Black British History

New Perspectives

Hakim Adi, Hakim Adi

• Publisher: Zed Books
• Year: 2019
• ISBN:
  9781786994288
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Historia
• Subtopic: Historia británica

For over 1500 years before the Empire Windrush docked on British shores, people of African descent have played a significant and far-ranging role in the country's history, from the African soldiers on Hadrian's Wall to the Black British intellectuals who made London a hub of radical, Pan-African ideas. But while there has been a growing interest in this history, there has been little recognition of the sheer breadth and diversity of the Black British experience, until now. This collection combines the latest work from both established and emerging scholars of Black British history. It spans the centuries from the first Black Britons to the latest African migrants, covering everything from Africans in Tudor England to the movement for reparations, and the never ending struggles against racism in between. An invaluable resource for both future scholarship and those looking for a useful introduction to Black British history, Black British History: New Perspectives has the potential to transform our understanding of Britain, and of its place in the world.

1 ‘BLACKAMOORES’ HAVE THEIR OWN NAMES IN EARLY MODERN ENGLAND

Onyeka Nubia

Warning: Parts of this chapter contain swearing and derogatory racial epithets, which some readers may find offensive.

‘Free People name themselves: Slaves and Dogs are named by their masters.’¹

African countrymen²

Africans were William Shakespeare’s countrymen.³ They lived in England 400 years ago. It was the same country where Henry Tudor usurped the crown from Richard III, at the Battle of Bosworth Field, in 1485. Henry reigned from 1485 to 1509, and Pero, or Pedro, Alvarez was present in London under his authority in 1490. Pedro was described in early modern records as a ‘negro e forro’, which literally means a ‘foreign or strange black’.⁴ Pedro won his manumission (freedom) from Henry VII on 13 March 1490, and this was upheld by John II, King of Portugal.⁵ During the reign of Henry VIII (1509–47), an African called ‘Fraunces Negro’ or ‘Fraunces ye negro’ worked in the royal stables.⁶ His presence was noted in the subsidy rolls (records of taxation) for 1523.⁷ When ‘Bloody’ Mary (Mary I) was queen, from 1553 to 1558, Africans lived in English cities, towns and villages, and one of them was an African man who was a pioneer in the needle-making industry:

Spanish needles was first taught in Englande, by Elias Growse a Germaine, about the eight year of Queen Elizabeth, and in Queen Maries time, there was a Negro made fine Spanish needles in Cheapside, but would never teach his art to any.⁸

During the reign of Elizabeth I, ‘the Virgin’ Queen, from 1558 onwards, Africans and their families were a significant presence in Tudor England. And as Francis Drake and Walter Raleigh sallied forth to do battle with the Spanish Armada in 1588, two years earlier ‘Christopher Cappervert a blackemoore’ was buried in the churchyard of St Botolph without Aldgate, London, on 22 October 1586.⁹ Africans lived and were baptised, married and buried in Tudor and Stuart England. When James I was crowned King of England in 1603 and Guy Fawkes tried to destroy Parliament in 1605, Africans such as Henrie Anthonie Jetto, ‘A Blackemore’, and his large extended family lived in Holt, Worcestershire and were a significant presence in their local community.¹⁰

This chapter is about the ethnicity of these Africans who lived in early modern England (from 1485 to the 1620s).¹¹ The term ‘African’ is used here to describe those people who had a direct connection to the continent of Africa and others who were of African descent and who, within a common vernacular,¹² may be called ‘black’.¹³ Where different issues apply to people with a mixed parentage or dual heritage, this will be stated.¹⁴ In this chapter we shall explore whether Africans at this time had the capacity to choose descriptive ‘names’ and terms such as ‘Blackamoore’ or ‘Negro’ to describe their ethnicity. Since this is the focus, those academics conversant with African populations elsewhere may be particularly challenged by the findings included in this chapter.¹⁵ But this has been written with a general readership in mind, and some explanations that academics would usually require have been redacted. For example, those who wish to explore further my methodology may find out more in my other works.¹⁶

‘Sacred white’ spaces

The early modern period is frequently written about by historians and others in reference to the Tudor and Stuart monarchs mentioned earlier.¹⁷ An idea may then develop, which is often compounded by some academics,¹⁸ that this period of English history was ‘a sacred white space’ where people of African descent were absent.¹⁹ This is because the history of this era is usually characterised by the machinations of English noblemen, fratricide and internecine conflicts, the insidious and Machiavellian nature of foreign wars, the tempestuous nature of Tudor and Stuart politics, and the theological dissension of the times. These matters not only reflect the interests of modern historians in this period,²⁰ but, to a certain extent, they also echo the preoccupations of early modern historians, translators, and so on.

The English early modern writers such as Raphael Holinshed, John Stow, Edmund Howes and William Harrison were often sponsored by monarchs, the church and wealthy patrons when they wrote the history of their times.²¹ Therefore, most of what they wrote tended to be about white, wealthy, Christian Englishmen. All other people, including women (of any class), the poor, religious and ethnic minorities, among others, were often part of the ‘missing pages of history’.²² Or, if they were mentioned, it seems that their inclusion was an afterthought, sometimes inserted into the margins or footnotes of these writers’ works.²³

Modern historians such as Imtiaz Habib, Gustav Ungerer and others may sometimes be influenced by this early modern trend. And when this is coupled with a postcolonial praxis,²⁴ it can lead to speculation that Africans in early modern England were the epitome of otherness and strangeness.²⁵ The term ‘postcolonial’ refers to the effects and legacies of colonialism, and the word ‘praxis’ means an ‘accepted practice’ or ‘custom’.²⁶ Through this praxis, historians sometimes apply principles learned from a postcolonial interpretation of history and use this to decipher what happened in early modern England. This praxis can enable another concept: that Africans were not capable of exercising agency – and did not do so – over any part of their lives in early modern England. Africans automatically become slaves and transitory visitors, not living in English society but passing through as interlopers.²⁷ Unfortunately, a range of historians, including Peter Fryer, Kim Hall and others who write about black history, the renaissance, Shakespeare, women’s studies, and so on,²⁸ may do this. This is despite these authors creating work that in many other ways is ground breaking and important.²⁹ I recognise the contribution of these writers, but question their findings on this topic.

The act of naming

The act of naming referred to in the title of this chapter is not a reference to the way in which people acquired personal names. Instead, it is a reference to ‘names’ used to describe ethnicity. Sometimes these discussions can become an analysis of etymology or semantics. However, this chapter builds on a body of work in which many etymological and semantic discussions have already taken place.³⁰ Therefore, the focus is on whether Africans in early modern England were capable of defining their own identity, and whether their definitions influenced how English people described them. An underlying theme is that Africans in the diaspora did not begin their exploration of identity in modern times, but long before.³¹

The ‘Blackamoore’ lives in early modern societies

In Tudor and early Stuart England, the archetypal ‘Moor’³² was a ‘dark-skinned’ African,³³ as stated by the English writer John Minsheu and many other early modern authors.³⁴ However, the word ‘Moor’ was already used in the English language before the early modern period.³⁵ Nevertheless, it was during this era that the word ‘black’ was added as a cognomen to create the term ‘Blackamoore’. This descriptor then became the most popular term used generically to describe Africans. Prior to that, terms such as ‘Aethiopian’, ‘Niger’ and ‘Garamantes’ were often used to describe Africans, with ‘Saracen’ being a generic term that could include Africans.³⁶

The term ‘Blackamoore’ was also the most frequently used descriptor of Africans in other early modern documents, such as letters and dictionaries, written by a range of different Englishmen such as George Best, John Minsheu, Barnabe Rich and others.³⁷ Furthermore, ‘Blackamoore’ was used in important official documents written at the end of the Tudor period. These documents include two letters signed on 11 and 18 July 1596, and a draft proclamation of 1601. Both letters were signed by Elizabeth I, but are unlikely to have been written by her, while the proclamation was an unsigned draft that was not supported by enforceable law...