Three percent of London's population in the eighteenth century was black. This episode tells you more about three of them.
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17 Gough Square
,
Holborn
,
London
An Enslaved Child and His Two Inheritances
Written by
Milo
Harries
Performed by
Cassius
Konneh
Delve Deeper
A contemporary picture, “probably of Francis Barber,” is owned by the Tate Gallery, London, but is not always on display. Dr Johnson’s house in Gough Square is now a museum. Samueljohnson.com has a copy of his will in which Barber was a legatee.
About this story
Previously enslaved, Jamaican Francis Barber arrives in the UK in 1752 and works for writer Samuel Johnson, who compiled the first authoritative English dictionary.
The Tower of London
,
London
A Genius in Bondage
Written by
Sarah
Fleming
Performed by
Jasmine
Elcock
Delve Deeper
Wikipedia has a copy of the frontispiece of Wheatley’s Poetry Book picturing her at a desk, quill in hand. Project Gutenberg has a free copy of the book. The Public Domain Review has an essay about the poet, including another portrait of Wheatley in evening dress.
Note that while the USA claims Wheatley as the first female African American published poet, she is also the first female black African published poet. There is a blue plaque for Wheatley at 9 Aldgate High St, the site of her first publishers’s offices. The plaque reads: On this site in September 1773 A.Bell Booksellers published a volume of poems by Phillis Wheatley 1753-1784 the first work of an African American female writer published in English.
Wikipedia and The Poetry Foundation have biographies of Wheatley which include more detail of her later life. The menagerie at The Tower of London has been called ‘London’s First Zoo.
About this story
Enslaved teenager Phillis Wheatley, comes to the UK to get her collection of poems published - becoming the first published African-American poet.
Beethoven Could Not Believe His Ears
Written by
James
Rampton
Performed by
Stephen
Fry
Delve Deeper
The British Museum has a graphite portrait of Bridgetower. The British Library has the tuning fork Beethoven gave to Bridgetower and The Beethoven House Museum, at his birthplace in Bonn, Germany, has the original manuscript with Beethoven’s dedication to Bridgetower.
Bridgetower studied at Trinity Hall College, The University of Cambridge, and received a Bachelor of Music degree in 1811.
About this story
In 1803 child prodigy, West Indian-German George Bridgetower, travels to Vienna to play the violin with composer and pianist Ludwig van Beethoven.