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Historian and Broadcaster David Olusoga

2016

Black Cultural Archives

Black Cultural Archives
London, United Kingdom

David Olusoga is the presenter of the BBC History series Black and British: A Forgotten History(2016). The series is part of a wider Black and British season of programming on the BBC exploring the rich culture and history of black Britain.
He's shown here at Queen’s Dock, Liverpool, England, standing next to a plaque marking the death of Bermudan sailor Charles Wotten in 1919.
It was created by BBC History and is one of twenty placed around the world for the series Black and British :A Forgotten History.
There had been a black community in Liverpool since the 1700s, largely due to shipping and the slave trade. During World War I, labour shortages swelled the black population from 3,000 to around 5,000. But the war’s end exposed deep lying racial tensions that would threaten the community’s existence.
On the night of the 5th of June 1919 racial tensions in the city exploded following a fight between local black people and Scandinavian sailors at a pub.
When the police arrived at the scene they decided to arrest the black men. They went around the corner from the pub to Upper Pitt Street, here there were a number of hostels and boarding houses used by the black community. But by this point a mob, several hundred strong, had gathered.
In Number 18 Upper Pitt Street a young, Bermudan sailor was staying. His name was Charles Wotten and when the police tried to force the door to his boarding house he escaped out the back, but he was quickly spotted.
Charles Wotten was pursued all the way down to the Queen’s Dock. At one point it seems that the police managed to get hold of him and then the mob seized him back. The crowd pelted him with missiles and Charles ended up in the water and drowned.
Over the next three days, widespread rioting aimed at the black community took hold.

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