Category: News

David Oulsoga, one of our favourite historians, has a four part series starting on BBC2 on Thursday, 4th January. The programmes will trace the history of 62, Falkner Street, Liverpool from the time it was built in 1840 up to the present day: http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2018/01/a-house-through-time. As this is a Liverpool house, built in early Victorian times you can be sure that a ‘trader in slave-produced cotton’ will feature somewhere in the house’s history.

David describes this as ‘a unique television experiment.’ For television, maybe, but there is no doubt this approach has been tried previously in books. There may be many, but one that I have is ‘A House By the Thames and The People Who Lived There’ by Gillian Tindall, which traces the story of a house on the south bank of the Thames opposite St Paul’s Cathedral. There is no Black history connection as far as I recall but it’s still a fascinating read.

Writing in the Observer newspaper, David’s words demonstrate why we like his work so much: ‘History, to me, is all about those shiver-down-the-spine moments … when you hold in your hands an object created hundreds of years before your time and feel the vague presence of the hands that held it in the past.’ In talking about what a historian is, David speaks of ‘early morning trips across overgrown cemeteries’ – we’ve done our share of that (although perhaps not ‘early morning’!), I wonder if that makes us ‘proper’ historians? Apparently ‘Historians also have to be nosy’ – step forward Bill Hern!

David closes his article by saying: ‘the history I was taught at school was largely one of great men and great deeds, a history that took place in palaces and battlefields. It was silent about our shared, inner and domestic history, the stories of the rest of us, the un-great, who live quietly and privately.’

Each and every one of us contributes to history as did each of our ancestors regardless of their class, colour or gender. Long may historians like David strive to bring these forgotten histories to light and, if you ever want to join the Historycal Roots team, David….

If you missed the first programme in Clarke Peters’ series on the hidden history of Black music in Europe you can still listen to it here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09jd32b (not sure how long this link will work, so catch it while you can). This programme covered the years 1900 to 1910 and the next episode (on Radio 4, Boxing Day at 9.00) will continue the story into the years of the First World War.

Peters visited Bonn in Germany where he met Rainer Lotz, a collector with the most amazing collection of early Black music. At its peak his basement contained maybe 60,000 discs. He has slimmed it down to about 25,000 ‘to save my marriage’! Recordings include one fragile disc that is the only surviving copy as well as a song recorded by Fela Kuti’s grandfather.

Truly fascinating stuff, even before it touched on our favourite classical composer, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.

Well worth a listen.

 

Just how well known is the name Paul Robeson these days? That was a question Tayo Aluko asked during the Q&A session that followed his one man show ‘Call Mr Robeson’ in South Norwood’s Stanley Halls recently. And is he better remembered in the UK than in his native USA?

If the knowledgeable audience that filled the Stanley Halls was anything to go by the name of Paul Robeson is far from forgotten but Tayo commented that when he spoke to people in America about the singer, actor and political activist he often got blank looks. This is a state of affairs that Tayo is determined to change.

Born in New Jersey in 1898, Robeson was the son of a man who had been born as an enslaved person. Robeson became only the third Black student to attend the prestigious Rutgers College. He fought racism and injustice throughout his life, making himself exceptionally unpopular with the American authorities by closely associating himself with  communism.

Perhaps best known for singing ‘Ole Man River’ in the film ‘Showboat’ he enjoyed a successful film career (a personal favourite is ‘Proud Valley’ filmed on location in a South Wales mining community) and as a singer.  He also performed on stage, for instance taking the title role in a London production of ‘Othello’.

Tayo Aluko’s one man play is a powerful evocation of Robeson’s life. The stage is littered with Robeson memorabilia, all from Tayo’s personal collection. Occasionally during the play he picked up a letter or theatre bill and used it as a prop to support the narrative. His singing voice was powerful but, probably inevitably, could not quite match Robeson’s own deeply resonant tone.

There is a DVD of the show, it was available on the night but I’m not sure where else it can be obtained. So here is a short extract from the show:

 

 

We started out as a husband and wife team but we are very pleased to welcome Bill Hern, who has joined us in our work. Working closely with Bill on another project, we have seen at first hand how diligent and persistent he is as a researcher. His dedication to the cause of Black history was demonstrated recently when a ‘holiday’ to Barbados turned, effectively, into a ten day research trip! You will be seeing the fruits of some of his work here soon. Welcome aboard, Bill!

If you are a teacher we can offer a range of resources and support tailored to you specific needs. To find out more contact us at historycalroots(Replace this parenthesis with the @ sign)gmail.com or use this site’s contact form.

We are pleased to announce that we are working with Yvadne Bygrave on a musical for schools based on ‘Fern and Kate Meet Elizabeth Dido Belle’. We recommend Yvadne’s ‘sing a book’ website.

We are currently working on two new titles in the ‘Fern and Kate meet …’ series. They will meet Walter Tull (who fought in the First World War and was one of the first black or mixed race officers) and Mary Seacole, a nurse at the time of the Crimean War.