Let's talk about it: Reparations
Take a look at the topic of reparations through BCA’s collections
Discussions on Reparations have permeated the public sphere, whereby they are now diffusing across different communities and cultures. Many assume that Reparations is a new topic that circulates in Black communities, especially after the ‘awakening’ that took place in 2020 during the Black Lives Matter resurgence after George Floyd’s murder. Still, BCA’s collections show this is anything but a new topic. In addition, many think that Reparations is only a call for monetary compensation, but in fact Reparations in totality is the demand for recognition, apology and action, to repair the damage done to Black communities by institutions, governments, families and companies in the past and the present. In this blog, we look at what some of BCA’s collections say regarding Reparations.
Accountability
Recently, the Gladstone family came to the forefront of the conversation, after they visited Guyana in 2023 to formally apologise for their ancestor’s actions (rooted in plantations) and have pledged £100,000 towards researching the impact of slavery. Furthermore, they have joined the Heirs of Slavery group, acknowledging that they are beneficiaries of injustice.
Whilst their ancestor Sir John Gladstone (1764–1851) should have been held accountable for his actions in his lifetime, his family have taken on this responsibility by proxy, due to actively benefitting from wealth acquired from such atrocious activities. Although the atrocity cannot be reversed, the Gladstone family have demonstrated what it looks like to take accountability. They have chosen to break the cocoon of denial and obscurity that most beneficiaries of enslavement willingly embrace.
Letters to John Gladstone & Co, Liverpool, is a small collection held at BCA comprising letters to Gladstone from his agents in Jamaica, Guyana, Mauritius and Australia. Wholly taken up with practical matters relating to trade, export and improvements in farming, it is only on the third page of one letter that brief reference is made to the agent’s satisfaction with ‘the working of the negroes.’ The letters indicate a business that is continuing to thrive just two years after the Emancipation Act came into force. This success is not surprising given Gladstone received substantial compensation for the loss of enslaved labour.
Fair Prospect, Jamaica, 4th February 1840. BCA/GLADSTONE
The ‘right’ of former enslavers to compensation was generally accepted at the time. What was entirely ignored was the right of the formerly enslaved people to recompense. Even in modern times, many responses to the call for Reparations consider it a moral rather than a legal right, arguing that slavery was not seen as wrong at the time. The extract of a letter from the Minister of State for Overseas Development and Africa at the Foreign Office to the MP Andrew Smith below embodies this opinion.
BCA/6/15/4 Page 1, Letter from the FCO to the MP Andrew Smith, 13 August 1993
However, the letter also evidences that the Organisation of African Unity had passed a resolution that year to press for Reparations for both slavery and colonial exploitation, showing that pressure was being brought to bear on former colonial governments before the current time. Thus, the call for Reparations is by no means a new one.
The Psychology
After the Windrush scandal, the undeserved treatment that migrants from the Caribbean received highlights the fact that perceptions surrounding African descendants are still skewed which to some extent can be attributed to the empire and colonialism. This is illustrated by popular literature (that is still taught in schools today), that boldly portrays Black individuals as animals and savages like that described in the Sign of the Four by Conan Doyle, dipped in orientalism and the illogical fear of the ‘other’. This links me to the point that Reparations are also about destigmatising and reforming the image of the Black person within the minds of people who have been indoctrinated.
This is highlighted specifically by the ASSATA collection at BCA whereby Sister Nzingha Assata focused on educating Black people within Britain on their African heritage and history. One thing that particularly highlights the psychological legacy of slavery and colonialism is in the introduction to an article entitled ‘Race in the Curriculum’ whereby a six-year-old child states,
“I know about colours, pink and white and everything, but I didn’t like black people and I didn’t know I was one of them.”
“One day I bit this little white girl and Mrs. B said to me ‘You only did that because she’s white and you’re black.’ And all day I kept thinking about it- that I was black”.
‘Race in the Curriculum,’ Education & Community Relations, March/June 1977, Vol. VII No.2. BCA, ASSATA/5/2
The dissociation from one’s culture, history and ethnicity is a very real consequence of slavery and colonialism. Frantz Fanon highlights this in his book Black Skin, White Masks where he talks about a cloud of inner turmoil that follows the Black man around due to his inability to reconcile who he knows he is and who he is supposed to be according to society's projections.
The Trendsetters
In addition, the African Reparations Movement (ARM), set in motion by Bernie Grant in 1993 stands as a great overview of the aims and objectives of Black people within the movement in Britain.
BCA/5/1/39
Below are two significant quotes found in the ARM Collection at BCA.
“…his calls…for the government to help black Britons who wanted voluntary repatriation and for some of the crown Jewels to be sold to compensate African countries for activities of slavers…”
Bernie Grant, quoted in Independent, Sunday 12 December 1993. BCA, ARM/1.
“I thought, there are so many troubles in life about jobs and money that at least if I went to Barbados, I could get rid of racism and be treated as a first-class citizen. It would be one less hurdle to jump”.
Linda Deane, quoted in Independent, Sunday 12 December 1993. BCA, ARM/1.
The movement did not call for the wholesale repatriation of people of African descent, but recognised that it was the right of any individual to be financially assisted to return to the land from which their ancestors were forcibly removed, should they so wish. In this way, Reparations is a call for compensation for past wrongdoings and is also a clear acknowledgement of events that took place. Furthermore, the mention of the crown jewels serves as a reminder that a number of the jewels found in royal collections, or artefacts like the Benin bronzes in the British Museum can be traced to Africa.
Linda Deane’s experiences of the obstacles of racism and on being treated as a second class citizen in Britain, the country of her birth, speaks to the suffering that individuals in the African diaspora continue to face. Displacement of people, their descendants, their culture, heritage and physical artefacts all attest to ongoing generational trauma. Compensating Black British citizens would not atone for the many atrocities done to their ancestors but would enable these communities to begin the healing process.
Bernie Grant's calls for Reparations fell on deaf ears and were quite viscerally attacked by the mainstream media. However, ARM continued to set out Reparations in terms of the ongoing damage, and the scope of the meaning of repair, as well as how to achieve it.
“When we speak of reparations we speak of repair. We wish to repair the damage done to us psychologically, economically, historically, and financially. When we demand the return of our Artefacts stolen, misinterpreted, and abused by Museums and collectors. We demand the creation of free and fair commodity markets for African Goods and the ending of cash Crops for Europe and not local communities.”
BCA, ARM/1, Reparations for Africa, Linda Bellos, 13 May 1996.
“When we have raised the issue of Reparations publicly we have encountered a European concern solely with money. They ask how much will it cost?”
“We consider this an offensive question which yet again reduces African peoples to the level of commodities. Is it not enough that Europe created a whole social institution out of buying and selling African people? Now they can only see us in terms of money.”
BCA, ARM/1, Reparations for Africa, Linda Bellos, 13 May 1996.
The ARM collection also includes a twelve-page publication presented to the OAU Reparations conference setting out a robust legal framework to effectively challenge the notion that there is no legal basis for Reparations.
Lord Anthony Gifford, Q.C., ‘The Legal Basic of the Claim for Reparations’, Kingston, 1993. BCA, ARM/1
ARM and their collaborators demonstrated how important it is for Black communities to be the ones to lay out the terms and conditions on which Reparations should be made, as only they as victims can quantify the damage.
The Assata collection shows how Sister Nzingha Assata took steps to educate the community through workshops such as In Praise of Our Ancestors – an evening of lectures, exhibition, discussion and poetry which focused on African history pre and post-slavery, the journeys taken by enslaved persons to the West Indies and the ramifications of this. The overall idea was to equip the community with the tools and knowledge to demand justice but also to centre their identity.
BCA, ASSATA/5/3, Flyer, In Praise of our Ancestors, Remembrance Day, 6th August 1994
Clips of an interview of Sister Nzingha Assata talking about the importance of education with regards to the Reparations movement and why it is important for the communities affected to be the ones to demand how Reparations should be handled. Recorded by Jonita Osango, BCA, May 2024.
To conclude:
Reparations is not a topic that can be achieved through one conversation or tokenistic gestures. It is a mission that is going to take time. Activists and campaigners before us have shown that Reparations are about repairing communities throughout the generations, to reclaim what has been stolen and continues to be hidden. The formation of groups like the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Afrikan Reparations may indicate that the tide is changing and that pressure is being successfully brought to bear on governments to take the matter into serious consideration, and begin the process of implementation.
by Jonita Osango
Jonita is an undergraduate at Goldsmiths, University of London, studying History with Politics. She interned at BCA in Spring 2024, and produced this blog after researching our collections.
"I wanted this blog post to serve as a reminder to people in the African Diaspora of their history and also to honour people within this community who have paved some of the way for newer generations. The team at Black Cultural Archives provided a supportive space for me to do so, highlighting the importance of heritage and archive sites. In turn, I hope this blog also encourages readers to take a visit and look through their rich collection material".
Email archives@bcaheritage.org.uk to book a place in the reading room to view the collections.