THIS SERIES OF COLLAGES BY JANA CURCIO IS NAMED ‘SKIN TONES’. IT REVELS HOW OUR SKIN COLOUR AFFECTS THE WAY OTHERS SEE US. IT EXAMINES THE NOTION THAT AN INDIVIDUALS PERCEPTION OF THEMSELVES IS IMMEDIATELY TIED TO ONE’S SKIN COLOUR AND THEREFORE DETERMINES ONE’S PERCEPTION OF OTHERS.
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IN 2014 A NOW CONTROVERSIAL STATUE OF THE FORMER BAILIFF AND LT-GOVERNOR OF JERSEY, SIR GEROGE CARTERET WAS PROUDLY UNVEILED IN ST PETER. IT WAS SAID THAT SIR GEORGE CARTERET WAS A ROLE MODEL FOR YOUNGSTERS AND THAT HE SHOULD BE RECOGNISED LOCALLY AND NATIONALLY.
HOWEVER, IT HAS RECENTLY COME TO LIGHT THAT CARTERET WAS ON OF THE FOUNDERS OF THE ‘COMPANY OF ROYAL ADVENTURES INTO AFRICA’. THIS COMPANY WAS SET UP TO TRADE IN IVORY, GOLD AND SLAVES, BUILDING 18 STONE FORTS AS TRADING BASES IN AFRICA. BY THE TIME HE HAD LEFT, IT IS SAID THAT HE HAD SOLD 155 MEN, 105 WOMEN AND 22 BOYS.
A FEW OF OUR RESIDENTS IN JERSEY HISTORICALLY OWNED SLAVES ALSO. BY 1833 THE ABOLITION OF THE SLAVE TRADE CAME INTO PLACE, FREEING OVER 800,000 SLAVES THAT WERE OWNED BY BRITISH PEOPLE. COMPENSATION WAS ODDLY PAID BY THE UK GOVERNMENT TO THE SLAVE TRADERS AND THERE ARE RECORDS TO SHOW THIS. BELOW ARE SOME RESIDENTS OF JERSEY WHO HAD SLAVES:
JOHN CAMERON (8 ST MARK’S TERRACE, ST MARK’S ROAD, ST HELIER) – AWARDED COMPENSATION OF £30,136 IN 1836 FOR HIS OWNING OF 574 SLAVES IN BRITISH GUIANA.
JOHN WILSON CARMICHAEL – AWARDED £981 IN COMPENSATION FOR 22 SLAVES IN TRINIDAD.
OLIVE MACKESON – AWRARDED £2,446 FOR THE OWNERSHIP OF 132 SLAVES.
THOMAS AND EMMA REIGNOLDS – AWARDED £2,660 FOR THE OWNERSHIP OF 147 SLAVES.
CAROLINE ATKINSON (SALVANDY TERRACE, ST SAVIOUR) – AWARDED £6,810 FOR THE OWNDERSHIP OF 360 SLAVES IN JAMAICA.
EDWARD WELCH EVRESLY (HAVRE DES PAS) – COMPENSATED £102 FOR THE OWNERSHIP OF 9 SLAVES.
THE LIST CONTINUES. THERE IS ALSO A TOTAL ESTIMATE OF £7,546,000 LINKED TO JERSEY THROUGH SLAVE TRADE COMPENSATION.
Colonialism: Explain what it is and how the slave trade evolved as an instrument of power and suppression of enslaved people from Africa.
The official definition of Colonialsim is “The policy or practice of acquiring full or partial political control over another country, occupying it with settlers, and exploiting it economically.”
The Slave Trade
The slave trade regularly used the triangular trade route and its Middle Passage from the 16th to the 19th centuries during ‘The Slave Trade’. The slave trade refers to transatlantic trading patterns, with trading ships containing manufactured goods which would sail from Europe to Africa where goods would be traded for people. The ships conditions were awful, they would be full with the slaves crammed together in the hold. They had no room to move and many did not survive the journey to America or the Caribbean.
The majority of those sold into slavery were destined to work on plantations in the Caribbean and the Americas, where huge areas of the American continent had been colonised by European countries. These plantations produced products such as sugar or tobacco, meant for consumption back in Europe.
Britain was one of the most successful slave trading countries. It was estimated that they transported 3.1 million Africans between 1640 and 1807.
Global context: Describe racism and how racial discrimination over time has led to Black Lives Matter movement.
The official definition of racism is : prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against a person or people on the basis of their membership of a particular racial or ethnic group, typically one that is a minority or marginalized.
In simpler terms, racism is to discriminate against someone purely based on their race or ethnicity and can result in people creating harmful prejudiced views before, during, or after meeting someone. Racial attacks can be very harmful and sometimes fatal till common in today’s society due to institutionalized racism which has not been eradicated since it most impactfully began with the atlantic slave trade in the 16th century , but had still been around for many years previous.
Many versions of the Black Lives Matter movement has happened throughout time, most recently as a result of the killing of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man on May 25, 2020 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. During an arrest for allegedly using a counterfeit bill, Derek Chauvin, a white police officer, knelt on his neck for nearly eight minutes. After his death, protests against police violence toward black people quickly spread across the United States and internationally.