Home / Series / BBC Documentaries / Aired Order / Season 2024 / Episode 111

David Olusoga Remembers... Britain's Forgotten Slave Owners

Historian, author and presenter David Olusoga looks back on how his 2015 documentary Britain's Forgotten Slave Owners helped shine a light on the extent of Britain's involvement in the slave trade and the repercussions that has had on our country right up to modern day. David looks at how research undertaken by a team at University College London revealed the true extent of the number of people in Britain who owned enslaved people, and how it was actually far more widespread than anyone had previously realised. He also emphasises that many people were unaware that the compensation paid at the end of slavery was not to the slaves themselves, but to their owners. David discusses how the documentary acted as a precursor to the toppling of statues of slave owners around the UK and how it helped facilitate a wider dialogue about how we should look more critically and openly as a nation at our past in order to move forward.

English
  • Originally Aired July 16, 2024
  • Runtime 14 minutes
  • Production Code m00216cd
  • Network Great Britain BBC Four
  • On Other Sites Official Website
  • Created July 18, 2024 by
    MisterMaker
  • Modified July 18, 2024 by
    MisterMaker