Slavery
Letters: the real problem with a Labour super-majority
Good trade-off Sir: I applaud your excellent editorial (‘Trading in Falsehoods’, 6 April) – a succinct and insightful essay on…
New light on the New Testament
Candida Moss reveals that many New Testament texts, including St Mark’s Gospel, were penned by enslaved scribes who became influential interpreters of Christian scripture
Ghosts of the KKK still haunt American politics
The extreme savagery of the ‘white knights’ may be a thing of the past, but echoes of the Klan were all over the shameful Capitol attack of 2021, says Kristofer Allerfeldt
The popularity of ‘Amazing Grace’ owes much to its melody
The song has evolved from Christian hymn to secular anthem for humankind. But the powerful tune we know today was not its original one
The hell of the antebellum South: Let Us Descend, by Jesmyn Ward, reviewed
Teenage Annis and her enslaved mother endure beatings and rape as they are marched in chains to New Orleans to be sold to the latest brutal plantation owner
Wallowing in misery: Tremor, by Teju Cole, reviewed
An introspective art lecturer immerses himself in the history of slavery – and fears he has grown addicted to screen depictions of extreme brutality
Public lies and secret truths
Smith’s sweeping historical novel spans slavery in Jamaica in the 1770s and the marathon trials of the Tichborne Claimant in London a century later
Our great art institutions have reduced British history to a scrapheap of shame
Calvin Po laments the pious distortions of history at two of Britain’s best-known galleries
From revolutionary Paris to the moon
Thirlwell’s protagonist Celine flees malicious gossip in revolutionary France to ponder on sisterly solidarity, patriarchal violence, motherhood, colonialism and slavery
Black Britons betrayed
Racism in Britain may be less acute than in America or even France, but the false promises made to the Windrush generation have left a bitter aftermath
Heritable guilt is in vogue
I made a poor excuse for a Presbyterian even as a kid. I resented religious indoctrination every precious school-free Sunday.…
Stop tearing down controversial statues, says British-Guyanan artist Hew Locke
Rather than tearing statues down, Hew Locke believes in reworking them to highlight their place in our imperial history. Stuart Jeffries speaks to him
It’s a miracle this exhibition even exists: Audubon’s Birds of America reviewed
In 2014, an exhibition of watercolours by the renowned avian artist, John James Audubon, opened in New York. The reviews,…
Tsunami of piffle: Rockets and Blue Lights at the Dorfman Theatre reviewed
Deep breath. Here goes. Winsome Pinnock’s new play about Turner opens with one of the most confusing and illogical scenes…
Quietly radiates a wholly justified confidence: BBC 1’s The Pact reviewed
There was certainly no lack of variety among new TV dramas this week, with a standard British thriller up against…
The distortion of British history
The British Museum has announced the appointment of a curator to study the history of its own collections. On the…
The National Trust’s shameful manifesto
The National Trust has brought out its ‘Interim Report’, with the clumsy title ‘Addressing our histories of colonialism and historic…
Should Kamala Harris pay reparations?
What do Stokely Carmichael, Harry Belafonte, Colin Powell, Sidney Poitier and Busta Rhymes have in common? And how are Beyoncé,…
Italy owes Wales reparations for the wrongs of the Roman Empire
There’s talk of reparations in the air. Lobbyists from around the world are demanding sin-payments from former colonial powers. Let…
Europe's eye-popping first glimpse of the Americas
The earliest depictions of the Americas were eye-popping, and shaped European art, says Laura Gascoigne
Fear and loathing in Jamaica: Caribbean slaves turn the whip on their masters
In the shadows of the British Enlightenment lurked the Caribbean sugar plantations. Masters routinely raped their slaves, punished minor wrongdoings…
Anglo-Saxons deserve reparations for the Norman Conquest
Restorative justice for the victims of colonialism is an idea whose time has come. A few years ago, the Indian…
Nyong’o is spellbinding but the plot is ultimately baffling: Us reviewed
Us is a second feature from Jordan Peele after his marvellous debut Get Out, which was more brilliantly satirical than…
Whatever America is searching for, Trump isn’t providing it
Donald J. Trump has sparked some soul- searching among US historians: has this happened before? Does it mean America has…
