1 Black pasts, white nationalist racecraft, and the political work of history
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Kennetta Hammond Perry
Abstract
Kennetta Hammond Perry examines the need to decolonize the connected histories and memories of slaveholding and abolition in Britain and the United States. Celebrating abolition as a redemptive liberal political achievement of freedom obscures slaves’ and black peoples’ experiences in Britain dating from the eighteenth century, thereby sustaining false notions of a “white” nation lost in post-colonial Britain. Scholarly and general public interest in the history of slave-owning as an overlooked practice in Britain itself (not limited to the empire) has recently seen the establishment of a centre at UCL and a BBC documentary. This chapter, therefore, highlights the experience of enslaved black people in Britain. By so doing, it shows the importance of decolonizing metropolitan memories of white supremacy and the process as a flashpoint for white nationalists on both sides of the Atlantic.
Abstract
Kennetta Hammond Perry examines the need to decolonize the connected histories and memories of slaveholding and abolition in Britain and the United States. Celebrating abolition as a redemptive liberal political achievement of freedom obscures slaves’ and black peoples’ experiences in Britain dating from the eighteenth century, thereby sustaining false notions of a “white” nation lost in post-colonial Britain. Scholarly and general public interest in the history of slave-owning as an overlooked practice in Britain itself (not limited to the empire) has recently seen the establishment of a centre at UCL and a BBC documentary. This chapter, therefore, highlights the experience of enslaved black people in Britain. By so doing, it shows the importance of decolonizing metropolitan memories of white supremacy and the process as a flashpoint for white nationalists on both sides of the Atlantic.
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Dedication v
- Contents vii
- Contributors ix
- Series editors’ foreword xii
- Preface xiv
- Introduction 1
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In the shadow of slavery and empire
- 1 Black pasts, white nationalist racecraft, and the political work of history 31
- 2 “Regular White man” 53
- 3 Wild power 71
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Opposing civil rights
- 4 Enoch Powell’s America / America’s Enoch Powell 105
- 5 From Belfast to Bob Jones 131
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Nostalgia for white rule
- 6 “One last retreat” 157
- 7 Transatlantic white supremacy 187
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The far right in the Anglosphere
- 8 White Australia alone? 231
- 9 “It’s a white fight and we’ve got to win it” 262
- Postscript 301
- Index 309
Chapters in this book
- Front matter i
- Dedication v
- Contents vii
- Contributors ix
- Series editors’ foreword xii
- Preface xiv
- Introduction 1
-
In the shadow of slavery and empire
- 1 Black pasts, white nationalist racecraft, and the political work of history 31
- 2 “Regular White man” 53
- 3 Wild power 71
-
Opposing civil rights
- 4 Enoch Powell’s America / America’s Enoch Powell 105
- 5 From Belfast to Bob Jones 131
-
Nostalgia for white rule
- 6 “One last retreat” 157
- 7 Transatlantic white supremacy 187
-
The far right in the Anglosphere
- 8 White Australia alone? 231
- 9 “It’s a white fight and we’ve got to win it” 262
- Postscript 301
- Index 309
