Black People in the British Empire PDF
Preview Black People in the British Empire
Black People in the British Empire Also available by the same author Staying Power The History of Black People in Britain Foreword by Gary Younge Introduction by Paul Gilroy ‘Rare in its mastery’ C.L.R. James ‘Encyclopedic, courageous and passionately written, there is no more important and no more groundbreaking book on black British history’ David Olusoga, author of Black and British: A Forgotten History Black People in the British Empire Peter Fryer Foreword by Stella Dadzie First published 1988 This edition first published 2021 by Pluto Press 345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA www.plutobooks.com Copyright © The Estate of Peter Fryer 1988, 2021 The right of Peter Fryer to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978 0 7453 4370 9 Hardback ISBN 978 0 7453 4369 3 Paperback ISBN 978 0 7453 4373 0 PDF ISBN 978 0 7453 4371 6 EPUB ISBN 978 0 7453 4372 3 Kindle This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental standards of the country of origin. Typeset by Stanford DTP Services, Northampton, England Simultaneously printed in the United Kingdom and United States of America Contents Foreword by Stella Dadzie ix Preface xiii Introduction xv Part I: How Britain Became ‘Great Britain’ 1 1. Britain and its Empire 3 2. The Triangular Trade 5 3. India 18 Plunder 18 De-industrialization 22 4. The Caribbean from 1834 27 The Abolition of Slavery 27 Indentured Labour 28 Apprenticeship 30 Britain’s ‘Tropical Farms’ 31 5. Africa (Other Than Southern Africa) 35 6. Territories of White Settlement 40 Tasmania 40 Australia 41 New Zealand 43 Southern Africa 45 Indentured Labour 50 7. Profits of Empire 52 8. How Black People were Ruled 54 9. The Empire and the British Working Class 58 Part II: Racism 63 10. The Concept of ‘Race’ 65 11. Racism and Slavery 67 12. Racism and Empire 70 13. The Reproduction of Racism 77 Historiography 77 Children’s Books 82 vi / black people in the british empire Part III: Resistance 87 14. The Struggle against Slavery 89 15. The Caribbean after Emancipation 102 16. India 111 Conclusion 122 Notes and References 131 Suggestions for Further Reading 163 Index 165 The present is where we get lost – if we forget our past and have no vision of the future. Ayi Kwei Armah, The Healers (1978) Foreword Stella Dadzie When Peter Fryer’s Staying Power was first published in 1984, among the many debates it sparked was a heated discussion about whether white historians could be trusted to write ‘black history’. We have moved on since then in so many ways. As well as conced- ing that what matters is how our history is written, rather than who writes it, there is also a growing recognition that ‘black history’ is an outdated concept. As this sequel to Staying Power demonstrates so succinctly, there is no separate entity called ‘black history’, just versions and perspec- tives that have been air-brushed out of the official narrative. Britain’s history is littered with gaping holes – hidden histories and her- stories that have yet to be told or unearthed. In drawing our attention to the experience of countless subjugated people who were deemed part of its sprawling empire, Peter Fryer has shown, once again, that he has earned his credentials. The issue of who did what to whom historically is central to our understanding of the country we live in today – its diversity, its achievements, its attitudes towards race, and perhaps most impor- tant of all, the legacies that continue to determine its citizens’ life chances. Moves to decolonise the curriculum, recently revived by the demands of the Black Lives Matter movement, stem from a long-standing assertion that the stories taught in our schools are often just that – one-sided stories, seen through a Eurocentric lens, that favour prevarication and sidestep the unpalatable truths. All history is open to challenge, for the simple reason that it is inherently biased in favour of those who had the power to record it. But when it comes to the history of Britain and empire, there is a need for a major re-think. How different our understanding of this country’s standing in the world would be if we saw the Industrial Revolution as an unintended off-shoot of people-theft and the pillage of two continents; or if our banking, insurance and other national institutions acknowledged the degree of human suffering that generated their enduring wealth. It’s all in the telling, which is why this eloquent little book is such a vital read.
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