuel Coleridge –Taylor was the establishment of the Performing Rights Society, to ensure that composers and musicians and their descendants received royalties. It has a Foundation funding new music activity including a grant for the soft launch of the University of Westminster’s Black Music Research Unit on Saturday 1 June. The aim of the launch was to introduce the work the Unit is involved with, whilst highlighting some of projects and experts currently operating in the field. It also showcased current work from music industry, institutional and community partners, and colleagues. The format on the day was very informal. A number of themed panels involved presentations by practitioners followed by discussion.

The Film Panel included Menelik Shabazz (film producer; inc. The Story of Lover’s Rock) Yonathan (Westminster (UK)), and Greg Fay (RSA Films Ltd).

The Photographer & Collectors Panel comprised Adrian Boot (Urban Image Media), Charlie Phillips, photographer, and Jeremy Collingwood, collector of sound systems equipment

The National/ International Academic Panel included Strictly Entertainment

Music) (on links between Nigeria & Brazil).

The Live Music Panel included Paul Bradshaw, Ben Ryan and a representative of the Performing Rights Foundation.

The Legacy & Writers Panel included Jeffrey Green, Dave Katz (historian, author and DJ), and myself.

The Research Panel discussing ‘What is Black Music’ included Kwaku, World Music Teto, Alex Pascall and Delroy Washington (reggae artist).

The final panel was on pirate radio.

Some History Inevitably there was a heavy concentration on Black, especially Jamaican influenced, music such as reggae and ska over the last 40 years. Leaving aside the Roman period the long history of black musicians and composers starting with John Blanke, the trumpeter at the courts of Henry VII and VIII, through Ignatius Sancho, Joseph Emidy, George Bridgetower, the Fisk Jubilee Singers and others was only alluded to briefly in Kwaku’s presentation. Jeff concentrated on Edward Jenkins, while I

concentrated on Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and Southern Syncopated Orchestra as part of the current Nubian Jak Community Trust Project on the influence of Black Music in Britain 1900-1920. My memory let me down when Charlie Phillips asked whether I had heard of Rudolf Dunbar! There is of course a fine photo of him in Susan Okokon’s Black Londoners (History Press. 2009) Interestingly despite his portrayal in the recent TV series ‘Murder on the Home Front’, no mention was made of Snake Hips Johnson.

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Issues for Discussion For me the following issues emerged.

There is a need to distinguish between musicians, composers, singers and dancers (collectively called ‘artists’ below) who happen to be Black, and are involved in forms of musical expression which are not exclusively derived from people of African Diaspora Heritage.

There needs to be more research into the lives of Black artists across the centuries and for the stories to be made available publicly and their importance in the musical life of Britain.

There needs to be more analysis on the interaction between different types of music from different parts of the world, with the constant process of experimentation and fusion. This works both ways. So Black artists sought to use classical modes to express spirituals; and White composers sought inspiration from Black music.

An over emphasis on the influence of Jamaica neglects the contribution of other West Indians in the process of the development of reggae.

An over emphasis on the influence of Caribbeans is seen by those from Africa as neglecting the contribution of their artists.

There is a need to broaden out the silo nature of all specialists in different genres of Black music so that they appreciate the historic roots, and as one panelists said that it is ‘a tree with many branches’.

People who want to know more need to be encouraged not to rely on the over-stretched researchers in the field, but start their own research.

Building all this into mainstream British and music histories and using music as a window into history in schools.

Resources etc One of the useful aspects of the day from contributions and slides was the range of resources mentioned, inc.: Performing Rights Foundation: /www.prsformusicfoundation.com. Urban Image Media: www.urbanimage.tv. Strictly Entertainment: www.strictlyentertainmentgroup.com. Riot from Wrong. A film from Fully Focussed Community about the 2011 riots. www.fullyfocusedproductions.com; extracts from the film is at www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXN1H_Bp0VU&feature=youtube_gdata_player. Birmingham Music Archives celebrating Birmingham’s popular music. http://birminghammusicarchive.com. Afro-Beats Educational Road-show. www.strictlyentertainmentgroup.com/tear/home.php. Charleston Jazz Initiative (inc Edward Jenkins). www.charlestonjazz.net/index.php. Teto Music. ‘World’ Music by geographic zones. www.tetomusic.co.uk. Paul Oliver. Black Music in Britain. Essays on the Afro-Asian Contribution to Popular Music (Popular Music in Britain) (Open University Press. 1990) Books by Ronald M Radano There is also: Joseph Emidy website: www.emidy.com. Congratulations to Mykael Riley and his student team from the Centre for an interesting day. Jeffrey Green’s books: Edmund Thornton Jenkins: The Life and Times of An American Black Composer, 1894-1926. Black Edwardians: Black People in Britain, 1901-1914. (Frank Cass 1998) Swing From a Small Island: The Story of Leslie Thompson (Northway Publications 2009) Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, a Musical Life. (Pickering and Chatto 2011) Coleridge-Taylor. A Centenary Celebration. (History & Social Action Publications. 2012 - available from me) See Jeff’s growing series of notes on Black History in Britain at www.jeffreygreen.co.uk. Books by Stephen Bourne (www.stephenbourne.co.uk) Nina Mae Mckinney – the Black Garbo. (Bearmanor Media. 2012) Elisabeth Welch – Soft Lights and Sweet Music. (Scarecrow Press 2005) Sophisticated Lady – a Celebration of Adelaide Hall (Hammersmith and Fulham Ethnic Communities Oral History Project. 2001)

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Plus Ulrich Adelt. Black, white and blue: racial politics of blues music in the 1960s (2007). University of Iowa. Iowa Research Online Theses and Dissertations. This includes discussion on the British blues movement, Powellism, Cream and Eric Clapton’s changing view of ‘Blackness’; and a section on Germany. http://ir.uiowa.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1313&context=etd. Neil A Wynn. Cross the Water Blues. African American Music in Europe. (University Press of Mississippi. 2007). Includes: Jeffrey Green. Spirituals to (Nearly) Swing, 1873-1938 Catherine Parsonage. Fascination and Fear. Responses to Early Jazz in Britain Sean Creighton. Paul Robeson’s British Journey Roberta Freund Schwartz. Preaching the Gospel of the Blues. Blues Evangelists in Britain Bob Groom. Whose “Rock Island Line”? Originality in the composition of blues and British Skiffle Rupert Till. The Blues Blueprint. The blues in the music of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and Led Zeppelin Leighton Grist. “The Blues if the Truth”. The Blues, Modernity, and the British Blues Boom

BLACK VICTORIAN SAILORS – PART ONE

By Jeffrey Green

The British merchant navy’s red flag was seen on oceans and in ports all over the world. Crews had to be tough to climb the rigging and handle sails in all weathers for muscle power kept the wind-driven ships functioning – steam powered a tiny percentage of the British fleet in the 1850s. When coal-fired steamships developed stokers kept the boilers fuelled in hell-like heat. Crews were often cosmopolitan. The experiences of the Victorians who earned a living at sea were varied but those with dark skins had extra problems when voyaging to American slave state ports such as New Orleans, Galveston, Jacksonville, Mobile, Savannah, Charleston and Wilmington. Ships collected cargoes of cotton for Lancashire’s mills, loaded freight and supplies, underwent repairs and waited for adverse winds to change during which time many were ill treated. American states passed laws with international affairs being the responsibility of senate and congress in Washington, DC. Restraints on free black sailors in South Carolina had been initiated in 1822 following a plot led by a free black in Charleston. (1) The sailors were imprisoned until their ship was about to depart when the captain had to pay the costs of their detention – if that was not paid the sailor could be sold into slavery. (2) In 1829 Georgia required ships with blacks on board (passengers or crew) had to be quarantined for forty days but its port of Savannah came to slightly less onerous arrangements. (3) North Carolina copied Georgia’s legislation in 1831. A white captain and two black crew members were imprisoned in Wilmington, NC. Lord Palmerston, who held several responsible positions in British governments and was prime minister in the 1850s, duly protested. The local British representative said the law was ‘an oppressive measure’ which interfered with free trade between the U.S.A. and Britain.(4) State laws led to imprisonment In 1843 the cook of the Higginson was imprisoned and ill-treated in Charleston, SC. Fifteen Britons from five ships were in Charleston’s gaols. Under pressure from the British consul South Carolina decided to confine black sailors to their ships or a defined area on shore. Americans did not want their slaves to mingle with free blacks. (5) In

Wilmington in 1845 the captain of a British ship armed the crew, placed one black sailor inside a British flag and defied the authorities to take him by force. (6) The British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society became interested and the British continued to press the federal government. Alabama copied South Carolina and in Mobile in 1848 three blacks were taken from their ships – one was a woman. British consular officers failed to convince the federal government to overrule these states so they pressed state legislators to change laws applying to coloured British sailors. But the Negro Seamen Acts had existed for many years and change was rejected. In 1850 a black steward imprisoned in Charleston for two months sued his captain for wages lost during those weeks.(7) Questions were asked in parliament, hundreds in the Bahamas petitioned the governor who told the British government, and the consul in New Orleans obtained Palmerston’s permission to challenge Louisiana law – instructions were issued to consuls in other states. Palmerston told his ambassador in Washington ‘it was unjust to imprison men “simply and solely because their skin wears a darker hue”’. (8) France protested too. (9) Perhaps sensing a quick turn-round of British ships would be better than imprisoning crewmen, Florida, North Carolina and Alabama (Mobile was its major port – the last cargo of African slaves

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landed there in 1860 (10) became less active, leaving South Carolina, Louisiana and Georgia to continue detaining foreign sailors. Louisiana was persuaded to change and from 1852 black sailors could land if they had written permission from some local authority. Georgia changed in 1854, ending the quarantine law and like Louisiana permitting access, with permits, to land. (11) The Pereira case of 1852-1853 South Carolina refused and the matter came to a boil in March 1852 over Manuel Pereira. He was a Portuguese national on a British ship which had struck a reef and had been brought into Charleston where he was imprisoned for fifty-two days. The matter was raised in parliament in June 1852.(12) White South Carolinians feared free black influences on their slaves and held on to their right to pass and enforce state legislation whereas the British saw such incidents as an insult. The legislation was detailed in The Times in early 1855. (13) In 1856 South Carolina permitted black sailors to stay on their ships provided a bond guaranteed they would not land, and in 1857 not one British black was imprisoned in Charleston. But in 1856 Texas legislated to impose a fine on any captain who brought a free black into the state, and Louisiana in 1859 decided to imprison free blacks during the period their ships were in port. (14) These three states exercised discrimination against foreign blacks until the U.S. abolished slavery. The stance taken by Britain is clear from newspaper reports of the 1850s. The Pereira case was mentioned in parliament on 22 June 1852 when Lord Stanley, informed by the British consul, told the house Manuel Pereira had been taken from his ship and imprisoned, and the matter was being dealt with by the Supreme Court of South Carolina. (15) At risk of being sold into slavery to recover the expense of jailing Pereira ‘for the offence of having a dark skin’ his ‘cry for justice excites our ears’. Lord Palmerston (foreign secretary since 1846) had already dealt with other cases where coloured Britons had been seized. Louisiana’s policy allowed coloured sailors provided they had a passport from the mayor but South Carolina ‘is contemptuous towards her sister state for this’ for ‘her territory is crowded with negro slaves, who can be kept down only by never seeing a free person of colour’. London’s Daily News of 7 July 1852 gave over a column to the matter. Two slaves escaped from Charleston in 1853 by sneaking on board a ship bound for South America. On arrival in Jamaica they were taken before a court and instantly discharged ‘to the great satisfaction of the populace of Jamaica’. The London newspaper report also mentioned Pereira.(16) The matter was raised in parliament on 24 June 1853 when Lord Beaumont stated black sailors were being seized ‘without doing anything offensive to the state itself’.(17)

Britons had been ‘hauled to goal through the streets of Charleston for no offence but their colour’ said London’s Daily News of 13 August 1853, naming the latest victim John Glasgow who was married to an Englishwoman and had a family in Britain. His captain sailed without him and he had been sold as a slave. Glasgow had been born in British Guiana and his wife was from and lived in Lancashire.(18) Life at sea could be dangerous, delays could leave the crew with little to eat or drink and wages could be withheld. Sailors were unafraid to take their problems to court. In 1851 Charles Baker, a cook on the Rotundo, had evidence the lime juice supplied for the voyage to Madras was not suitable and a charge of neglect was brought in Liverpool against Captain George Bewley. Replacement lime juice (required by British law to prevent scurvy) obtained in India had been mixed with the old, the entire stock contaminated, ‘several’ of the crew suffered from scurvy and one died. The steward said the cook’s sample was not a fair sample, so the cook, steward and a court official went to the Albert Dock and took a sample from the Rotundo which was then judged to be ‘quite unfit for use’. The cook ‘was too debilitated to walk’ to the docks and the magistrate paid ‘for a car’. Bewley was fined £5 with costs and recommended to settle the affair with all the crew as a fine of £5 for every man on board would be levied if he returned to court. (19) Only seven of the twenty-one crew of the Hamilla Mitchell of Glasgow, bound for London from Shanghai in August 1851 were fit enough to sail her into London. Scurvy had killed twelve: one survivor was a coloured cook, Philip Johnson. Of one who died as the ship reached the Thames the coroner brought in a verdict of ‘visitation of God’. (20) Obtaining justice in British courts Sailors brought officers to court attempting to obtain justice, which we can see when the Liverpool Albion had its court report copied by the Preston Chronicle and Lancashire Advertiser, when four sailors charged captain John Parker Mitchell of the Rothsay for assault. They had been flogged when in Bonny (now south-east Nigeria) in July 1851. There were two ‘men of colour, and the others Englishmen’. One black man was named Cook and his flogging was seen as ‘excessive’ according to a February 1852 report.1(21) In late 1852 Juan Bona Ventura brought charges against his captain in London with inflicting grievous bodily injury. The captain was a heavy drinker and put the crew in irons. He told Ventura ‘Go on your knees, you nigger’, who then received a blow from a boarding pike which broke his arm. The captain was sent for trial but released on £100 bail. (22) A Bristol newspaper reported an inquest on Richard Esdale, cook on the brig Eling from

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Bristol to Nevis in the West Indies who returned in such bad health he soon died. Officials insisted the captain and mate came to the inquiry, which resumed on 16 April 1852. They had sailed for Bristol around 10 February. Esdale had been fit on the voyage out but developed swollen feet which stopped him cooking. No one looked after him except the ship’s boy. A surgeon testified he had known Esdale for years, visited him at home earlier that month and found him emaciated, almost incapable of speech, suffering from palsy, exhaustion and sores. The post mortem revealed damage caused by a recent blow to the skull. The boy, a stowaway from Bristol, had taken food to him and thought the blow to his head resulted from being dropped when a crew member moved him from his sick bed. The widow Henrietta Esdale said her husband spoke a little and said ‘O, cruel captain’. She added crew members had visited and told her they would testify in court, but they had gone back to sea. The matter was delayed again as the sailor alleged to have dropped Esdale was in Wales. (23) He duly confirmed Esdale had fallen out of bed but could not explain the blow: ‘all the crew were on good terms with him; we would do anything for him, and he would do anything for us’. The coroner repeated his question on whether Esdale had fallen when being moved, and it was suggested a door might have hit him. There was mention of perjury, and all but one of the jury censored the captain for leaving Esdale for fifteen days with just one change of clothing. How Esdale had come by the damage to his head was not resolved. (24) Charity cases Robert Thorpe appealed to a London magistrate for help in May 1852 but lacked even the little support poor Esdale had. ‘A fine looking man’ born in Kingston, Jamaica around 1830 he had been a sailor for some time. Sailing on the Medora from Glasgow to California in 1851 the voyage round Cape Horn was terrible and he was put ashore with frostbite in Valparaiso, Chile where at the English Naval Hospital his legs were amputated at the knee. The British consul sent him to England on a Royal Navy ship. He was now penniless and hobbling with sticks. The magistrate was dubious that he could do anything and Thorpe said he would go to Glasgow to see the owners of the Medora who might pay his fare to Jamaica. Details were left with the court to see what could be done, and Thorpe returned to his lodgings near St Katherine’s Dock.1 (25) Disabled – crippled was generally used at this period – sailors were generally useless at sea, although Victorian book illustrators of pirate tales showed peg-legged or handless sailors. Painter William Parrott’s ‘The Negro Boat Builder’ shows a black man carving toy boats at the seaside, fascinating six children who may

have pressed their parents into purchasing one, to sail on a pond. The carver has no feet. This was painted around 1850. (26) Charges against Captain Strang of the John Fielding alleged he had not paid wages. John Williams the cook on the voyage from Calcutta to Liverpool had a deduction ‘for some petty insubordination’ and the court awarded him five pounds. (27) Charles Johnson, cook on the Chevalier from Liverpool to New Orleans took Captain Brightman to court on his return, for the captain had not paid him after ten days, due to his incompetence. The court decided Johnson was due pay at the contracted rate of £3 per month for the ten days he worked, and £1 per month for the rest of the voyage to and from Louisiana. (28) Resorting to law took Barbados-born Prince Edward to the Court of Queen’s Bench, London on 12 May 1855. He had been cook on the Yeoman from San Francisco to London, having sailed from Liverpool on the Candace. Almost as soon as it docked in California he transferred to his new ship. The Candace’s captain regarded that as desertion but Edward said the mate had given him permission to leave. Since arriving in London in February he worked carrying seamen’s chests, and lived in a room which he had furnished. He wanted £46 11s due to him in wages. The captain’s lawyer asked Lord Campbell and the jury not to be biased because the plaintiff was a coloured man. Campbell said if the mate gave permission then it was not desertion. But the mate had since died and the log book of the Candace had a note from the mate that Edward had deserted along with ten other men. The Candace’s captain had sailed to the Crimea and was not available. Should wages earned on the Yeoman be forfeited due to desertion from the Candace? If Edward believed the mate had given him permission to leave then he had not deserted. This was the second time the case had been heard, and again the verdict was favoured Edward – who would now receive his money. (29) Evil captain transported The trial of Captain Hugh Orr of the Hannah Jane in Exeter in March 1857 heard his small boat (120 tons) was in the Senegal River where Orr beat cook Edward Devue every day with a rope, broom handles and a cat o’nine tails. Devue died on 3 July 1856. When the ship reached Plymouth in December an enquiry was initiated and Orr was imprisoned. Found guilty of manslaughter he was sentenced to be transported for life ‘amidst the loud and irrepressible applause of a densely-crowded court’.(30) The Essex Standard’s report of 8 April 1857 was headed ‘killing by inches’. The Times said Devue was aged thirty-five and from Boston, and called the case ‘hideous’.(31)

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The ‘tall black man’ on the Shannon which arrived in Portsmouth in January 1859 was described in the West Sussex Gazette as having been voted ‘the bravest man we ever did see’ by the officers and men of that ship. He had brought his gun into a commanding position during fighting at Lucknow, in November 1857 and had killed several Indians with his cutlass.(32) William Edward (or Nelson) Hall, born of American ex-slaves in Nova Scotia, Canada in 1821 or 1827 had left the merchant navy and joined the Royal Navy in Liverpool in 1852, and served in the Crimean War at Sebastopol. He had been a volunteer in the Naval Brigade sent inland from Calcutta in August 1857 to quell the uprising the British called the Indian Mutiny. The 410 seamen and marines took four field pieces and six 8-inch guns and helped relieve the siege at Lucknow (and in March 1858, captured the town). The Brigade was awarded five Victoria Crosses in the campaigns of 1857-1858, and Hall’s was for bravery on 16 November 1857. Apart from a badly wounded lieutenant, Hall was the only surviving crew member. Their gun made the breach in the town’s walls which enabled the Highlanders to enter. The medal was presented to him in Ireland in 1859. Hall retired in 1876 and returned to Canada, lived with his sisters and died in 1904. The memorial to the men of the Shannon at Southsea erected in 1860 noted ten had been killed in action in India, ten died of wounds, 83 from disease and 44 were wounded. (33) Another black involved in the Crimean War was John Brown, a sailor on HMS Cossack in the Baltic

whose cutter took seven Russian captives ashore under a flag of truce. That flag was ignored and the boat’s crew was attacked but Brown escaped – the incident was widely condemned. (34) Brown was referred to as a ‘black man’ in both the Bury and Norwich Post and the Derby Mercury (20 June), a ‘man of colour, named John Brown’ by the Daily News of that date and in the Newcastle Courant 22 June 1855 as ‘John Brown, ordinary seaman, a young man of colour’. He was ‘the black man’ when the incident was debated in the House of Commons on 25 June 1855. This Hango Massacre (Hanko, a small port west of Helsinki: Finland was Russian then) remained a breach of military morality even when the Russians advised that three officers and most of the men had been captured. The testimony of Lieutenant Genestre (reported killed by Brown) published in December 1855 confirmed the details of the outrage. (35) In September 1855 twenty-two sailors drove through Liverpool to Lime Street station to go to Plymouth and on to the Crimean War, including ‘a coloured man – a young fellow of iron frame and towering height’. The press gang had been ended and better wages were available to sailors. (36) The Isle of Man had a black beggar for decades. Known as ‘Black Jack’ he was found dead in his lodgings in March 1872. He had said he had been at the Battle of Waterloo (1815) and had been to sea, but nobody knew if there was any truth in that. He was thought to have been in his seventies. (37)

To be continued next issue

(1) Philip M. Hamer, ‘Great Britain, the United States, and the Negro Seamen Acts, 1822-1848’, Journal of Southern History, Vol 1 No 1 (February 1935), pp 3-28.

(2) Hamer, ‘Great Britain, the United States, and the Negro Seamen Acts’, p 9. (3) Hamer, ‘Great Britain, the United States, and the Negro Seamen Acts’, pp 12-13. (4) Hamer, ‘Great Britain, the United States, and the Negro Seamen Acts’, p 17 quoting the National

Archives, Kew, FO 5/271 30 March 1832. (5) Hamer, ‘Great Britain, the United States, and the Negro Seamen Acts’, pp 19-20. (6) Hamer, ‘Great Britain, the United States, and the Negro Seamen Acts’, p 24. (7) Philip M. Hamer, ‘British Consuls and the Negro Seamen Acts, 1850-1860’, Journal of Southern

History, Vol 1 No 2 (May 1935), pp 138-168. (8) Hamer, ‘British Consuls’, p 141. (9) Hamer, ‘British Consuls’, p 144. (10) Sylvianne A. Diouf, Dreams of Africa in Alabama: The Slave Ship Clotilda and the Story of the Last

Africans Brought to America (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007) (11) Hamer, ‘British Consuls’, pp 142-143. (12) Hamer, ‘British Consuls’, pp 158-159; The Times (London), 23 June 1852, p 4. (13) The Times (London), 12 January 1855, p 8 (14) Hamer, ‘British Consuls’, pp 166-167. (15) Berrow’s Worcester Journal, 24 June 1852. (16) Standard (London) 20 May 1853. (17) Daily News (London), 15 June 1853.Peter Fryer, Staying Power: The History of Black People in

Britain (London: Pluto Press, 1984), p 434. (18) Reynold’s Newspaper (London), 9 March 1851. (19) Lloyd’s Weekly Newspaper (London), 25 January 1852 and 1 February 1852; (20) Reynold’s Newspaper (London), 25 January 1852. (21) Preston Chronicle, 8 February 1852. (22) Daily News (London), 22 November 1852.

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(23) Bristol Mercury, 17 April 1852. (24) Bristol Mercury, 24 April 1852. (25) Morning Post (London), 14 May 1852. (26) Brighton and Hove Museum, reference FA000118. (27) Liverpool Mercury, 25 January 1853. (28) Liverpool Mercury, 1 July 1853. (29) The Times (London), 23 November 1854, p 10; The Times (London), 14 May 1855, p 11; Daily News

(London), 14 May 1855; Morning Post (London), 14 May 1855, p 6. (30) Hampshire Advertiser (Southampton), 28 March 1857, p 3. (31) The Times (London), 23 March 1857, p 11; The Times (London), 25 March 1857, p 9. (32) Daily News (London), 7 January 1859 quoting the West Sussex Gazette (33) www.memorials.inportsmouth.co.uk/southsea/shannon.htm; Maritime Museum of the Atlantic,

Halifax, Nova Scotia; Calvin W. Ruck, The Black Battalion 1916-1920. Canada’s Best Kept Military Secret (Halifax: Nimbus Publishing, 1987), pp 2-5. In 2010 a commemorative postage stamp was issued in Canada.

(34) Sheffield Independent, 23 June 1855, p 8; The Times (London) 21 June 1855 pp 8 and 9.

(35) The Times (London), 8 December 1855, p 6.

(36) Freeman’s Journal (Dublin), 7 September 1855. (37) Isle of Man Times (Douglas), 9 March 1872, p 5.