An edition of Black London (1995)

Black London

life before emancipation.

  • 5 Want to read
Black London
Gretchen Gerzina, Gretchen Ger ...
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Last edited by MARC Bot
July 18, 2024 | History
An edition of Black London (1995)

Black London

life before emancipation.

  • 5 Want to read

In Black London, Gretchen Gerzina shows how by the eighteenth century the work of all kinds of artists - Hogarth, Reynolds, Gillray, Rowlandson - as well as work by poets, playwrights and novelists, reveals to sharp eyes that not everyone in that elegant, vigorous, earthy world was white. In fact there were black pubs and clubs, balls for blacks only, black churches, and organizations for helping blacks out of work or in trouble.

Many blacks were prosperous and respected: George Bridgtower was a concert violinist who knew Beethoven; Ignatius Sancho corresponded with Laurence Sterne; Francis Williams studied at Cambridge. Others, like Jack Beef, were successful stewards or men of business. But many more were servants or beggars, some turning to prostitution or theft.

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Alongside the free black world was slavery, from which many of these people escaped. In particular, it was the business of kidnapping blacks for export to the West Indies that made Granville Sharp an abolitionist and brought the celebrated Somerset case before Lord Justice Mansfield.

Those men are now heroes of human rights, yet Sharp probably did not believe in racial equality; and Mansfield, whose own much-loved great-niece was black, was so worried about property rights that he did all he could to avoid a judgment that would set blacks free. The ties and conflicts of black and white in England, often cruel, often moving, were also complex and surprising. This book presents a fascinating chapter of history and one long in need of exploration.

Publish Date
Publisher
Rutgers University
Language
English
Pages
244

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Previews available in: English

Edition Availability
Cover of: Black London
Black London: life before emancipation.
2004, Rutgers University
in English
Cover of: Black London
Black London: life before emancipation
1995, Rutgers University Press
in English

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Book Details


Edition Notes

Published in
New Brunswick, N.J

Classifications

Library of Congress
DA676.9.B55G47 1995, DA676.9.B55 G47 1995

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL22124493M
ISBN 10
0813522722
LCCN
95033060
OCLC/WorldCat
32854931
Library Thing
363355
Goodreads
786944

Work Description

Black London, by Gretchen Gerzina, Kathe Tappe Vernon Professor of Biography at Dartmouth College, is a fascinating account of London blacks, focusing on the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Because of a paucity of sources from blacks themselves, Gerzina had to rely primarily on glimpses through white eyes, especially those of antislavery advocate Granville Sharp. Gerzina is quite adept at culling evidence of a rich, complex black life, with significant interaction (and intermarriage) with the white community. Although subjected to much discrimination, London blacks never suffered as much as their American counterparts. The author rightly concludes that blacks have played an important role in the life of London for much of its history.

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History

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July 18, 2024 Edited by MARC Bot import existing book
October 31, 2022 Edited by ImportBot import existing book
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August 30, 2020 Edited by ImportBot import existing book
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