“Am I Not a Man and a Brother?”
(wording on a medallion created by Josiah Wedgwood in 1787 as part of the anti-slavery campaign)
In April 1865, Abraham Lincoln visited Richmond, the fallen capital of the Confederacy. He wanted to enjoy the moment by sitting in the chair previously used by Jefferson Davis, the defeated leader of the southern States. He was greeted by thousand of freed slaves. One freed slave fell to his knees before Lincoln and this scene was used to model the statue of Lincoln unveiled in Washington eleven years later.
However, in light of modern attitudes does this statue reflect and even promote white supremacy? Does it suggest people of colour did nothing to achieve their freedom and had to wait until a white man came along? Perhaps now should be the time to remove it to a museum and a more relevant statue erected.
Running through the grounds of the University of Toronto is a Russell Street. It was named for Peter Russell, appointed as administrator of the colony of Upper Canada in 1796. He had a reputation as a gambler, anti-abolitionist and slave owner. He was often in debt and spent time in jail as a result. Records show he put a black woman named Peggy and her 15-year-old son Jupiter up for sale for no recorded reason.
The street name will shortly be changed to Franklin to celebrate the work of the distinguished scientist Dr Ursula Franklin.
That is not the end of Toronto street names associated with slave owners and anti-abolitionists. One of its most famous is Dundas Street, which runs east-west for many a mile through the city centre, named after Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville. Dundas Square is the heart of the downtown area. However, Dundas delayed, watered down and frustrated legislation to abolish slavery passing through the British Parliament.
While debate rages in Toronto on whether to remove street names and other commemorations of known slave owners and anti-abolitionists, the names of Dundas, Russell and others appear all over countries of the former Empire and in Great Britain itself. There is a Dundas Street in Bristol and London and a huge statue to him in Edinburgh, which also has another Dundas Street.
This all feeds into an interesting debate. Should street names and statues celebrating people, who by the standards of today would have got nowhere near public office, be removed or left as they are? Does their continued existence just glorify and honour the unacceptable? Alternatively, who these days has heard of Dundas, Russell and the others? The street names and statues, for good or bad, are part of the history of our towns and cities and should just be left alone.
There is a risk of a culture war breaking out – something Trump is trying to engineer with claims the leaders of the Confederacy should be valued and commemorated as much as the leaders of the victorious Union. Even Boris Johnson has hinted at this when he issued a series of tweets calling on his followers to protect the statue of Winston Churchill in Parliament Square when evidence of it being under threat are difficult to find. Protecting some statues and street names hints heavily at a white supremacy agenda.
In Britain, in particular, there is a risk that street names and statues are seen as symbols of past glories and of strength abroad and prosperity at home. This is, of course, a time that never existed.
The past was not all that great if you were poor, uneducated or homeless. It was particularly not great if you were, say, brown, black, Jewish, Muslim, a woman or an immigrant. It was probably not a barrel of laughs if you had been pressganged into Nelson’s Navy and found yourself at the Battle of Trafalgar. Working in any form of Victorian mill or factory was probably a death sentence.
Britain’s towns and cities are littered with statues to long forgotten military leaders and streets named after colonial wars. If you take a tour of plinths in Waterloo Place and Trafalgar Square in London, you could ask yourself what is the relevance today of the military figures celebrated? Should we really be celebrating Sir John Franklin who lost two ships plus their crews while searching for the North West Passage? I use the word celebrate advisedly as he was pretty incompetent, although subsequently turned into a Victorian hero.
I would suggest now is the time for a recalibration. The Black Lives Matter Movement and, somewhat ironically, the Pandemic gives us an opportunity to take stock and come to the conclusion that our street names and statues should be given over to those many men, and particularly women, who have helped create what is good about modern times. Those that have left a lasting legacy that will improve lives for decades to come and are more likely to be known to young people today than Franklin, Major-General Sir Henry Havelock, General Sir Charles James Napier, Colin Campbell - Lord Clyde, Field Marshall J. F. Burgoyne or Clive of India.
So perhaps we should have more Alan Turing Streets or Tim Berners-Lee Roads. Statues and streets for Jane Goodall, Mary Beard, Muriel Spark, Beryl Bainbridge, Judy Dench, Zadie Smith etc perhaps. Any proposal to name a road after Simon Schama would have my full support. There are plenty of names to pick from the list of authors, actors, musicians, scientists, inventors etc who have made a difference and are relevant today. The business leaders, particularly those who broke through the glass ceiling, and the politicians that pioneered equality and minority rights legislation that has made a big difference to so many lives.
The recent BBC black history series, highlighting the contribution people of colour have made to creating the Britain of today, presented several names well worthy of celebrating. How about a statue or street name for Olaudah Equiano who campaigned and wrote against the slave trade in the 18th century or Dadabhai Naoroji, the first minority-ethnic MP, elected to represent Finsbury Central in 1892. Don’t they have more relevance to today than a long forgotten General or Field Marshall?
We are past a time when personal greatness should only be measured by how big an army you led or what countries you subdued.
This is an opportunity for renewal. So, let us celebrate those relevant to our lives today and move on.
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