Black elite

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The term 'Black elite' refers to elites within Black communities that are either political, economic, intellectual or cultural in nature. These are typically distinct from other national elites in the Western world, such as the United Kingdom's aristocracy and the United States' upper class.

Contents

United Kingdom

Francis Williams, an Afro-Caribbean British scholar and poet. A member of a property-owning Afro-Jamaican family, he took British citizenship in 1723. Francis williams.jpg
Francis Williams, an Afro-Caribbean British scholar and poet. A member of a property-owning Afro-Jamaican family, he took British citizenship in 1723.
The Nigerian British actor David Oyelowo has had a successful career in both Britain and the United States, where he has also taken U.S. citizenship. He was born into a royal family of the Nigerian chieftaincy system. David Oyelowo Golden Globes.jpg
The Nigerian British actor David Oyelowo has had a successful career in both Britain and the United States, where he has also taken U.S. citizenship. He was born into a royal family of the Nigerian chieftaincy system.
The model Adwoa Aboah is a Ghanaian British descendant of the Lowthers of Lowther Castle, Earls of Lonsdale. Her earliest Lowther ancestor served as Lord Warden of the March of Western England in the 16th century. Adwoa Aboah Big Sister Episode 2.jpg
The model Adwoa Aboah is a Ghanaian British descendant of the Lowthers of Lowther Castle, Earls of Lonsdale. Her earliest Lowther ancestor served as Lord Warden of the March of Western England in the 16th century.

In the United Kingdom, the Black community has largely consisted of immigrants and their descendants whose residency in the country dates from either the time of the old British Empire or that of the new Commonwealth. Persons classified as being of African descent have nevertheless been a recognizable component of British society since at least the Elizabethan period. [1] Some individuals of African or partial African descent were introduced to elite levels of society in the 18th and 19th centuries, such as Dido Elizabeth Belle, the mixed-race child of a British colonial aristocrat, [2] Martha Grey, Countess of Stamford, the South African wife of the 8th Earl of Stamford, [3] and Sara Forbes Bonetta, the West African adopted goddaughter of Queen Victoria. [4] Others attained political and social prominence, such as Olaudah Equiano, a freed African slave who became a campaigner for the abolition of slavery in the Empire, [5] and Mary Seacole, a heroine of the Crimean War. [6] In the first half of the 20th century the Trinidadian Learie Constantine became a professional cricketer in the Lancashire League and contributed to the campaign for racial equality in Britain. [7]

In the latter 20th and 21st centuries elites have developed within the Black British community, with the rise of Black and mixed-race national leaders such as Paul Boateng, [8] [9] and the success of numerous Black and mixed-race persons in specialized industries, such as the arts (for example, Lenny Henry). [10]

Today, Britain's Black and mixed-race people are included in the annual Powerlist —a ranking of the nation's most prominent people of color. [11] A number of them, such as Boateng and Henry, have been made peers and/or knights of the realm. There is also a small community of British aristocrats that are of partially Black descent. Emma Thynn (née McQuiston), the Marchioness of Bath as the wife of the 8th Marquess, and Lady Naomi Gordon-Lennox, the adopted daughter of the 10th Duke of Richmond, belong to this sub-group. [12] Other notable members are Prince Archie of Sussex and Princess Lilibet of Sussex, the mixed-race children of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

United States

A chief of the Crow Nation, James Beckwourth was the son of an American planter and his enslaved African-American mistress. He is regarded as the most important Black mountain man in the history of the Old West. James Beckwourth.jpg
A chief of the Crow Nation, James Beckwourth was the son of an American planter and his enslaved African-American mistress. He is regarded as the most important Black mountain man in the history of the Old West.
Writer and social activist Langston Hughes was one of the leading lights of the Harlem Renaissance. His family, the Langstons, were prominent free Blacks. Langston Hughes by Carl Van Vechten 1936.jpg
Writer and social activist Langston Hughes was one of the leading lights of the Harlem Renaissance. His family, the Langstons, were prominent free Blacks.
Tennis champion Arthur Ashe, also an AIDS activist, became a member of the African-American upper class. His direct line of descent in the United States could be traced to 1735. Arthur Ashe (cropped).jpg
Tennis champion Arthur Ashe, also an AIDS activist, became a member of the African-American upper class. His direct line of descent in the United States could be traced to 1735.

In the North of the United States, many educated Black people (taking advantage of their relative freedom) [13] took part in abolitionist and suffragist activities. They also provided support to stations of the Underground Railroad prior to the abolition of slavery. Later, during the Reconstruction Era, a number of them took part in various professions and grew quite wealthy in places including Brooklyn. [14]

In the South, an elite started forming before the American Civil War among free Black people who managed to acquire property. Of the free people of color in North Carolina in the censuses from 1790 to 1810, 80 percent can be traced to African Americans free in Virginia during the colonial period. Most were descended from unions between free white women and enslaved or free Africans or African Americans. Free Black people migrated into frontier Virginia and then to other states over several generations in the colonial period, as did many of their neighbors. Extensive research into colonial court records, wills and deeds has demonstrated that most of those free families came from relationships or marriages between white women, servant or free, and Black men, servant, free or slave. Such relationships were part of the more fluid relationships among the working class before the boundaries of slavery hardened. [15]

During slavery times, white slaveholders and others were known to rape enslaved African women, fathering mixed-race children. There were also slaveholders who had caring relationships, common-law marriages, and legal marriages to enslaved Black women. They sometimes freed such women and their children. Some slaveholders did provide for their mixed-race children by ensuring they were educated; in the earliest periods, they might be apprenticed to a trade or craft. In some cases, fathers arranged to settle property on their "natural" children. Whatever property the father passed on to the child was important in helping that person get a start in life. These mulattos in turn patterned their subsequent lives after "polite" white society. In some places, such as New Orleans, this coalesced into what was known as Plaçage . [16] [17]

In the South, the free Black elite often took leadership roles within the church, Black schools, and community. Natural leaders rose up from many different classes. Some developed catering businesses or other services that enabled them to take advantage of their white contacts through family and other connections. The Black elite also enjoyed the benefits of living within the white neighborhoods, which further isolated them from the darker-skinned African Americans and which caused many of them to blame them for the downward shifts in life-style choices. [18] Some lighter skinned Black people even passed for white, and were assimilated into white society thereafter. [19]

The Civil Rights Movement and affirmative action brought about many changes for the Black elite. As the old elite died away, a new Black elite emerged. Within its ranks are politicians, entrepreneurs, actors, singers, sports figures, and many more who are otherwise part of America's wider upper-middle class. The political leaders Barack Obama and Kamala Harris are prominent members of this new elite. [20]

Other examples

The trader and community leader Mohammed Shitta Bey. A chief in the Nigerian chieftaincy system, he was created a bey in the nobility of Ottoman Turkey in the year before his death. Mohammed Shitta Bey Portrait.jpg
The trader and community leader Mohammed Shitta Bey. A chief in the Nigerian chieftaincy system, he was created a bey in the nobility of Ottoman Turkey in the year before his death.
Angelica Larrea, consort to Julio Pinedo, King of the Afro-Bolivians. The Afro-Bolivian monarch claims direct descent from medieval royals of the West and Central African regions. Angelica Larrea.png
Angélica Larrea, consort to Julio Pinedo, King of the Afro-Bolivians. The Afro-Bolivian monarch claims direct descent from medieval royals of the West and Central African regions.
The philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah - a chief in the Ghanaian chieftaincy system - is also connected to the upper classes of the Western world: His direct line of descent can be traced back to the Norman monarchs of medieval England. Kwame Anthony Appiah.jpg
The philosopher Kwame Anthony Appiah – a chief in the Ghanaian chieftaincy system – is also connected to the upper classes of the Western world: His direct line of descent can be traced back to the Norman monarchs of medieval England.

In addition to those already cited, groups from around the world that either are or once were generally thought to constitute a Black elite include:

See also

Related Research Articles

Mulatto is a racial classification that refers to people of mixed African and European ancestry only, beginning in the United States of America. Its use is considered to be outdated and offensive in America but not in other Anglophone countries and languages, such as British, Caribbean or West Indian countries or Dutch, It does not have the same associations in languages such as Spanish and Portuguese. Among Latin Americans in the US, for instance, the term can be a source of pride. A mulatta is a female mulatto.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Free people of color</span> Persons of partial African and European descent who were not enslaved

In the context of the history of slavery in the Americas, free people of color were primarily people of mixed African, European, and Native American descent who were not enslaved. However, the term also applied to people born free who were primarily of black African descent with little mixture. They were a distinct group of free people of color in the French colonies, including Louisiana and in settlements on Caribbean islands, such as Saint-Domingue (Haiti), St. Lucia, Dominica, Guadeloupe, and Martinique. In these territories and major cities, particularly New Orleans, and those cities held by the Spanish, a substantial third class of primarily mixed-race, free people developed. These colonial societies classified mixed-race people in a variety of ways, generally related to visible features and to the proportion of African ancestry. Racial classifications were numerous in Latin America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Free Negro</span> Emancipated people of color

In the British colonies in North America and in the United States before the abolition of slavery in 1865, free Negro or free Black described the legal status of African Americans who were not enslaved. The term was applied both to formerly enslaved people (freedmen) and to those who had been born free, whether of African or mixed descent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vincent Ogé</span> Haitian-born revolutionary, merchant, military officer and goldsmith (1755–1764)

Vincent Ogé was a Creole revolutionary, merchant, military officer and goldsmith who had a leading role in a failed uprising against French colonial rule in the colony of Saint-Domingue in 1790. A mixed-race member of the colonial elite, Ogé's revolt occurred just before the Haitian Revolution, which resulted in the colony's independence from France, and left a contested legacy in post-independence Haiti.

In societies that regard some races or ethnic groups of people as dominant or superior and others as subordinate or inferior, hypodescent refers to the automatic assignment of children of a mixed union to the subordinate group. The opposite practice is hyperdescent, in which children are assigned to the race that is considered dominant or superior.

The tragic mulatto is a stereotypical fictional character that appeared in American literature during the 19th and 20th centuries, starting in 1837. The "tragic mulatto" is a stereotypical mixed-race person, who is assumed to be depressed, or even suicidal, because they fail to completely fit into the "white world" or the "black world". As such, the "tragic mulatto" is depicted as the victim of the society that is divided by race, where there is no place for one who is neither completely "black" nor "white".

Plaçage was a recognized extralegal system in French and Spanish slave colonies of North America by which ethnic European men entered into civil unions with non-Europeans of African, Native American and mixed-race descent. The term comes from the French placer meaning "to place with". The women were not legally recognized as wives but were known as placées; their relationships were recognized among the free people of color as mariages de la main gauche or left-handed marriages. They became institutionalized with contracts or negotiations that settled property on the woman and her children and, in some cases, gave them freedom if they were enslaved. The system flourished throughout the French and Spanish colonial periods, reaching its zenith during the latter, between 1769 and 1803.

<i>Partus sequitur ventrem</i> Former legal doctrine of slavery by birth

Partus sequitur ventrem was a legal doctrine passed in colonial Virginia in 1662 and other English crown colonies in the Americas which defined the legal status of children born there; the doctrine mandated that children of enslaved mothers would inherit the legal status of their mothers. As such, children of enslaved women would be born into slavery. The legal doctrine of partus sequitur ventrem was derived from Roman civil law, specifically the portions concerning slavery and personal property (chattels), as well as the common law of personal property; analogous legislation existed in other civilizations including Medieval Egypt in Africa and Korea in Asia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of slavery in Kentucky</span>

The history of slavery in Kentucky dates from the earliest permanent European settlements in the state, until the end of the Civil War. In 1830, enslaved African Americans represented 24 percent of Kentucky's population, a share that declined to 19.5 percent by 1860, on the eve of the Civil War. Most enslaved people were concentrated in the cities of Louisville and Lexington and in the hemp- and tobacco-producing Bluegrass Region and Jackson Purchase. Other enslaved people lived in the Ohio River counties, where they were most often used in skilled trades or as house servants. Relatively few people were held in slavery in the mountainous regions of eastern and southeastern Kentucky, where they served primarily as artisans and service workers in towns.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slavery in Brazil</span>

Slavery in Brazil began long before the first Portuguese settlement. Later, colonists were heavily dependent on indigenous labor during the initial phases of settlement to maintain the subsistence economy, and natives were often captured by expeditions of bandeirantes. The importation of African slaves began midway through the 16th century, but the enslavement of indigenous peoples continued well into the 17th and 18th centuries. Europeans and Chinese were also enslaved.

Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, owned more than 600 slaves during his adult life. Jefferson freed two slaves while he lived, and five others were freed after his death, including two of his children from his relationship with his slave Sally Hemings. His other two children with Hemings were allowed to escape without pursuit. After his death, the rest of the slaves were sold to pay off his estate's debts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1842 Slave Revolt in the Cherokee Nation</span>

The 1842 Slave Revolt in the Cherokee Nation was the largest escape of a group of slaves to occur in the Cherokee Nation, in what was then Indian Territory. The slave revolt started on November 15, 1842, when a group of 20 African-Americans enslaved by the Cherokee escaped and tried to reach Mexico, where slavery had been abolished in 1829. Along their way south, they were joined by 15 slaves escaping from the Creek Nation in Indian Territory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of slavery in Maryland</span>

Slavery in Maryland lasted over 200 years, from its beginnings in 1642 when the first Africans were brought as slaves to St. Mary's City, to its end after the Civil War. While Maryland developed similarly to neighboring Virginia, slavery declined in Maryland as an institution earlier, and it had the largest free black population by 1860 of any state. The early settlements and population centers of the province tended to cluster around the rivers and other waterways that empty into the Chesapeake Bay. Maryland planters cultivated tobacco as the chief commodity crop, as the market for cash crops was strong in Europe. Tobacco was labor-intensive in both cultivation and processing, and planters struggled to manage workers as tobacco prices declined in the late 17th century, even as farms became larger and more efficient. At first, indentured servants from England supplied much of the necessary labor but, as England's economy improved, fewer came to the colonies. Maryland colonists turned to importing indentured and enslaved Africans to satisfy the labor demand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Treatment of slaves in the United States</span>

The treatment of slaves in the United States often included sexual abuse and rape, the denial of education, and punishments like whippings. Families were often split up by the sale of one or more members, usually never to see or hear of each other again.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slavery in Cuba</span>

Slavery in Cuba was a portion of the larger Atlantic slave trade that primarily supported Spanish plantation owners engaged in the sugarcane trade. It was practiced on the island of Cuba from the 16th century until it was abolished by Spanish royal decree on October 7, 1886.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of slavery in Florida</span>

Slavery in Florida occurred among indigenous tribes and during Spanish rule. Florida's purchase by the United States from Spain in 1819 was primarily a measure to strengthen the system of slavery on Southern plantations, by denying potential runaways the formerly safe haven of Florida. Florida became a slave state, seceded, and passed laws to exile or enslave free blacks. Even after abolition, forced labor continued.

Colorism in the Caribbean describes discrimination based on skin tone, or colorism, in the Caribbean.

Simon Taylor was a Jamaican-born planter and politician. Taylor was the wealthiest planter on the island, according to its governor, and died leaving an estate estimated at over £1 million, equivalent to £82,417,303 in 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slavery as a positive good in the United States</span> Prevailing view in the Southern US prior to the American Civil War

Slavery as a positive good in the United States was the prevailing view of Southern politicians and intellectuals just before the American Civil War, as opposed to seeing it as a crime against humanity or a necessary evil. They defended the legal enslavement of people for their labor as a benevolent, paternalistic institution with social and economic benefits, an important bulwark of civilization, and a divine institution similar or superior to the free labor in the North.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">African-American slave owners</span> Type of antebellum slave ownership

African American slave owners within the history of the United States existed in some cities and others as plantation owners in the country. During this time, ownership of slaves signified both wealth and increased social status.

References

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  2. "UK director brings 18th century black aristocrat to big screen". france24.com. 30 April 2014. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  3. Karen Williams, "Martha Solomons: The slave’s daughter and Countess of Stamford who made my life possible", Media Diversified, 31 August 2016.
  4. "The African Princess Sarah Forbes Bonetta". blackhistorymonth.org.uk. 14 February 2008. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  5. "Black Abolitionists and the end of the transatlantic slave trade". blackhistorymonth.org.uk. 14 February 2008. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  6. "Mary Seacole". bbc.co.uk. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  7. "Constantine, Sir Learie (1901–1971)". English-heritage.org.uk. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  8. "Paul Boateng". Britannica.com. Retrieved October 11, 2020.
  9. "Black MPs tell of being confused with other politicians". The Guardian . January 12, 2020. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  10. "BAME Screen Test: Does British TV Lack Diversity?". campaignlive.co.uk. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  11. "Meghan Markle and Stormzy named amongst Britain's most influential black people". independent.co.uk. 25 October 2019. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  12. "Britain's first black aristocrats" . Retrieved May 22, 2021.
  13. "Free Negroes and Mulattoes". primaryresearch.org. 16 February 2009. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  14. "'The Gilded Age' explores a rarely seen chapter of Black history". The New York Times . February 14, 2022. Retrieved February 19, 2022.
  15. Paul Heinegg, Free African Americans in Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland and Delaware
  16. Chained to the Rock of Adversity, To Be Free, Black & Female in the Old South, edited by Virginia Meacham Gould, University of Georgia Press, 1998.
  17. "Tripod Mythbusters: Quadroon Balls and Plaçage". wwno.org. Retrieved October 11, 2020.
  18. Graham, Lawrence O. (2000). Our Kind of People: Inside America's Black Upper Class (1st ed.). New York, NY: Harper Perennial. pp. 1–18. ISBN   0-06-018352-7.
  19. "A Chosen Exile:Black people passing in White America". npr.org. Retrieved May 23, 2021.
  20. "America's Black upper class and Black Lives Matter". The Economist. Retrieved May 23, 2021.

Notes

Further reading