Today was a bit of a late start, which was refreshing! We walked over to BCU and met Marcia, who was a part of the Black Heritage Walk Network, and spent her time talking to us about the history of enslavement in Birmingham and just the overall history regarding the black population in Birmingham.
A couple of things she talked about that stood out to me were the Manilla Bands, which were used as a type of currency for the slave trade. Different types of guns were made for each country, and some were purposely built badly so that they could receive more slaves. This was counterfeit behavior from these people as they were just trying to get as many slaves as possible. We also learned about the British Empire and how, even though the empire has been gone, there is still something similar with the presence of the Commonwealth. Another really important point Marcia brought up was that the presence of enslavement is still apparent today. For a consumer to buy fruit and veggies for a small amount of money, you have to think about the workers behind the scenes putting in work to process and harvest all this fresh produce, and how long it really takes for them to be in the stores we buy them from. It opened my eyes to really understand the process behind getting those groceries into our hands.
A little later, Nurse Joan came in to talk to us about her journey as a “Windrush” immigrant. The Windrush migration was when people from the Caribbean/West Indies arrived in the UK after World War II. She talked about the discrimination these people felt and how hard it was to build a life in the UK when they first arrived. We learned about the Windrush scandal as well, which prevented a lot of Windrush immigrants from gaining access to healthcare and other services because they were not given the citizenship documents they were supposed to have received. Every time Nurse Joan said something, she was so powerful with her words and really gave us insight into what she experienced and the discrimination her own children even experienced when in school.
After Lunch, Marcia took us on a black history walking tour around Birmingham. The first major stop we learned about was the statue honoring Joseph Sturge, who was a big campaigner for abolishing slavery and helped establish free living villages for freed slaves called “Sturge Towns.” The big thing I noticed when looking at the statue was the lack of cleanliness and maintenance. The statues were originally supposed to be white, but they are all now covered in dust and grime, which shows that the history representing freedom is very overlooked and not deemed as important. The next big statue we saw was the “Golden Boys,” which refers to Matthew Boulton, James Watt, and William Murdoch. They all played such a big role in the industrial part of Birmingham but also played a significant role in the enslavement of African Americans. You can see that this statue is kept really well-maintained and shiny, even though they played a big part in using slaves as workers for their industrial efforts. Another cool thing I noticed today was when we went to the art museum, I came across some coins made by the Soho Mint Company, established by Matthew Boulton. I actually saw a coin from Sri Lanka, which is where my parents are from! The coin had an elephant on it, and it was really cool to be able to see the first coins that were made for different countries.
We ended off with a dinner at Jamaya, which was a Jamaican restaurant, and got some yummy food! Today was another informative and exciting day, and I can’t wait for Oxford tomorrow!
