Ep. 5: Afro-Victorians cover art

Ep. 5: Afro-Victorians

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Ep. 5: Afro-Victorians

By: Stephen Fry
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About this listen

This episode of Victorian Secrets recounts the lives, times and experiences of Black Victorians in Britain.

Historians have for the most part kept the details of these lives secret, either by forgetting or ignoring them. We will also examine the responses of diverse British citizens to humans they saw as ‘other’.

At the beginning of Victoria’s reign, we British thought we knew all about slavery. It had bought us great wealth and power, after which we had taken the moral high ground and abolished it. But that didn’t mean the British had abolished prejudice.

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I knew most of this having studied Mayhew as part of a history degree, but the information on the Minstrels was new and very relevant to James by Perceval Everett

Minstrels

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Love Stephen Fry! What a voice and tells the best story! Gossipy tea from the olden days.

Entertaining!

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If it wasn't for this episode I would have never known about the existence of afro victorians, nor about the concept of racism in the victorian era.

I was surprised by how former slaves managed to print their stories, becoming heard and seen. It's also curious how they became a synonym for entertainment, since there was so many of their stories tranaformed into art forms.

The fact that afro victorians found publics and platforms to reenact their previous lives, is amazing.

Who were their editors? Their managers? Were there any former slaves who escaped english lords and went to the UK to denounce their life conditions?

Thank you so much for bringing the matter to the light. My curiosity is sparkling!

Touching and educational

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Episode 5 is just an invitation for that arch axe grinder olusoga to have another dig at the white race,That man has some serious plamks on his shoulders and loves nothing more than kicking the country that gave him everything.Harping on about the degrading of blacks and white minstrels blacking up.Notice he has no problem with cultural appropriation when today we see a black Anne Boleyn or Rapunzel on tv.Unless you lived in London,Liverpool or Bristol you could go an entire lifetime and not see a black face yet he seems to think they were round every corner of the UK.

too preachy at times.

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