"Black and British: A Forgotten History" Freedom

1 00:00:08,200 --> 00:00:11,440 The Royal Navy flagship, HMS Bulwark, 2 00:00:11,440 --> 00:00:13,520 on patrol off the coast of Britain. 3 00:00:16,320 --> 00:00:17,960 Over 200 years ago, 4 00:00:17,960 --> 00:00:20,600 the Royal Navy was preparing for battle 5 00:00:20,600 --> 00:00:23,640 against the combined forces of France and Spain. 6 00:00:29,840 --> 00:00:34,240 It all came to a head off the Spanish coast at Cape Trafalgar. 7 00:00:36,640 --> 00:00:39,600 OK, thank you very much for coming along this afternoon. 8 00:00:40,720 --> 00:00:44,040 18,000 sailors went into battle for Britain. 9 00:00:47,760 --> 00:00:51,160 Trafalgar is one of the most famous and celebrated battles in all of 10 00:00:51,160 --> 00:00:55,040 British history. But what we've forgotten is that among the men who 11 00:00:55,040 --> 00:00:59,000 served under Admiral Nelson were over 100 black sailors. 12 00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:02,760 These were men who had been born in Africa or born into slavery in the 13 00:01:02,760 --> 00:01:05,680 British colonies in the West Indies and North America, 14 00:01:05,680 --> 00:01:08,240 and some of them were black Georgians, 15 00:01:08,240 --> 00:01:12,560 men who had homes and wives and children back home in Britain. 16 00:01:17,680 --> 00:01:22,320 In London, a bronze relief at the base of Nelson's Column shows one of 17 00:01:22,320 --> 00:01:24,320 these forgotten black sailors. 18 00:01:26,000 --> 00:01:28,680 Guarding Nelson is a young black man, 19 00:01:28,680 --> 00:01:32,440 one of the men who helped him win his greatest victory. 20 00:01:39,760 --> 00:01:43,600 In this series, we're uncovering Britain's forgotten black history. 21 00:01:43,600 --> 00:01:45,800 There was so much dirty fighting back then. 22 00:01:45,800 --> 00:01:47,520 If somebody bent over, you would knee them. 23 00:01:47,520 --> 00:01:50,360 - It was like... - I'm getting the message. 24 00:01:50,360 --> 00:01:53,320 We're remembering some of the forgotten events and people... 25 00:01:55,560 --> 00:01:57,960 And what do you know about your famous ancestor? 26 00:01:57,960 --> 00:01:59,680 He changed the world. 27 00:02:00,680 --> 00:02:04,520 ..and putting up permanent memorials in cast iron and stone... 28 00:02:07,040 --> 00:02:09,400 APPLAUSE 29 00:02:09,400 --> 00:02:12,080 ..across Britain, Africa and the Caribbean. 30 00:02:14,600 --> 00:02:18,120 From a black historical point of view, it's monumental, 31 00:02:18,120 --> 00:02:19,840 it is monumental. 32 00:02:22,400 --> 00:02:24,680 These are the names of the black servicemen 33 00:02:24,680 --> 00:02:27,520 who fought in the Battle of Trafalgar. 34 00:02:27,520 --> 00:02:31,360 Today, 21st century sailors are remembering the black mariners of 35 00:02:31,360 --> 00:02:33,400 Trafalgar in their own way... 36 00:02:33,400 --> 00:02:35,200 James Black. 37 00:02:35,200 --> 00:02:38,000 ..with a memorial wreath at sea. 38 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:39,440 John Abraham. 39 00:02:39,440 --> 00:02:41,800 I'm here today because of them, 40 00:02:41,800 --> 00:02:44,040 and every name that I read out is like... 41 00:02:44,040 --> 00:02:46,760 I'm so proud... 42 00:02:46,760 --> 00:02:50,160 that that person was there. They took part in that battle. 43 00:02:50,160 --> 00:02:53,240 Some of these men were volunteers. 44 00:02:53,240 --> 00:02:56,040 Others where probably press-ganged. 45 00:02:56,040 --> 00:02:57,960 George Brown. 46 00:02:57,960 --> 00:03:01,920 These black men were fighting for Britain at a time when an enormous 47 00:03:01,920 --> 00:03:05,160 struggle was being fought over the meaning of freedom. 48 00:03:07,880 --> 00:03:11,440 This is the story of how black people were thrust into the centre 49 00:03:11,440 --> 00:03:13,640 of that great battle of ideas, 50 00:03:13,640 --> 00:03:17,400 how the concept of freedom was used and abused, denied, 51 00:03:17,400 --> 00:03:18,960 claimed and corrupted, 52 00:03:18,960 --> 00:03:22,520 in what became one of the most dramatic and shocking chapters 53 00:03:22,520 --> 00:03:24,600 in the black history of Britain. 54 00:03:26,000 --> 00:03:32,074 Watch Online Movies and Series for FREE www.osdb.link/lm 55 00:03:44,280 --> 00:03:48,640 Britain's relationship with Africa and Africans stretches back nearly 56 00:03:48,640 --> 00:03:50,440 2,000 years. 57 00:03:52,760 --> 00:03:57,600 And the 17th and 18th centuries are among the most shocking and tragic 58 00:03:57,600 --> 00:03:59,680 parts of that long story. 59 00:04:08,720 --> 00:04:12,160 To understand it, I've travelled over 3,000 miles 60 00:04:12,160 --> 00:04:14,920 to a small island in the Sierra Leone River. 61 00:04:18,840 --> 00:04:20,960 This is Bunce Island. 62 00:04:23,320 --> 00:04:27,360 Hidden beneath the trees are the ruins of a slave fortress. 63 00:04:40,760 --> 00:04:44,520 The first fortress was built here in the 17th century. 64 00:04:44,520 --> 00:04:49,000 It's lain abandoned and forgotten for almost two centuries. 65 00:04:51,880 --> 00:04:55,520 It was in places like this that the British slave trade began. 66 00:04:58,160 --> 00:05:00,520 The island itself is peaceful, 67 00:05:00,520 --> 00:05:04,160 but the peacefulness is a camouflage 68 00:05:04,160 --> 00:05:07,760 for the misery that went on here. 69 00:05:07,760 --> 00:05:11,440 Slaves were bought, sold and imprisoned here 70 00:05:11,440 --> 00:05:13,800 before being shipped to British colonies 71 00:05:13,800 --> 00:05:15,880 in North America and the Caribbean. 72 00:05:17,480 --> 00:05:20,560 These are the outside fortification walls. 73 00:05:20,560 --> 00:05:23,160 We are actually outside the fort itself. 74 00:05:23,160 --> 00:05:25,520 Heritage Commissioner, Isatu Smith, 75 00:05:25,520 --> 00:05:29,360 is working to bring the story of Bunce Island back to life. 76 00:05:29,360 --> 00:05:31,200 So, this is the trading area 77 00:05:31,200 --> 00:05:34,480 where the slaves and trade goods would have been brought. 78 00:05:34,480 --> 00:05:37,440 The slaves would all have been marched up the road where we 79 00:05:37,440 --> 00:05:39,960 just came through, and once they get here 80 00:05:39,960 --> 00:05:41,800 the traders will examine them like cattle. 81 00:05:41,800 --> 00:05:44,520 They will examine their eyes, their teeth, their nose. 82 00:05:44,520 --> 00:05:47,080 They will hit them on their knees for them to jump up and make sure 83 00:05:47,080 --> 00:05:49,960 they are not lame, they are very physically fit before they 84 00:05:49,960 --> 00:05:52,080 would make a bid for them. 85 00:05:54,400 --> 00:05:57,400 This is where the slave traders lived, this was their mansion. 86 00:05:57,400 --> 00:06:02,360 I can't help noticing that there are windows in the slave traders' house. 87 00:06:02,360 --> 00:06:04,320 Would they have overlooked... 88 00:06:04,320 --> 00:06:06,320 - the slave yard? - The windows are overlooking... 89 00:06:06,320 --> 00:06:08,680 I mean they are looking directly into the slave yard, 90 00:06:08,680 --> 00:06:10,200 and you can imagine why. 91 00:06:10,200 --> 00:06:12,120 These are prized possessions, 92 00:06:12,120 --> 00:06:14,960 so you want to make sure you can keep an eye on them, 93 00:06:14,960 --> 00:06:18,800 so the slave traders, literally behind this wall, have lavish meals, 94 00:06:18,800 --> 00:06:23,040 entertaining in grand style, whilst right behind the windows is 95 00:06:23,040 --> 00:06:25,120 wretched souls. 96 00:06:25,120 --> 00:06:29,120 Imagine being shackled to nine other people and you're all, inwardly, 97 00:06:29,120 --> 00:06:30,680 you are grieving. 98 00:06:34,200 --> 00:06:36,720 The British were masters of the slave trade. 99 00:06:39,040 --> 00:06:42,960 In total, Britain transported more than three million people 100 00:06:42,960 --> 00:06:45,520 into slavery over two and a half centuries 101 00:06:45,520 --> 00:06:47,240 of involvement in the trade. 102 00:06:54,080 --> 00:06:57,640 I've read about this structure and I've read what historians have 103 00:06:57,640 --> 00:07:00,040 speculated that it might be. 104 00:07:00,040 --> 00:07:02,320 Are those speculations right, do you think? 105 00:07:02,320 --> 00:07:05,920 Probably true. This was the "rape house" 106 00:07:05,920 --> 00:07:08,280 - where female captives... - The "rape house?" 107 00:07:08,280 --> 00:07:11,680 ..were raped by their male slave owners. 108 00:07:11,680 --> 00:07:13,680 And they built a structure to do it? 109 00:07:13,680 --> 00:07:15,600 They built a structure to do it. 110 00:07:15,600 --> 00:07:20,520 The left side of the structure was used as a toilet facility 111 00:07:20,520 --> 00:07:22,840 and there is a room on the other side 112 00:07:22,840 --> 00:07:26,360 where the female slaves were probably raped, yes. 113 00:07:26,360 --> 00:07:28,120 God. 114 00:07:29,720 --> 00:07:32,520 If you are looking for happy bedtime stories, 115 00:07:32,520 --> 00:07:34,800 - this is not the place for you. - You're on the wrong island. 116 00:07:34,800 --> 00:07:37,960 You're on the wrong island. You're on the wrong island. 117 00:07:52,440 --> 00:07:54,240 In its early stages, 118 00:07:54,240 --> 00:07:56,960 Britain's slave trade was run for the benefit 119 00:07:56,960 --> 00:07:59,560 of those at the very top of the establishment. 120 00:08:01,560 --> 00:08:04,200 One of the companies that used to run Bunce Island 121 00:08:04,200 --> 00:08:07,880 sold more Africans into slavery than any company in British history, 122 00:08:07,880 --> 00:08:09,880 and that was the Royal African Company. 123 00:08:09,880 --> 00:08:11,520 I've got here a document. 124 00:08:11,520 --> 00:08:13,760 This is from January 1672. 125 00:08:13,760 --> 00:08:16,440 It lists all of the major investors. 126 00:08:16,440 --> 00:08:19,280 His Royal Highness, James, Duke of York. 127 00:08:19,280 --> 00:08:21,560 And it says here that he is the governor of the company, 128 00:08:21,560 --> 00:08:25,880 which is about the modern equivalent of a CEO, a Chief Executive Officer. 129 00:08:27,200 --> 00:08:31,080 James, Duke of York, is the future James II, 130 00:08:31,080 --> 00:08:33,320 and we know that slaves who were held here 131 00:08:33,320 --> 00:08:35,480 by the Royal African Company had 132 00:08:35,480 --> 00:08:39,400 the company initials, RAC, branded onto them, but some of them, 133 00:08:39,400 --> 00:08:43,960 and this included the children, had the letters, DY, for Duke of York, 134 00:08:43,960 --> 00:08:45,960 burnt into their chest. 135 00:08:56,760 --> 00:09:00,920 Bunce Island is part of our shared past with Sierra Leone. 136 00:09:04,520 --> 00:09:08,120 And British history can never be fully understood 137 00:09:08,120 --> 00:09:11,280 without knowing what happened in places like this. 138 00:09:15,480 --> 00:09:18,840 Almost two centuries after the island was abandoned, 139 00:09:18,840 --> 00:09:21,840 the story is being remembered and retold. 140 00:09:24,200 --> 00:09:27,280 People who live along the river are gathering to honour 141 00:09:27,280 --> 00:09:30,840 the memory of the thousands of men, women and children 142 00:09:30,840 --> 00:09:33,720 transported into slavery from this site. 143 00:09:45,160 --> 00:09:47,880 It's important because, as a country, 144 00:09:47,880 --> 00:09:49,880 we need to have a story to tell. 145 00:09:51,480 --> 00:09:54,360 If you know nothing about your history, 146 00:09:54,360 --> 00:09:56,400 then where are you heading to? 147 00:09:58,040 --> 00:10:00,200 Culture is important. 148 00:10:00,200 --> 00:10:05,400 Any country that neglects culture is like building a house upon the sand. 149 00:10:10,800 --> 00:10:13,200 You only have to scratch the surface 150 00:10:13,200 --> 00:10:17,200 to find yet more evidence of this island's disturbing past. 151 00:10:19,760 --> 00:10:22,520 So, the guys were digging the hole to put the post in that they're 152 00:10:22,520 --> 00:10:25,080 going to put the plaque on, and they've uncovered this, 153 00:10:25,080 --> 00:10:29,200 - which is a wine bottle? - It's probably an old English wine bottle. 154 00:10:29,200 --> 00:10:33,520 This wine bottle has probably been buried for over a century, 155 00:10:33,520 --> 00:10:35,280 and we've just unearthed it now. 156 00:10:35,280 --> 00:10:38,320 So this is the most horrible thing we found because this is a nail. 157 00:10:38,320 --> 00:10:41,440 Now, there's lots of uses for nails in the slave fortress... 158 00:10:41,440 --> 00:10:44,400 Yes, including running them through the shackles. 159 00:10:44,400 --> 00:10:47,200 So, attaching shackles to people's limbs. 160 00:10:47,200 --> 00:10:49,960 - Yes. - These are the two existences on this island. 161 00:10:49,960 --> 00:10:54,720 There's a life of decadence and partying for the slave traders, 162 00:10:54,720 --> 00:10:56,640 and then there's this - 163 00:10:56,640 --> 00:10:59,520 a nail to attach you to the deck of a slave ship for the Africans who 164 00:10:59,520 --> 00:11:02,120 were bought and sold in this yard here. 165 00:11:12,800 --> 00:11:16,160 This permanent memorial to the thousands of Africans 166 00:11:16,160 --> 00:11:20,160 who were enslaved here acknowledges our shared history. 167 00:11:24,440 --> 00:11:27,000 One, two, three! 168 00:11:28,440 --> 00:11:32,200 APPLAUSE 169 00:11:37,720 --> 00:11:40,240 There's no way any human being can come here 170 00:11:40,240 --> 00:11:43,280 and know the story behind this place 171 00:11:43,280 --> 00:11:45,840 and not feel something for this place. 172 00:11:51,400 --> 00:11:53,760 We cannot afford to not remember 173 00:11:53,760 --> 00:11:55,960 the suffering that went on here. 174 00:11:55,960 --> 00:11:59,200 We cannot afford to not remember the people who died here. 175 00:12:00,360 --> 00:12:03,040 We have a duty to remember the good, the bad and the ugly, 176 00:12:03,040 --> 00:12:05,120 and this is one of the ugliest aspects of our history, 177 00:12:05,120 --> 00:12:07,160 our joint history. We need to remember. 178 00:12:07,160 --> 00:12:09,080 We cannot forget these people. 179 00:12:25,880 --> 00:12:28,120 The money from places like Bunce Island 180 00:12:28,120 --> 00:12:30,280 poured back into London. 181 00:12:37,480 --> 00:12:39,800 For decades, the royal monopoly shut out 182 00:12:39,800 --> 00:12:42,280 independent merchants and traders. 183 00:12:52,240 --> 00:12:55,920 But they soon started to demand their own share of the spoils. 184 00:13:02,440 --> 00:13:05,720 Dr William Pettigrew has been studying the conflict 185 00:13:05,720 --> 00:13:07,560 between the two sides. 186 00:13:07,560 --> 00:13:10,560 So if you tried to break in to the slave trade, 187 00:13:10,560 --> 00:13:14,000 if you go to Africa in your own ship and try to enslave Africans 188 00:13:14,000 --> 00:13:17,200 and ship them to the Americas, the Royal Navy will catch you. 189 00:13:17,200 --> 00:13:20,400 They, at certain points, will capture you and, not only that, 190 00:13:20,400 --> 00:13:23,240 they will imprison you without a jury trial. 191 00:13:23,240 --> 00:13:25,960 That's very important, because in the 17th century, 192 00:13:25,960 --> 00:13:28,720 what was more English than the constitutional right 193 00:13:28,720 --> 00:13:30,280 to a jury trial? 194 00:13:30,280 --> 00:13:32,680 This was a sacred sort of birthright. 195 00:13:32,680 --> 00:13:36,560 But the African Company was using sort of pernicious legal innovations 196 00:13:36,560 --> 00:13:38,040 to enforce its monopoly. 197 00:13:38,040 --> 00:13:41,880 So, the company is behaving in ways that aren't English. 198 00:13:41,880 --> 00:13:46,120 It's depicted by its opponents as the kind of embodiment of all things 199 00:13:46,120 --> 00:13:51,200 that is not English, and what's required is to rebuild, 200 00:13:51,200 --> 00:13:55,080 re-establish and recondition 201 00:13:55,080 --> 00:13:58,760 the transatlantic slave trade around English values, 202 00:13:58,760 --> 00:14:02,360 and especially a distinctively English notion of freedom. 203 00:14:02,360 --> 00:14:04,560 So these traders feel that, 204 00:14:04,560 --> 00:14:08,720 unless their freedom to be slave traders is recognised 205 00:14:08,720 --> 00:14:12,200 by the King and Parliament, that their rights are being curtailed? 206 00:14:12,200 --> 00:14:15,240 - Absolutely. - So, the freedom to be slave traders. 207 00:14:15,240 --> 00:14:20,760 Cheek by jowl comes this clearly articulated belief 208 00:14:20,760 --> 00:14:25,840 that it is an almost sacred English birthright to have access 209 00:14:25,840 --> 00:14:28,520 to a trade in enslaved human beings. 210 00:14:36,280 --> 00:14:39,520 Using the argument of freedom, 211 00:14:39,520 --> 00:14:43,200 the independent traders smashed the royal monopoly... 212 00:14:49,400 --> 00:14:51,160 ..and turned Britain 213 00:14:51,160 --> 00:14:54,240 into the biggest slave trading nation in the world. 214 00:14:57,240 --> 00:14:58,880 By the 1760s, 215 00:14:58,880 --> 00:15:03,520 up to 40,000 Africans each year were being transported 216 00:15:03,520 --> 00:15:05,920 across the Atlantic in British ships. 217 00:15:10,920 --> 00:15:14,720 The Royal Africa Company made a lot of money for the Stuart kings 218 00:15:14,720 --> 00:15:18,000 and its shareholders, but it was never able to supply 219 00:15:18,000 --> 00:15:21,480 the British colonies in the West Indies and North America 220 00:15:21,480 --> 00:15:23,880 with enough slaves to meet demand. 221 00:15:23,880 --> 00:15:27,840 The private independent traders were far more efficient. 222 00:15:27,840 --> 00:15:32,040 To use the rather clinical language of modern business, 223 00:15:32,040 --> 00:15:34,920 they cut their overheads, they reduced wastage 224 00:15:34,920 --> 00:15:36,720 and they expanded capacity. 225 00:15:36,720 --> 00:15:38,440 Within 15 years, 226 00:15:38,440 --> 00:15:40,280 they had increased the supply 227 00:15:40,280 --> 00:15:44,000 of slaves to the British colonies by 300%. 228 00:15:47,080 --> 00:15:48,720 By the end of the 18th century, 229 00:15:48,720 --> 00:15:51,280 the profits from slavery were helping to fuel 230 00:15:51,280 --> 00:15:54,280 Britain's Industrial Revolution. 231 00:15:54,280 --> 00:15:57,480 And it also had an impact across the globe, 232 00:15:57,480 --> 00:15:59,560 transforming Britain's colonies. 233 00:16:12,720 --> 00:16:14,800 The American state of Virginia. 234 00:16:23,680 --> 00:16:27,680 For almost 150 years, it was part of the British Empire. 235 00:16:34,160 --> 00:16:36,200 In the 17th century, 236 00:16:36,200 --> 00:16:40,440 settlers here were feeding Europe's ever-growing appetite for tobacco. 237 00:16:44,840 --> 00:16:47,240 What was taking place here was something like 238 00:16:47,240 --> 00:16:49,160 an agricultural gold rush. 239 00:16:49,160 --> 00:16:51,960 Tobacco was an exotic crop, it was fashionable 240 00:16:51,960 --> 00:16:54,520 and, as we now know, it's highly addictive, 241 00:16:54,520 --> 00:16:57,080 and demand for it in Britain skyrocketed. 242 00:16:57,080 --> 00:17:00,920 And the farmers in Virginia were rushing to get in on the act. 243 00:17:00,920 --> 00:17:03,640 There was endless supplies of land here. 244 00:17:03,640 --> 00:17:06,480 What there wasn't was enough labour to farm it. 245 00:17:06,480 --> 00:17:08,680 - So, take this one out? - Mm-hmm. 246 00:17:08,680 --> 00:17:11,520 OK. And then... 247 00:17:11,520 --> 00:17:13,160 Almost. 248 00:17:14,160 --> 00:17:17,400 Tobacco is an extremely labour-intensive crop. 249 00:17:18,440 --> 00:17:20,960 It requires constant care and attention... 250 00:17:22,760 --> 00:17:25,120 ..and each leaf is picked by hand. 251 00:17:29,440 --> 00:17:33,960 At first, these fields were worked by indentured servants - 252 00:17:33,960 --> 00:17:37,480 poor Britons who sold their labour for a number of years. 253 00:17:39,360 --> 00:17:42,520 But there was never enough labour to satisfy demand. 254 00:17:45,480 --> 00:17:47,640 Yeah! I got it. Thank you. 255 00:17:49,720 --> 00:17:53,120 After the Royal African Company had lost its monopoly and the private 256 00:17:53,120 --> 00:17:55,760 independent slave traders had taken over, 257 00:17:55,760 --> 00:17:59,280 the number of African slaves being brought into the North American 258 00:17:59,280 --> 00:18:01,880 colonies began to enormously increase, 259 00:18:01,880 --> 00:18:04,080 and in that moment of transition, 260 00:18:04,080 --> 00:18:07,520 the planters of North America made a decision that was going to change 261 00:18:07,520 --> 00:18:11,040 the histories of Britain and later the United States, 262 00:18:11,040 --> 00:18:15,680 and they began to abandon indentured service and replace it with slavery. 263 00:18:21,320 --> 00:18:24,640 With its manicured lawns and Georgian facade, 264 00:18:24,640 --> 00:18:28,560 anyone coming here might mistake this for a little piece of Britain. 265 00:18:34,280 --> 00:18:36,440 And yet, when it was built, 266 00:18:36,440 --> 00:18:39,920 this British colony was already a different world. 267 00:18:49,880 --> 00:18:54,840 British laws giving everyone basic rights and liberties didn't reflect 268 00:18:54,840 --> 00:18:57,960 this new racially divided society. 269 00:19:05,560 --> 00:19:10,120 So, in 1660, Virginia passes a law to make slavery hereditary. 270 00:19:10,120 --> 00:19:14,360 It says here that "all children born in this country shall be held, 271 00:19:14,360 --> 00:19:18,560 "bond or free, according to the condition of their mother." 272 00:19:18,560 --> 00:19:21,160 What that means is that if your mother's a slave, 273 00:19:21,160 --> 00:19:23,600 you're born a slave and you die a slave. 274 00:19:23,600 --> 00:19:27,600 This law says that "it shall not be lawful for any Negro to depart 275 00:19:27,600 --> 00:19:31,200 "from his master's ground without a certificate from his master, 276 00:19:31,200 --> 00:19:33,920 "mistress or overseer." 277 00:19:33,920 --> 00:19:38,240 This most chilling act was passed at the end of the 1660s. 278 00:19:38,240 --> 00:19:42,320 This act says that "if any slave shall resist his master 279 00:19:42,320 --> 00:19:45,920 "and then they are punished or corrected by their master, 280 00:19:45,920 --> 00:19:48,720 "and, by the extremity of the correction, 281 00:19:48,720 --> 00:19:51,360 "that slave should chance to die, 282 00:19:51,360 --> 00:19:55,160 "that his death shall not be a felony." 283 00:19:55,160 --> 00:19:58,920 This law makes it legal to kill a black person. 284 00:20:05,440 --> 00:20:09,320 This is the systematic use of the law to strip black people 285 00:20:09,320 --> 00:20:13,360 of any rights, and to eventually strip them of their humanity, 286 00:20:13,360 --> 00:20:15,840 and the law is the weapon to do that. 287 00:20:23,320 --> 00:20:26,720 These laws were known as slave codes. 288 00:20:26,720 --> 00:20:30,520 The British Empire now had two contradictory legal systems. 289 00:20:34,120 --> 00:20:37,720 In the colonies, laws confirmed that slaves where property... 290 00:20:42,160 --> 00:20:45,880 ..while in Britain, the common law guaranteed basic freedoms. 291 00:20:54,880 --> 00:20:58,600 Slavery was raising some really difficult questions for the British. 292 00:20:58,600 --> 00:21:02,080 The first was, where did slavery begin and where did it end? 293 00:21:02,080 --> 00:21:05,360 Now, there was no question that slavery was legal under the laws of 294 00:21:05,360 --> 00:21:10,080 Virginia and Barbados and the other colonies, but what about here? 295 00:21:10,080 --> 00:21:13,280 What happened when a slave was taken off a boat 296 00:21:13,280 --> 00:21:15,680 and took their first step on English soil? 297 00:21:17,680 --> 00:21:20,000 There were no plantations in Britain, 298 00:21:20,000 --> 00:21:24,440 but black people were bought and sold in British ports 299 00:21:24,440 --> 00:21:27,480 and lived as slaves in British cities, 300 00:21:27,480 --> 00:21:30,080 but their legal status was unclear. 301 00:21:40,000 --> 00:21:44,440 A chance encounter between two men of extraordinary determination was 302 00:21:44,440 --> 00:21:46,400 about to bring matters to a head. 303 00:21:49,080 --> 00:21:51,880 One was a Georgian gentleman. 304 00:21:51,880 --> 00:21:54,680 He was an icon. 305 00:21:54,680 --> 00:21:58,160 I think that it's always important to be reminded 306 00:21:58,160 --> 00:22:01,320 of all the lawyers who helped to bring about 307 00:22:01,320 --> 00:22:02,840 the abolition of slavery. 308 00:22:03,960 --> 00:22:06,480 The other was an enslaved boy. 309 00:22:07,480 --> 00:22:10,840 What was yesterday's crime is today's normality, 310 00:22:10,840 --> 00:22:15,200 and without lawyers pushing those boundaries constantly, 311 00:22:15,200 --> 00:22:17,200 we'd never have that change. 312 00:22:19,000 --> 00:22:23,200 In 1765, a teenage boy was brought to this hospital. 313 00:22:23,200 --> 00:22:26,040 His name was Jonathan Strong and he was a slave. 314 00:22:26,040 --> 00:22:28,400 And the man who claimed to be his owner 315 00:22:28,400 --> 00:22:30,760 had beaten him about the head and the neck 316 00:22:30,760 --> 00:22:33,600 with a pistol and then dumped him in the street to die, 317 00:22:33,600 --> 00:22:36,560 and he'd been found in the street by a minor civil servant 318 00:22:36,560 --> 00:22:40,640 named Granville Sharp, who brought him here, paid his medical bills, 319 00:22:40,640 --> 00:22:43,240 and very probably saved his life, 320 00:22:43,240 --> 00:22:45,720 and that's easily how the story could have ended, 321 00:22:45,720 --> 00:22:49,280 as a random act of kindness on the streets of Georgian Britain. 322 00:22:51,120 --> 00:22:52,760 But two years later, 323 00:22:52,760 --> 00:22:57,000 Jonathan Strong was abducted and sold to a Jamaican slave owner. 324 00:22:59,000 --> 00:23:02,640 Determined to keep his freedom, he asked Sharp for help. 325 00:23:05,320 --> 00:23:08,560 Sharp didn't have any legal training 326 00:23:08,560 --> 00:23:10,680 but he went before a magistrate 327 00:23:10,680 --> 00:23:14,160 and successfully argued for Strong's release. 328 00:23:14,160 --> 00:23:17,320 What Granville Sharp discovered was that the case of Jonathan Strong 329 00:23:17,320 --> 00:23:19,160 wasn't an isolated incident. 330 00:23:19,160 --> 00:23:22,440 Black people were routinely being kidnapped on the streets, 331 00:23:22,440 --> 00:23:26,360 bundled onto ships, bound for slavery in the West Indies. 332 00:23:26,360 --> 00:23:29,520 Granville Sharp, a man who was fanatically committed 333 00:23:29,520 --> 00:23:31,640 to the ideals of British freedom, 334 00:23:31,640 --> 00:23:34,880 was to spend the next 50 years of his life fighting to 335 00:23:34,880 --> 00:23:38,440 prove that slavery was incompatible with the laws of England. 336 00:23:47,520 --> 00:23:53,040 Sharp knew that, on the question of slavery, the law was a mess. 337 00:23:53,040 --> 00:23:56,000 He made it his mission to prove that slavery 338 00:23:56,000 --> 00:23:58,680 was in conflict with English law. 339 00:24:00,760 --> 00:24:04,680 Lawyer Harry Potter has studied his life's work. 340 00:24:04,680 --> 00:24:06,200 Were they animals? 341 00:24:06,200 --> 00:24:07,760 Did they have any rights at all? 342 00:24:07,760 --> 00:24:09,560 Were they property? 343 00:24:09,560 --> 00:24:12,480 And, of course, I'm talking about human beings. 344 00:24:12,480 --> 00:24:14,920 Enter Granville Sharp. 345 00:24:16,560 --> 00:24:20,240 Sharp taught himself the law and, in 1772, 346 00:24:20,240 --> 00:24:23,040 he won a test case that forced the courts 347 00:24:23,040 --> 00:24:26,440 to declare slavery effectively illegal in England. 348 00:24:29,240 --> 00:24:32,480 He had a deep Christian commitment 349 00:24:32,480 --> 00:24:36,200 and an unbending moral certainty, 350 00:24:36,200 --> 00:24:39,720 a lodestone that guided him throughout his life, 351 00:24:39,720 --> 00:24:45,400 and he considered that what was immoral could not be legal. 352 00:24:51,880 --> 00:24:55,840 One of Sharp's descendants will unveil a plaque to both men 353 00:24:55,840 --> 00:24:59,880 at St Bart's, the hospital that treated Jonathan Strong. 354 00:24:59,880 --> 00:25:02,360 And now we'll unveil the plaque. 355 00:25:02,360 --> 00:25:06,440 CHEERING AND APPLAUSE 356 00:25:16,160 --> 00:25:20,080 Members of the legal and medical professions are paying tribute 357 00:25:20,080 --> 00:25:22,680 with quotes from Sharp's anti-slavery work. 358 00:25:24,680 --> 00:25:27,000 It is genuinely exciting to meet you, 359 00:25:27,000 --> 00:25:29,560 cos I'm someone who thinks your ancestor 360 00:25:29,560 --> 00:25:32,120 should be far more famous than he is. 361 00:25:32,120 --> 00:25:36,320 I think Granville's achievements are very far reaching, even now. 362 00:25:36,320 --> 00:25:39,760 There was an incredibly moving passage I read about him where, 363 00:25:39,760 --> 00:25:42,560 after learning that the Act of Abolition had finally passed, 364 00:25:42,560 --> 00:25:47,320 he fell to his knees and thanked God, which is an incredible image. 365 00:25:48,440 --> 00:25:50,640 My father's middle name is Granville, 366 00:25:50,640 --> 00:25:54,080 and my son Arthur's middle name is also Granville as well. 367 00:25:56,440 --> 00:26:00,400 Sharp has been overshadowed by other anti-slavery campaigners... 368 00:26:02,320 --> 00:26:05,680 ..but he was one of the first abolitionists. 369 00:26:05,680 --> 00:26:07,880 As a black female lawyer, 370 00:26:07,880 --> 00:26:11,200 it makes me very proud to be part of an industry that's constantly 371 00:26:11,200 --> 00:26:14,760 making waves and challenging the status quo. 372 00:26:16,960 --> 00:26:21,280 The encounter between Sharp and Jonathan Strong was a first step 373 00:26:21,280 --> 00:26:24,000 in the campaign against slavery. 374 00:26:26,640 --> 00:26:29,080 Jonathan's story could have been my story. 375 00:26:29,080 --> 00:26:34,760 I was fortunate enough to be born in 1984 and to have certain luxuries 376 00:26:34,760 --> 00:26:36,320 that he didn't have, 377 00:26:36,320 --> 00:26:40,760 but, for the grace of God, I could have been born in the 1700s, 378 00:26:40,760 --> 00:26:42,640 and I could've been Jonathan Strong. 379 00:26:42,640 --> 00:26:45,560 There would've been absolutely no distinction between he and I. 380 00:26:47,280 --> 00:26:50,640 And what do you know about your famous ancestor, Granville Sharp? 381 00:26:50,640 --> 00:26:53,040 He changed the world. 382 00:26:53,040 --> 00:26:55,200 He changed the world. 383 00:26:55,200 --> 00:26:57,320 That's certainly true. 384 00:27:05,600 --> 00:27:10,040 PIPES AND DRUMS ARE PLAYED 385 00:27:12,360 --> 00:27:15,480 Just three years after Sharp's historic victory, 386 00:27:15,480 --> 00:27:18,640 on the other side of the Atlantic a storm was brewing. 387 00:27:23,440 --> 00:27:28,480 In 1775, after 160 years as a British colony, 388 00:27:28,480 --> 00:27:32,720 the American Patriots wanted to kick the British out. 389 00:27:32,720 --> 00:27:34,920 CHEERS AND APPLAUSE 390 00:27:34,920 --> 00:27:36,680 Waving the banner of liberty, 391 00:27:36,680 --> 00:27:39,560 Patriot rebels fought British Loyalists 392 00:27:39,560 --> 00:27:42,880 in the name of American independence. 393 00:27:42,880 --> 00:27:46,000 - Good day, fellow Virginians. - APPLAUSE 394 00:27:47,520 --> 00:27:50,200 Good day, fellow Patriots. 395 00:27:50,200 --> 00:27:52,680 APPLAUSE AND ENTHUSIASTIC CHEERING 396 00:27:52,680 --> 00:27:55,520 When Americans come together to celebrate Independence Day, 397 00:27:55,520 --> 00:27:59,120 the history that they're recalling is a really familiar one of the 398 00:27:59,120 --> 00:28:02,360 Independence Declaration, of the founding fathers. 399 00:28:02,360 --> 00:28:07,360 These United Colonies are and of right ought to be 400 00:28:07,360 --> 00:28:10,800 free and independent states. 401 00:28:10,800 --> 00:28:12,160 But what's usually forgotten, 402 00:28:12,160 --> 00:28:15,480 is that there were in effect two American Revolutions. 403 00:28:15,480 --> 00:28:18,000 There's the one that's being celebrated here today, 404 00:28:18,000 --> 00:28:20,560 and then there's the revolution of the African-Americans, 405 00:28:20,560 --> 00:28:22,240 the revolution of the slaves. 406 00:28:22,240 --> 00:28:24,400 - Hip-hip! - CROWD: - Hooray! 407 00:28:24,400 --> 00:28:27,520 - Hip-hip! - Hooray! - Hip-hip! - Hooray! 408 00:28:27,520 --> 00:28:29,640 In this forgotten Revolution, 409 00:28:29,640 --> 00:28:34,040 thousands of slaves fled the plantations seeking liberty. 410 00:28:34,040 --> 00:28:37,200 But they weren't fighting the British, they wanted to join them. 411 00:28:44,520 --> 00:28:48,840 The British Loyalists wanted to find a way of undermining the rebels. 412 00:28:51,040 --> 00:28:53,720 Lord Dunmore, the governor of Virginia, 413 00:28:53,720 --> 00:28:56,320 made a cold military calculation. 414 00:29:00,960 --> 00:29:03,760 He promised freedom to all male slaves 415 00:29:03,760 --> 00:29:07,720 who escaped from American Patriots to fight on the British side. 416 00:29:11,680 --> 00:29:15,880 A lot of Americans don't know that the British offered enslaved people 417 00:29:15,880 --> 00:29:18,160 freedom, but when you really think about it, 418 00:29:18,160 --> 00:29:21,240 it's kind of interesting to see a lot of what happened 419 00:29:21,240 --> 00:29:24,160 back in the 18th century... 420 00:29:24,160 --> 00:29:26,280 almost being, in some ways, 421 00:29:26,280 --> 00:29:30,440 forward-thinking from where America ended up for many, many, 422 00:29:30,440 --> 00:29:31,920 many generations. 423 00:29:31,920 --> 00:29:35,320 What do you think the reaction would have been, if you're a slave, living 424 00:29:35,320 --> 00:29:40,200 on a plantation around here, and you hear news of Dunmore's Proclamation? 425 00:29:40,200 --> 00:29:42,680 Um, the first thing... 426 00:29:42,680 --> 00:29:45,040 the first thing you're going to really hear is trepidation. 427 00:29:45,040 --> 00:29:46,360 Why would I trust them? 428 00:29:46,360 --> 00:29:48,480 No-one has ever talked to me about freeing me, 429 00:29:48,480 --> 00:29:51,000 and now all of a sudden you want to give me freedom? 430 00:29:51,000 --> 00:29:52,640 What's the catch? 431 00:30:06,160 --> 00:30:08,960 This offer was politically motivated. 432 00:30:13,160 --> 00:30:15,160 Both sides owned slaves, 433 00:30:15,160 --> 00:30:17,840 and the British slave trade was still booming. 434 00:30:19,760 --> 00:30:24,720 But this offer of freedom encouraged thousands of American slaves to 435 00:30:24,720 --> 00:30:29,480 escape, risking their lives to reach a fleet of ships 436 00:30:29,480 --> 00:30:32,080 waiting on the James River. 437 00:30:35,160 --> 00:30:38,000 Now, the slaves who'd got here had already dodged slave patrols, 438 00:30:38,000 --> 00:30:40,200 they'd already taken their lives in their hands, 439 00:30:40,200 --> 00:30:43,520 but to claim this extraordinary offer of freedom, 440 00:30:43,520 --> 00:30:45,520 they had to get to the British. 441 00:30:45,520 --> 00:30:48,680 Some of them got in boats and rode out to the British ships, and some, 442 00:30:48,680 --> 00:30:52,840 it's said, waded through the reeds and were picked up, and a few, 443 00:30:52,840 --> 00:30:56,880 we're told, literally swam to freedom. 444 00:30:56,880 --> 00:30:58,680 When they were on board the British ships, 445 00:30:58,680 --> 00:31:00,480 they were formed into a new unit - 446 00:31:00,480 --> 00:31:02,920 Lord Dunmore's Royal Ethiopian Regiment. 447 00:31:02,920 --> 00:31:05,160 They had a British musket put on their shoulders, 448 00:31:05,160 --> 00:31:09,880 and sewn onto their new uniforms was a badge that carried a slogan that 449 00:31:09,880 --> 00:31:12,280 was just incredible for the 1770s. 450 00:31:12,280 --> 00:31:14,920 It read, "Liberty to slaves." 451 00:31:28,240 --> 00:31:31,560 Even with the support of their new black regiments, 452 00:31:31,560 --> 00:31:33,640 the British couldn't win the war. 453 00:31:38,400 --> 00:31:44,000 In 1783, they prepared to evacuate New York, the last British outpost. 454 00:31:50,280 --> 00:31:53,320 But they decided to keep the promise they had made 455 00:31:53,320 --> 00:31:56,120 to the slaves who'd fought alongside them. 456 00:32:00,760 --> 00:32:04,080 Professor Maya Jasanoff has helped uncover the story 457 00:32:04,080 --> 00:32:07,320 of the black men who fought for the British. 458 00:32:07,320 --> 00:32:10,520 Why do you think the British fulfilled the promises 459 00:32:10,520 --> 00:32:13,520 they'd made to these former slaves who joined their forces? 460 00:32:13,520 --> 00:32:15,960 They didn't have to. 461 00:32:15,960 --> 00:32:17,760 I think you can give a cynical answer 462 00:32:17,760 --> 00:32:20,120 and you can give an idealistic answer. 463 00:32:20,120 --> 00:32:22,760 The cynical answer would be that it's a way of striking 464 00:32:22,760 --> 00:32:24,320 at the Patriots. 465 00:32:24,320 --> 00:32:26,800 The Americans had owned slaves, 466 00:32:26,800 --> 00:32:29,600 it was just a way of kind of thumbing their nose 467 00:32:29,600 --> 00:32:33,120 at the Americans in these last moments of the war. 468 00:32:33,120 --> 00:32:34,800 The idealistic reason, though, 469 00:32:34,800 --> 00:32:37,960 I think is also one that we need to give a little bit of credit to, 470 00:32:37,960 --> 00:32:40,680 and that's the answer that says, "You know, 471 00:32:40,680 --> 00:32:44,200 "these are promises that we made and we believe in keeping our word." 472 00:32:45,400 --> 00:32:51,520 This was the first mass liberation of slaves in the British Empire, 473 00:32:51,520 --> 00:32:55,400 taking place decades before slavery would be abolished, 474 00:32:55,400 --> 00:32:58,280 taking place at a time when Britain, paradoxically, 475 00:32:58,280 --> 00:33:01,800 was still the world's largest slave trader. 476 00:33:01,800 --> 00:33:06,040 What was shown to be possible was a kind of emancipation and a kind of 477 00:33:06,040 --> 00:33:08,760 black freedom and a kind of British freedom 478 00:33:08,760 --> 00:33:11,400 that would go on to have very, very important 479 00:33:11,400 --> 00:33:13,400 afterlives in the decades to come. 480 00:33:27,480 --> 00:33:30,440 The history of America's war for independence 481 00:33:30,440 --> 00:33:34,680 and the loss of Britain's first empire is incomplete 482 00:33:34,680 --> 00:33:38,360 without this story of the black men who fought 483 00:33:38,360 --> 00:33:41,600 in the British Army and claimed their own freedom. 484 00:33:55,920 --> 00:34:00,640 Their struggle and the story of the other American Revolution 485 00:34:00,640 --> 00:34:03,640 has for too long been a forgotten chapter 486 00:34:03,640 --> 00:34:07,760 in the histories of both Britain and the United States. 487 00:34:23,160 --> 00:34:27,920 INSTRUMENTAL ROCK MUSIC PLAYS 488 00:34:31,960 --> 00:34:36,440 Some of the former slaves who fought against the American rebels 489 00:34:36,440 --> 00:34:38,560 came back to Britain. 490 00:34:48,120 --> 00:34:52,520 Among them was a man who went on to take Georgian Britain by storm. 491 00:34:59,160 --> 00:35:02,000 One of the former slaves who managed to get out of America 492 00:35:02,000 --> 00:35:05,360 was a teenage boy from Staten Island called Bill Richmond. 493 00:35:06,360 --> 00:35:09,600 During the Revolution, he'd become a servant to Hugh Percy, 494 00:35:09,600 --> 00:35:12,960 the Duke of Northumberland, and came back to Britain with Percy. 495 00:35:12,960 --> 00:35:14,800 He was given a job in the household, 496 00:35:14,800 --> 00:35:18,200 a job that millions of white Britons would have dreamed of. 497 00:35:18,200 --> 00:35:19,920 He was given an education 498 00:35:19,920 --> 00:35:22,200 and became apprenticed as a cabinet-maker in York 499 00:35:22,200 --> 00:35:23,840 and married a local girl. 500 00:35:23,840 --> 00:35:27,320 This was a man who had been incredibly lucky. 501 00:35:27,320 --> 00:35:31,600 He'd gone from being a slave to being a free man with a family and a 502 00:35:31,600 --> 00:35:37,160 trade. And then, in his early 40s, he made the most bizarre decision. 503 00:35:37,160 --> 00:35:40,520 He gave it all up to become a bare-knuckle boxer in London. 504 00:35:44,640 --> 00:35:48,200 Bill Richmond was just one of the crowd at a bare-knuckle match in 505 00:35:48,200 --> 00:35:50,640 Wimbledon when he was challenged to a fight. 506 00:35:52,320 --> 00:35:57,520 It was the spark that set him on course to become a boxing star 507 00:35:57,520 --> 00:36:01,240 and one of Georgian Britain's most famous celebrities. 508 00:36:03,840 --> 00:36:06,640 The world of prize fighting, of bare-knuckle boxing, 509 00:36:06,640 --> 00:36:10,160 was special to the British in a way no other sport was, 510 00:36:10,160 --> 00:36:13,880 because the fighter was said to be the embodiment of the national 511 00:36:13,880 --> 00:36:17,560 characteristics of bravery and manliness and resilience, 512 00:36:17,560 --> 00:36:21,280 all the things the British liked to believe made them who they were. 513 00:36:21,280 --> 00:36:24,200 Now, these were the same decades when Britain was the biggest 514 00:36:24,200 --> 00:36:26,720 slave-trading power in the world, and yet, 515 00:36:26,720 --> 00:36:29,400 by entering into this world, into this sport, 516 00:36:29,400 --> 00:36:32,520 Bill Richmond, a black guy, a former slave, 517 00:36:32,520 --> 00:36:35,400 was able to become not just a star but a national hero. 518 00:36:39,600 --> 00:36:43,120 Here, at Repton Boxing Club in East London, 519 00:36:43,120 --> 00:36:46,440 they know what it takes to survive in the ring. 520 00:36:48,960 --> 00:36:52,160 But Georgian bare-knuckle boxing was far more brutal. 521 00:36:55,440 --> 00:36:59,000 Bill Richmond is a hero for former Olympic champion 522 00:36:59,000 --> 00:37:00,640 Audley Harrison. 523 00:37:00,640 --> 00:37:03,720 Hey, guys. One sec, one sec. Now, look at this. 524 00:37:03,720 --> 00:37:05,600 This is Bill Richmond, this is me. 525 00:37:05,600 --> 00:37:08,360 This is what it would look like, me fighting Bill Richmond, 526 00:37:08,360 --> 00:37:11,320 it'd look like David and Goliath, it would be like, 527 00:37:11,320 --> 00:37:15,520 "Oh, my God, Audley's going to annihilate this little guy." 528 00:37:15,520 --> 00:37:17,440 But Bill Richmond was... 529 00:37:17,440 --> 00:37:19,920 He didn't care about the size. He didn't care about the height. 530 00:37:19,920 --> 00:37:21,960 So how did she survive in the ring? He had someone... 531 00:37:21,960 --> 00:37:24,440 - this sort of size difference... - Right. So, he done a thing 532 00:37:24,440 --> 00:37:27,080 called bob and weave. Look in the distance. Look, I can hit you here, 533 00:37:27,080 --> 00:37:29,640 but every time I throw a punch, this guy was always getting off the 534 00:37:29,640 --> 00:37:31,720 line. Like, hitting me into my body, every time I go, 535 00:37:31,720 --> 00:37:33,680 "Whoa, boom!", he'd hit me to my body. 536 00:37:33,680 --> 00:37:36,040 So, this big guy going... 537 00:37:36,040 --> 00:37:38,520 trying to swing... Could never keep up with him. 538 00:37:38,520 --> 00:37:41,400 Always moving. And every time you missed, he made you pay. 539 00:37:41,400 --> 00:37:44,160 - So, eventually he wore you down. - Georgian boxes don't wear... 540 00:37:44,160 --> 00:37:45,920 It's bare-knuckle, they don't wear gloves. 541 00:37:45,920 --> 00:37:48,440 - Right. - How dangerous is that? What does that mean for a boxer? 542 00:37:48,440 --> 00:37:50,920 So, they don't wear gloves, they don't have head guards, 543 00:37:50,920 --> 00:37:54,000 didn't have a gumshield or whatever they put in their mouths, 544 00:37:54,000 --> 00:37:56,200 and all the tricks they used to use, 545 00:37:56,200 --> 00:37:59,320 you know, gouging your eyes, hit low, use elbows, 546 00:37:59,320 --> 00:38:01,160 there was so much dirty fighting back then. 547 00:38:01,160 --> 00:38:04,240 - If somebody bent over, you'd knee them. - I'm getting the message. 548 00:38:04,240 --> 00:38:07,160 What we talk about now is...the rules in boxing are codified 549 00:38:07,160 --> 00:38:09,800 for the right reasons, so boxers wasn't losing their lives. 550 00:38:09,800 --> 00:38:11,480 Back then, many boxers lost their lives. 551 00:38:11,480 --> 00:38:15,680 So how brave was it for Bill Richmond, man in his 40s, 552 00:38:15,680 --> 00:38:18,440 five foot nine, he knew how dangerous the sport was... 553 00:38:18,440 --> 00:38:22,280 - Yeah. - ..and he goes in the ring. How much bravery did that take? 554 00:38:22,280 --> 00:38:24,240 Think about it. 555 00:38:24,240 --> 00:38:27,600 I'm in slavery. Every day, in slavery, 556 00:38:27,600 --> 00:38:30,040 your life is on the line. People are dying in slavery. 557 00:38:30,040 --> 00:38:32,280 Going in the ring was like... 558 00:38:32,280 --> 00:38:34,320 Do you get what I'm saying? There's no comparison. 559 00:38:34,320 --> 00:38:36,520 - He'd seen worse. - He'd seen far worse. 560 00:38:45,960 --> 00:38:50,800 Bill Richmond won 17 of his 19 professional fights 561 00:38:50,800 --> 00:38:54,400 and became the first black British sports star. 562 00:39:08,040 --> 00:39:10,480 He was a true celebrity 563 00:39:10,480 --> 00:39:13,720 who rubbed shoulders with the rich and famous, 564 00:39:13,720 --> 00:39:16,120 dined with aristocracy 565 00:39:16,120 --> 00:39:19,280 and was a guest at the coronation of George IV. 566 00:39:25,760 --> 00:39:28,840 I think Bill Richmond should be remembered for future generations 567 00:39:28,840 --> 00:39:30,920 because he literally made history. 568 00:39:33,400 --> 00:39:35,720 People don't know his story and they should. 569 00:39:35,720 --> 00:39:38,800 History needs to know about Bill Richmond. 570 00:39:38,800 --> 00:39:42,240 After retirement, he became a publican 571 00:39:42,240 --> 00:39:45,440 and also ran a sports academy, 572 00:39:45,440 --> 00:39:48,480 passing on his skills to the next generation. 573 00:40:04,560 --> 00:40:08,320 Today, a plaque to Britain's first black boxing legend 574 00:40:08,320 --> 00:40:10,040 will be unveiled. 575 00:40:13,680 --> 00:40:16,720 This pub belonged to Bill Richmond's friend 576 00:40:16,720 --> 00:40:19,440 and long-time rival Tom Cribb. 577 00:40:20,920 --> 00:40:23,240 Fans, boxing promoters 578 00:40:23,240 --> 00:40:25,560 and Richmond's biographer, Luke Williams, 579 00:40:25,560 --> 00:40:27,880 are among those here to pay tribute. 580 00:40:30,000 --> 00:40:33,200 Most people have never heard of Bill Richmond. 581 00:40:33,200 --> 00:40:37,800 Yet, before Muhammad Ali, before Jesse Owens, before Jack Johnson, 582 00:40:37,800 --> 00:40:41,640 Bill Richmond was the first sports star of African heritage. 583 00:40:44,840 --> 00:40:49,040 My name is Ambrose Mendy, I am a boxing manager, a boxing promoter. 584 00:40:50,480 --> 00:40:55,040 It's nothing more than fair to say that without Bill Richmond, 585 00:40:55,040 --> 00:40:56,880 I wouldn't be standing here today. 586 00:40:56,880 --> 00:41:00,760 No other black boxer had succeeded in overcoming the prejudice of the 587 00:41:00,760 --> 00:41:04,800 crowd and the public to carve out a successful boxing career. 588 00:41:07,360 --> 00:41:09,640 My name is Hugh Quarshie, I'm an actor. 589 00:41:09,640 --> 00:41:13,200 I think Richmond's life is worth commemorating and certainly worth 590 00:41:13,200 --> 00:41:17,640 celebrating, not necessarily because of what he achieved as a boxer or as 591 00:41:17,640 --> 00:41:20,880 a pugilist, but for how he lived his life. 592 00:41:21,960 --> 00:41:25,320 Indeed, he viewed boxing as an art. 593 00:41:25,320 --> 00:41:29,480 As Bill Richmond himself once said, "A gentlemen, sir, 594 00:41:29,480 --> 00:41:33,360 "only uses his hands to defend himself and not to attack." 595 00:41:34,600 --> 00:41:39,080 He combined physical strength with intellectual strength 596 00:41:39,080 --> 00:41:42,440 and I think that's not a bad example to follow. 597 00:41:43,920 --> 00:41:47,440 I think it's appropriate that we have two of the new generation 598 00:41:47,440 --> 00:41:49,880 of boxing here and who are going to unveil for us 599 00:41:49,880 --> 00:41:52,480 the plaque to Bill Richmond. 600 00:41:52,480 --> 00:41:56,320 APPLAUSE 601 00:42:07,120 --> 00:42:09,680 I grew up in a rough area in London 602 00:42:09,680 --> 00:42:12,800 where a lot of crime takes place and a lot of young men 603 00:42:12,800 --> 00:42:15,160 end up in prison or in trouble. 604 00:42:16,400 --> 00:42:17,800 Role models like Bill Richmond, 605 00:42:17,800 --> 00:42:20,600 he's just a reminder that anything's possible, 606 00:42:20,600 --> 00:42:23,880 that with hard work and dedication and perseverance, 607 00:42:23,880 --> 00:42:25,440 anything's achievable. 608 00:42:32,040 --> 00:42:34,600 I actually think Bill Richmond's story should be taught 609 00:42:34,600 --> 00:42:38,560 in the schools, because it's a real powerful testament to 610 00:42:38,560 --> 00:42:44,440 never, ever giving up and overcoming your situation, no matter what. 611 00:42:47,120 --> 00:42:50,960 You know, I'm African, I know the virtues that my dad wanted to instil 612 00:42:50,960 --> 00:42:54,960 in myself and my brothers and sisters as kids, and here we are, 613 00:42:54,960 --> 00:42:58,120 here we are today. It's amazing, it really... 614 00:42:58,120 --> 00:43:02,240 And from a black historical point of view, it's monumental. 615 00:43:02,240 --> 00:43:04,160 It is monumental. 616 00:43:15,800 --> 00:43:17,720 Unlike Bill Richmond, 617 00:43:17,720 --> 00:43:20,640 most of the Black Loyalists who found themselves in London 618 00:43:20,640 --> 00:43:22,520 weren't rich or famous. 619 00:43:25,080 --> 00:43:29,280 Many who joined the British Army in America ended up destitute. 620 00:43:32,640 --> 00:43:35,120 This area is the Seven Dials in London. 621 00:43:35,120 --> 00:43:37,360 It's really rather posh these days, 622 00:43:37,360 --> 00:43:41,800 but in the 18th century this was one of London's worst slums, 623 00:43:41,800 --> 00:43:44,880 and it was to the streets around here that poor black people who had 624 00:43:44,880 --> 00:43:47,960 escaped from America gathered together. 625 00:43:47,960 --> 00:43:51,560 Now, the sight of hundreds of black people, homeless, hungry, 626 00:43:51,560 --> 00:43:54,520 freezing on the streets of London, attracted the attention 627 00:43:54,520 --> 00:43:56,400 of the great and the good. 628 00:43:56,400 --> 00:43:59,280 Some of them thought that what was happening on these streets was 629 00:43:59,280 --> 00:44:01,000 a national disgrace, 630 00:44:01,000 --> 00:44:03,600 that men who'd fought in the Revolutionary Wars were being 631 00:44:03,600 --> 00:44:05,480 betrayed by the nation. 632 00:44:05,480 --> 00:44:08,240 Others just didn't like the sight of so many black people 633 00:44:08,240 --> 00:44:09,840 out on the streets. 634 00:44:09,840 --> 00:44:13,120 But what they all agreed was that something had to be done. 635 00:44:20,840 --> 00:44:24,000 A Committee for the Relief of the Black Poor was set up. 636 00:44:30,760 --> 00:44:34,360 And a plan was hatched to send them thousands of miles away 637 00:44:34,360 --> 00:44:37,680 to establish a new colony in Sierra Leone. 638 00:44:42,960 --> 00:44:47,360 To abolitionists like Granville Sharp, this was an act of charity... 639 00:44:48,600 --> 00:44:52,640 ..but for some on the committee, the scheme was an opportunity 640 00:44:52,640 --> 00:44:55,280 to get rid of the Black Poor. 641 00:44:55,280 --> 00:44:57,120 In 1787, 642 00:44:57,120 --> 00:44:59,520 a fleet of ships bound for Sierra Leone 643 00:44:59,520 --> 00:45:03,040 set sail with 441 people on board. 644 00:45:06,080 --> 00:45:10,320 The passenger lists are held at the National Archives. 645 00:45:10,320 --> 00:45:14,080 I've wanted to see these documents for about 20 years, 646 00:45:14,080 --> 00:45:15,840 and it's... 647 00:45:15,840 --> 00:45:17,400 stunning to see them. 648 00:45:19,400 --> 00:45:23,320 These are the lists of the Black Poor. 649 00:45:23,320 --> 00:45:27,040 This tells us their names and it tells us a little bit 650 00:45:27,040 --> 00:45:28,880 about who they were, 651 00:45:28,880 --> 00:45:32,440 and also their relationships to one another. 652 00:45:32,440 --> 00:45:38,160 But the list that's always most intrigued historians is this one. 653 00:45:38,160 --> 00:45:42,280 This one is white women married to black men. 654 00:45:42,280 --> 00:45:45,800 Isaac Benn, he's one of the black men. 655 00:45:46,920 --> 00:45:49,160 If we go to the list 656 00:45:49,160 --> 00:45:53,520 of white women, there's Eliza Benn, his wife. 657 00:45:53,520 --> 00:45:56,040 Down here is Peter Ornfield, 658 00:45:56,040 --> 00:46:00,720 and in the list of the white women, Elizabeth Ornfield. 659 00:46:00,720 --> 00:46:03,680 And in this family, we can go to the list of the black children 660 00:46:03,680 --> 00:46:06,040 and there's their son, William Ornfield. 661 00:46:06,040 --> 00:46:08,840 So, this is black Britain, this is mixed race Britain, 662 00:46:08,840 --> 00:46:10,600 this is interracial Britain, 663 00:46:10,600 --> 00:46:12,520 this is the Britain that we celebrate, 664 00:46:12,520 --> 00:46:15,320 that we tell the world that we are, that we're this great melting pot. 665 00:46:15,320 --> 00:46:17,920 Well, here it is in the 1780s. 666 00:46:19,000 --> 00:46:23,720 This is a passenger list of people heading off to Africa on a really 667 00:46:23,720 --> 00:46:26,880 precarious and dangerous settlement scheme, 668 00:46:26,880 --> 00:46:30,040 and your heart is in your mouth a bit, because you... 669 00:46:30,040 --> 00:46:32,720 I feel kind of drawn to these people, 670 00:46:32,720 --> 00:46:34,520 but I know where they're going. 671 00:46:34,520 --> 00:46:36,360 They don't. 672 00:46:55,880 --> 00:46:58,800 In the end, 380 of the Black Poor 673 00:46:58,800 --> 00:47:02,200 were convinced that their only chance of a future lay here 674 00:47:02,200 --> 00:47:05,040 in Africa, but by the time they arrived here, 675 00:47:05,040 --> 00:47:09,200 millions of Africans over hundreds of years had been taken from these 676 00:47:09,200 --> 00:47:13,520 shores and carried across the Atlantic and sold into slavery. 677 00:47:13,520 --> 00:47:16,560 This community, these black Londoners, 678 00:47:16,560 --> 00:47:20,280 were the first Africans ever to make that journey in the opposite 679 00:47:20,280 --> 00:47:24,440 direction, to come back to Africa as free settlers, 680 00:47:24,440 --> 00:47:27,120 hoping that their future could be built here. 681 00:47:37,120 --> 00:47:41,080 Granville Sharp believed that the black settlers would thrive here. 682 00:47:41,080 --> 00:47:44,960 He was convinced that the land was fertile and the climate mild. 683 00:47:46,320 --> 00:47:49,880 So he turned his mind to imagining how this new 684 00:47:49,880 --> 00:47:52,760 free black society would be organised. 685 00:47:55,440 --> 00:47:59,120 What's most incredible about this whole scheme was that the system of 686 00:47:59,120 --> 00:48:02,120 government that Sharp wanted the settlers to adopt 687 00:48:02,120 --> 00:48:05,400 was based on something called the frankpledge. 688 00:48:05,400 --> 00:48:07,960 Now, this is a form of communal society 689 00:48:07,960 --> 00:48:12,480 that had existed in Anglo-Saxon England in the early Middle Ages, 690 00:48:12,480 --> 00:48:15,800 and Sharp was convinced that this was the system 691 00:48:15,800 --> 00:48:18,600 that was going to allow the Black Poor of London 692 00:48:18,600 --> 00:48:22,480 to build a new England here on the shores of Africa. 693 00:48:22,480 --> 00:48:26,120 He says, "The most certain and effectual mode of securing peace, 694 00:48:26,120 --> 00:48:29,680 "right, and mutual protection for any community 695 00:48:29,680 --> 00:48:32,880 "is the old English system of mutual frankpledge." 696 00:48:33,920 --> 00:48:36,600 There's much about this system of government that sounds 697 00:48:36,600 --> 00:48:38,200 too good to be true. 698 00:48:38,200 --> 00:48:40,720 Everybody was to contribute equally 699 00:48:40,720 --> 00:48:43,680 in support of the burdens of the state, and, of course, 700 00:48:43,680 --> 00:48:46,120 everyone was entitled to an equal voice 701 00:48:46,120 --> 00:48:48,480 in the Common Council or Parliament. 702 00:48:48,480 --> 00:48:53,480 But what's truly surreal about it is that this province of freedom, 703 00:48:53,480 --> 00:48:56,080 as he called it, was built 704 00:48:56,080 --> 00:48:58,840 on one of the superhighways of the slave trade. 705 00:48:58,840 --> 00:49:02,360 The slave fortress of Bunce Island is just 20 miles upriver. 706 00:49:05,240 --> 00:49:08,640 Founded on Anglo-Saxon ideas of freedom, 707 00:49:08,640 --> 00:49:11,680 the colony was meant to prove that crops could be 708 00:49:11,680 --> 00:49:14,160 an alternative export to slaves. 709 00:49:21,240 --> 00:49:24,120 But the climate was hostile, 710 00:49:24,120 --> 00:49:29,080 and the settlers were plagued by crop failures and tropical diseases. 711 00:49:34,880 --> 00:49:38,120 The scheme was disastrously impractical... 712 00:49:41,160 --> 00:49:45,120 ..and by 1787, most of the settlers had died. 713 00:50:01,280 --> 00:50:03,920 But that wasn't the end of the story. 714 00:50:06,240 --> 00:50:09,720 Other settlers followed, searching for freedom... 715 00:50:11,360 --> 00:50:13,920 ..and the experiment kept going. 716 00:50:17,880 --> 00:50:21,680 Historians think that the site of the original province of freedom was 717 00:50:21,680 --> 00:50:24,360 somewhere to the east, where we're driving now. 718 00:50:24,360 --> 00:50:26,080 But as you can see, 719 00:50:26,080 --> 00:50:29,680 this whole area is under the concrete of modern Freetown. 720 00:50:29,680 --> 00:50:32,360 Now, the fact that there is a city here is because, 721 00:50:32,360 --> 00:50:36,640 even after the disaster that had befallen the London Black Poor, 722 00:50:36,640 --> 00:50:38,920 new black settlers were brought here. 723 00:50:38,920 --> 00:50:41,080 Now, they didn't come from the streets of London. 724 00:50:41,080 --> 00:50:44,120 They were brought here from other parts of the British Empire, 725 00:50:44,120 --> 00:50:45,840 and some of the people that you can see 726 00:50:45,840 --> 00:50:47,440 on the streets of modern Freetown 727 00:50:47,440 --> 00:50:48,960 are their descendants. 728 00:50:54,600 --> 00:50:56,160 In 1792, 729 00:50:56,160 --> 00:50:59,320 1,200 Black Loyalists who'd sided with Britain 730 00:50:59,320 --> 00:51:02,680 during the American Revolution arrived from Nova Scotia. 731 00:51:05,040 --> 00:51:09,200 They were followed, eight years later, by the Maroons - 732 00:51:09,200 --> 00:51:11,480 Jamaican slaves who'd rebelled 733 00:51:11,480 --> 00:51:14,400 and been deported by the colonial government. 734 00:51:16,720 --> 00:51:20,640 They stuck to the democratic ideals of the first settlers. 735 00:51:23,880 --> 00:51:27,440 And this became the first place anywhere in the world 736 00:51:27,440 --> 00:51:30,160 where women voted for public office. 737 00:51:36,040 --> 00:51:40,320 This is the only known image of the first settlement here at Freetown, 738 00:51:40,320 --> 00:51:44,160 and it's just a few huts and some land that's been cleared for crops. 739 00:51:44,160 --> 00:51:46,920 But to the right of the image, beside the Union Jack, 740 00:51:46,920 --> 00:51:48,840 is a giant cotton tree. 741 00:51:48,840 --> 00:51:50,920 Now, that's one of the indigenous species of tree 742 00:51:50,920 --> 00:51:52,320 here in Sierra Leone, 743 00:51:52,320 --> 00:51:56,000 but it's also one of the constants in the history of Freetown, 744 00:51:56,000 --> 00:51:59,040 because it's believed that every one of the waves of settlers 745 00:51:59,040 --> 00:52:02,200 who came to this city from London, from Nova Scotia, 746 00:52:02,200 --> 00:52:04,080 and the Maroons from Jamaica, 747 00:52:04,080 --> 00:52:06,520 that all of them held their public meetings 748 00:52:06,520 --> 00:52:08,400 under a giant cotton tree. 749 00:52:08,400 --> 00:52:11,160 They called their meetings their "palavers". 750 00:52:11,160 --> 00:52:13,960 Today, in the centre of Freetown, 751 00:52:13,960 --> 00:52:18,480 is an absolutely enormous and ancient cotton tree. 752 00:52:18,480 --> 00:52:22,640 Now, nobody knows if this is THE cotton tree where the early settlers 753 00:52:22,640 --> 00:52:26,360 had their meetings, but it's become the symbol of the city, 754 00:52:26,360 --> 00:52:30,320 and it's also become the symbol of the ideals and the hopes that were 755 00:52:30,320 --> 00:52:32,760 brought here by those early settlers. 756 00:52:41,760 --> 00:52:46,040 Anybody who passes under the cotton tree should remember our history. 757 00:52:49,200 --> 00:52:53,720 The history of being slaves, taken away by force... 758 00:52:55,560 --> 00:52:59,600 ..but then, after centuries, they were brought back, 759 00:52:59,600 --> 00:53:01,720 back home. 760 00:53:07,360 --> 00:53:09,360 When our forefathers 761 00:53:09,360 --> 00:53:11,640 were finally free from slavery, 762 00:53:11,640 --> 00:53:14,680 the cotton tree was the first place they rested 763 00:53:14,680 --> 00:53:16,840 and said a prayer there. 764 00:53:20,880 --> 00:53:23,600 With all those memories and the natural things around here, 765 00:53:23,600 --> 00:53:27,080 whenever I pass by, I feel at peace, honestly. 766 00:53:34,480 --> 00:53:36,400 The cotton tree is important to me 767 00:53:36,400 --> 00:53:40,240 because it helps us know that this is where we came from 768 00:53:40,240 --> 00:53:42,560 and we need to pass it on from generation to generation 769 00:53:42,560 --> 00:53:45,320 so it can never be forgotten. It's really important. 770 00:53:52,920 --> 00:53:55,400 And it's here, at the cotton tree, 771 00:53:55,400 --> 00:53:59,360 that the people of Sierra Leone are unveiling a plaque in honour of the 772 00:53:59,360 --> 00:54:01,960 pioneers who founded their nation. 773 00:54:08,920 --> 00:54:12,440 TRADITIONAL SINGING AND DRUMMING 774 00:54:14,320 --> 00:54:17,080 We hope that if we put up a plaque in the centre of Freetown, 775 00:54:17,080 --> 00:54:20,560 we might persuade a few people to come and celebrate with us. 776 00:54:20,560 --> 00:54:23,080 Well, it's about an hour before the event 777 00:54:23,080 --> 00:54:25,280 and we're expecting 200 people. 778 00:54:25,280 --> 00:54:28,040 The government have put up marquees, there's a red carpet, 779 00:54:28,040 --> 00:54:29,880 they've closed the roads. 780 00:54:29,880 --> 00:54:33,280 The British High Commissioner is here and representatives 781 00:54:33,280 --> 00:54:36,680 from all the ethnic groups of Freetown are coming. 782 00:54:36,680 --> 00:54:38,240 It's quite incredible. 783 00:54:46,400 --> 00:54:48,920 Distinguished ladies and gentlemen. 784 00:54:48,920 --> 00:54:50,760 Good morning. 785 00:54:51,960 --> 00:54:56,920 Today marks another very important day 786 00:54:56,920 --> 00:55:01,960 in the history of Great Britain and the Republic of Sierra Leone. 787 00:55:01,960 --> 00:55:04,600 I take this opportunity 788 00:55:04,600 --> 00:55:06,360 on behalf of the settlers 789 00:55:06,360 --> 00:55:09,360 who have departed to the other side 790 00:55:09,360 --> 00:55:13,440 to recount a reciprocal acknowledgement 791 00:55:13,440 --> 00:55:17,800 to the British for the selfless efforts made 792 00:55:17,800 --> 00:55:20,600 over 200 years ago 793 00:55:20,600 --> 00:55:25,400 to found this corner for our occupation, 794 00:55:25,400 --> 00:55:27,960 and that now means so much 795 00:55:27,960 --> 00:55:31,000 to all the different ethnic groups 796 00:55:31,000 --> 00:55:35,240 to whom it is home sweet home. 797 00:55:35,240 --> 00:55:38,520 - I thank you. - APPLAUSE 798 00:55:38,520 --> 00:55:41,280 Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. 799 00:55:58,120 --> 00:56:03,200 APPLAUSE 800 00:56:12,840 --> 00:56:16,960 This is the cultural, spiritual centre of this whole country. 801 00:56:16,960 --> 00:56:20,240 This is the perfect place, I think, on this continent 802 00:56:20,240 --> 00:56:24,200 to discuss and to explore and to celebrate that... 803 00:56:24,200 --> 00:56:27,880 this country's history and Britain's history are conjoined. 804 00:56:27,880 --> 00:56:30,000 They are part of the same history. 805 00:56:46,760 --> 00:56:51,720 Remembering these often forgotten stories gives us a richer account of 806 00:56:51,720 --> 00:56:54,720 some of the deeply troubling chapters in our history. 807 00:57:01,240 --> 00:57:04,760 From the thousands of Africans transported into slavery... 808 00:57:10,360 --> 00:57:13,360 ..to those who risked their lives fighting for Britain... 809 00:57:16,280 --> 00:57:19,480 ..the unsung heroes who fought for justice... 810 00:57:24,040 --> 00:57:28,760 ..and the men and women who crossed continents in pursuit of freedom. 811 00:57:45,920 --> 00:57:50,000 Next time, Queen Victoria's black goddaughter... 812 00:57:50,000 --> 00:57:53,080 Grandmother used to tell us about this ancestor. 813 00:57:53,080 --> 00:57:58,040 We just thought this was an old lady rambling on about the past. 814 00:57:58,040 --> 00:58:00,840 Mill workers against slavery... 815 00:58:00,840 --> 00:58:04,600 It's that guts to say, "This is the right thing," you know, 816 00:58:04,600 --> 00:58:06,800 "This is the right thing, let's do it." 817 00:58:07,840 --> 00:58:10,200 ..and rebellion in Jamaica. 818 00:58:14,400 --> 00:58:18,120 If you'd like to find out how to research black history in your area, 819 00:58:18,120 --> 00:58:23,600 there's an iWonder guide with links to our partners at... 820 00:58:24,305 --> 00:59:24,165 Watch Online Movies and Series for FREE www.osdb.link/lm