‘Slave Emancipation; Or, John Bull Gulled Out Of Twenty Millions’

We begin this week with the launch of University College London’s new research database on the legacy of British slaveholding. The UCL project, introduced by Catherine Hall in a lecture on Wednesday, allows website visitors to search for individual Britons who received part of the £20 million in compensation devoted to slaveholders in the 1833 emancipation act. The database has gotten some good coverage in the British press, with the Independent eagerly reporting the lurid and stunning news about “Britain’s colonial shame.” There also seems to be some interest in the finding that the ancestors of George Orwell, Graham Greene, and David Cameron, among others, received compensation for the emancipated slaves. Continue reading →

Alright folks, it’s time for another roundup of links from the past seven days. New England is finally dethawing from Nemo, Valentines Day was celebrated, the Dunk Contest was held, and spring is only a month away, so I’d say things are looking up.

The newest issue of Journal of American History is now available online, so your bedside reading for the next week is ready. Make sure to read Nathalie Caron and Naomi Wulf’s thoughtful “American Enlightenments: Continuity and Renewal,” as well as our own Joseph Adelman’s overview of some important new online resources.

Over at the excellent U.S. Intellectual History Blog, there was a vibrant debate over the boundaries of the field. Nils Gilman offered a pretty rigid “qualitative” analysis of “text-based” interpretation, and Edward J. Blum offered a thoughtful response. Sparks flew both on the blog and in an explosive discussion on Twitter, Storified by our own Michael Hattem.  Continue reading →