Staying Power: The History of Black People in Britain

ISBN: 0745338305

Author: Fryer, Peter

Condition: New

A fascinating account of the growth of the black community in Britain over the past centuries.-GuardianFor this retrieval of the lost histories of black Britain, Mr. Fryer has my deep gratitude. An invaluable book.-Salman RushdieStaying Power is a panoramic history of black Britons. First published in 1984 amid race riots and police brutality, Fryer's history performed a deeply political act, revealing how Africans, Asians, and their descendants had been erased from British history.Stretching back to the Roman conquest, encompassing the court of Henry VIII, and following a host of characters from the pioneering nurse and war hero Mary Seacole to the abolitionist Olaudah Equiano, Peter Fryer paints a picture of two thousand years of black presence in Britain. By rewriting black Britons into British history, showing where they influenced political traditions, social institutions, and cultural life, Chapters include:*'Those Kinde of People'*Britain's Slave Ports*The Black Community Takes Shape*Eighteenth-Century Voices*Slavery and the Law*The Rise of English Racism*Up from Slavery*Challenges to Empire*Under Attack*The Settlers*The New GenerationAs Fryer writes in his preface, This however, though peopled to a large extent by Africans, West Indians, Afro-Americans, and Asians, is a history of the black presence in Britain. And it is written, not just for black or just for white readers, but for all who have a serious interest in the subject.Staying Power presents a radical challenge to racist and nationalist agendas. This edition includes a new foreword by Gary Younge examining the book's continued significance in shaping black British identity today, alongside the now-classic introduction by Paul Gilroy.