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The
legacy of slavery
By Dominic Casciani
BBC News home and community affairs
Dehumanised: White faces depicted - but not black slave faces
What do we mean by the legacy of slavery? Is it something
measurable - or perhaps a feeling that echoes of a terrible
past can still be heard today?
The legacy
of slavery is one of the hardest issues in world history upon
which to find agreement.
The sheer
scale of the transactions of slavery - the untold cargo of
people whose names, heritage and culture were extinguished
- is, like the Nazi holocaust, almost impossible to take in.
But 200
years on there are voices around the world who say we still
need to address the legacy of those events.
Steve
Martin, a writer and historian of black history, says our
failure to do so is a sign that we still cannot agree on the
very basics of what the slave trade did to the world.
Mr Martin
is an expert in the history of Britain's built environment.
He uses it as a springboard to debate the often unwritten
contribution of minorities to the national story.
Physical
evidence
He says
a simple test of our understanding of legacy is to look for
physical reminders in countries which were part of the trade.
Very often, they are there - but difficult to recognise.
Harewood House: Profits of slavery contributed to family riches
"Take the English country house and stately home,"
he says. "Harewood House in Yorkshire, the home of the
Lascelles family, for example. How did they make their money?
"Then
there is [the Georgian] Queen Square in Bristol. You can walk
through these places every day but how do you know the role
that slavery played in their existence?
"The
legacy of slavery in our environment is there - the rise of
the gardening of Capability Brown can be associated with the
wealth from slavery."
If difficult
questions are going unanswered - what are they?
Two centuries
of stereotypes
Ken Barnes
is the president of 100 Black Men of London. It's a worldwide
movement, born in the USA, which recruits successful black
men to mentor the next generation.
18th CENTURY BIOLOGY
European: eyes blue; gentle, acute, inventive. Covered with
close vestments. Governed by laws
Asiatic: eyes dark; severe, haughty, covetous. Covered with
loose garments. Governed by opinions
Black: phlegmatic, relaxed. African. Crafty, indolent, negligent.
Anoints himself with grease. Governed by caprice
The System of Nature, Linnaeus, 1735
Slavery
panel: Send your questions
But Mr Barnes says this work does not take place in a vacuum:
the legacy of slavery is everywhere for his members - and
at its heart is racism.
"Slavery
was used to justify and reinforce racism and allow it to become
endemic [in Europe and the Americas]," he says.
"All
of a sudden you have entire peoples seen as sub-human; if
someone is sub-human then the slaver is justified in what
he does.
"This
even affects the way black people today perceive themselves.
Ask people what it is to be black. Black is associated with
rap music, with being lazy and uninterested in society. These
are traceable back to the racism of slavery."
This is
one of the most challenging arguments of the legacy debate:
how much can the racism of the past be blamed for the racism,
culture or inequalities of today?
Two of
the most provocative areas for legacy theory are the caricatures
of black male sexual prowess and sporting achievement. The
suggestion is that today's stereotypical images were born
out of slave owners' preference for the most athletic specimens
from among their stock.
Two centuries
of these stereotypes and pseudo-science have arguably left
a deep psychological scar on society - both in white perceptions
of black people and the responses of some black people to
that projection.
Just a
theory?
This may
sound entirely theoretical but is a deeply sensitive issue.
The Bell Curve was one of the most controversial American
books of recent times.
Empower people and look at their self-identity ... the key
factor for any young person is how expectations of how they
will turn out are reinforced and in turn influence behaviour
Ken Barnes, 100 Black Men
Born black
in 'post-slavery' society
Critics accused the authors of perpetuating a stereotype of
black physical superiority and white intellectual dominance.
The authors
said their results were scientific. The critics said a straight
line ran from the theory to some of the thinking of slavery.
Ken Barnes
says the effect of these generations-old stereotypes can be
seen most starkly in the disproportionately poor educational
results of black boys when compared with other groups.
"There
is an expectation of failure for black children in schools,"
he says. "And it comes down to how they are historically
perceived by the school system.
"Society's
continuing image of black men affects the way teachers address
the children. But this is a vicious circle. If you continually
tell a child that it is naughty then it will act that way."
However
some of the legacy arguments have their critics. Last year,
an award-winning BBC drama sparked a furious row when its
central character, a black teacher called Joe, asked why everything
bad that had ever happened to him had involved someone who
was black. In one memorable scene Joe tells people to "get
over slavery".
Barack Obama: "Suffered enough" as a black man?
Critics of award-winning playwright Sharon Foster (who is
black) accused her of pandering to racists.
In reality,
the film exposed the tensions within black community politics
- and a failure to agree on how to progress on legacy issues
such as slavery, racism and modern identity.
On the
other side of the Atlantic, the presidential contender Barack
Obama has faced a hint of this political storm. One genealogist
has claimed he discovered evidence that Obama's mother, who
is white, is a descendent of slave owners. For some activists
at least, Obama has therefore not suffered enough as a black
man to be able to speak for African Americans.
So if
that is the legacy - what is the remedy?
Historian
Steve Martin says the starting point is an open and frank
engagement on the issues - particularly by white people.
"Slavery
is very much a case of don't mention the war," he says.
"It's
a total emotional trigger and for many people it can't be
discussed rationally.
"Many
people don't want to talk about it or would even attack someone
for bringing it up. But when I focus on the built environment
-that can't be walked around - it's there and it's a history
that's part of them too."
"What
you need to do is instil hope," says Ken Barnes.
"Empower
people and look at their self-identity. The key factor for
any young person is how expectations of how they will turn
out are reinforced and in turn influence behaviour."
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