Black communities in Britain, 1600s

[janewilliams20]

This may give some insight into why the "race problem" is rather different in our two countries

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18903391

Comments

[otana]

I'm finding the wording of "race problem" is rubbing me the wrong way.

Glad it wasn't just me.

[blessedrelease]

"There were always free people of African descent in pre-Civil War America, of course mostly in the North. But they were always there."

Yes, but the fact that you could legally enslave them, have them as your property, tends to change the way you think. And you couldn't intermarry, which makes a big difference.

[janewilliams20]

Also, I'm a little surprised by the word "always". SA far as I know, they only came to Britain with the Romans, and 2000 years is nowhere near "always". How did they get to the USA even earlier?

[sollersuk]

they only came to Britain with the Romans

e.g. the Emperor Septimius Severus

[dustyfro]

By "everyone else" you mean white people? On their own ships? From Africa?

[blessedrelease]

I was talking about the fact that someone could be property would change how you thought about them.

Also, the article in question. Talked about inter racial marriages, which is why I mentioned it.

[tisiphone]

It's not actually true that you could enslave a free black person in most states - once free, they retained their freedom, and there were legal categories of free black people in all US states. There were also states like New York, where the assumption (after the 1810s sometime) was that all black people were free. Also, anti-miscegenation laws existed only in some states, and those were passed a significant time after settlement - the first such laws were passed in the 1660s, and not all states had them. The legal and social position of African Americans in the 17th through 19th centuries in the US was highly varied, and I don't think it's correct to say that it was unanimously opposed to that of Britain.