Introducing 'Black History and Culture,' an Intelligence Squared collection. In this carefully curated selection we revisit some of our favourite live events and podcasts from the past 20 years, journeying through the rich and diverse tapestry of Black history and culture.
We showcase great creators and thinkers, including the co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement, Alicia Garza; poet and activist, Benjamin Zephaniah; and playwright, novelist, critic and broadcaster, Bonnie Greer. We also delve into debates such as ‘Should the West Pay Reparations For Slavery?’ and ‘Hip-Hop vs Shakespeare.’ Join us as we examine the past, engage with the present, and ignite conversations that shape our future.
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Introducing 'Black History and Culture,' an Intelligence Squared collection. In this carefully curated selection we revisit some of our favourite live events and podcasts from the past 20 years, journeying through the rich and diverse tapestry of Black history and culture.
We showcase great creators and thinkers, including the co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement, Alicia Garza; poet and activist, Benjamin Zephaniah; and playwright, novelist, critic and broadcaster, Bonnie Greer. We also delve into debates such as ‘Should the West Pay Reparations For Slavery?’ and ‘Hip-Hop vs Shakespeare.’ Join us as we examine the past, engage with the present, and ignite conversations that shape our future.
Africa to the Americas: Sites of Slavery, Resistance and Civil Rights, with David Harewood and Bonnie Greer
Black History & Culture
1 hour 18 minutes
3 years ago
Africa to the Americas: Sites of Slavery, Resistance and Civil Rights, with David Harewood and Bonnie Greer
Between 1500 and 1866, 12.5 million enslaved Africans were transported by ship from Africa to the Americas as part of the Middle Passage crossing. Some 1.8 million of them died, their bodies thrown into the Atlantic, while the others who survived undertook journeys of misery and terror – chained together, starved, and surrounded by disease, to be sold into slavery and forced to work in brutal, dehumanising conditions. The slave mutinies that took place on these ships were the beginning of a long history of Black resistance.
In February 2022, the World Monuments Fund in partnership with Intelligence Squared brought together a panel of experts to explore key sites in Black history and illustrate the pivotal role heritage can play in teaching us about underrepresented narratives from the past.
We began our journey by examining buildings connected to slavery across Africa and the Caribbean, focusing on the ports, trading posts, and slave forts that were the starting points of the transatlantic slave trade. Moving forward in time we then discussed the struggle for emancipation, highlighting lesser known sites where newly freed slaves took refuge. Our trajectory ended with the landmark places in Birmingham, Montgomery, Selma and across the Black Belt in the U.S. that stood at the heart of the civil rights movement. These include churches and a barber shop where historic meetings took place between representatives of the Black and white populations of Montgomery in the beginning of the civil rights era.
Our panel unlocked the stories associated with these historic buildings and their importance in ensuring that the long struggle for racial equality is never forgotten.
CHAIR:
Yassmin Abdel-Magied - Writer and broadcaster
Panel:
Alberta Whittle - Barbadian-Scottish artist, researcher, and curator
Bonnie Greer OBE - Playwright, author, broadcaster and former Deputy Chair, British Museum
John Darlington - Executive Director at WMF Britain
David Harewood MBE - Actor, director, author, and activist
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Black History & Culture
Introducing 'Black History and Culture,' an Intelligence Squared collection. In this carefully curated selection we revisit some of our favourite live events and podcasts from the past 20 years, journeying through the rich and diverse tapestry of Black history and culture.
We showcase great creators and thinkers, including the co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement, Alicia Garza; poet and activist, Benjamin Zephaniah; and playwright, novelist, critic and broadcaster, Bonnie Greer. We also delve into debates such as ‘Should the West Pay Reparations For Slavery?’ and ‘Hip-Hop vs Shakespeare.’ Join us as we examine the past, engage with the present, and ignite conversations that shape our future.
