Empire, Episode 320: "Photos That Shook The World: Exposing Leopold in The Congo"

Podcast by Goalhanger | Hosts: William Dalrymple & Anita Anand | Release Date: December 30, 2025

Overview

In this gripping episode of Empire, William Dalrymple and Anita Anand turn their historical lens to the story of Alice Seeley Harris, a pioneering photographer and missionary whose shocking images of atrocities in the Belgian Congo changed the course of history. The hosts delve into Harris's life, her determination to document abuses under King Leopold II’s rule, and the immense impact her photographs had on public opinion and imperial policy—all while highlighting the erasure of women from historical narratives.

Main Topics & Key Discussion Points

1. Alice Seeley Harris: The Forgotten Photographer

• Introduction to Alice: Despite her world-changing impact, Harris is almost unknown. Anita is excited to share a “woman who took on a European king and won” ([02:31]).
• Erasure of Women: The discussion opens with Anita’s recurring frustration at how women like Harris are historically sidelined:

  “So many extraordinary women in history just fall comprehensively through the cracks.” – Anita Anand ([03:18])

2. Early Life and Motivation

• Background: Born 1870 in Malmesbury, UK; modest Baptist upbringing.

  “If you look at early pictures of Alice, she does look like the nerdy girl…serious minded.” – Anita Anand ([05:47])

• Missionary Drive: Persistent desire to serve as a missionary in Africa, facing years of rejection for being “a flimsy thing” and a woman ([08:15]).
• Marriage for Opportunity: Marries John Hobbis Harris in order to finally receive missionary approval ([08:36]).

3. Arrival in the Congo and First Encounters

• Congo Free State Context: Under King Leopold II's brutal private rule, deeply propagandized as a model “free state” ([10:00]).
• Early Work: Arrives in Congo in 1897; initial role as a classic missionary teaching local children ([11:09]).
• A Life-Changing Event:
  • A Congolese man, Nisala, brings Alice a bundle containing his daughter’s severed hand and foot—punishment for failing rubber quotas ([13:18]).
  • Harris takes a photograph that “will define the rest of her life” ([17:07]).

4. The Power and Innovation of Photography

• The Kodak Box Brownie:
  • The technology: Portable, cheap ($1), democratized photography for the masses.
  • Its revolutionary role in photojournalism:

    “It looks like the kind of news and war reportage you’d see… could be 1970s Don McCullin.” – William Dalrymple ([17:04])

• Strategy: Harris and her husband document atrocities clandestinely; risk their lives against armed overseers ([22:45], [31:20]).

5. The Atrocity Economy & Rubber Boom

• Rubber Demand: John Boyd Dunlop’s invention of the pneumatic tire creates a global rubber boom, fuelling the Congo’s exploitation ([25:52]).
• Corporate Brutality:
  • The Anglo Belgian India Rubber (Abir) Company’s crimes: torture, hostage-taking, rape, village-burning, and family mutilation.
  • King Leopold profits atop a pyramid of horror ([28:35]).

6. The Campaign to Expose the Truth

• Smuggling Evidence: Photos are hidden in glass plates, concealed with innocuous images, and shipped to the UK ([38:15]).
• Public Awareness: Harris’s images are disseminated through media, talks, and the Congo Reform Association—spreading “quiet horror” across the world ([39:45]).
• Notable Allies: Irish consul Roger Casement; Parliament testimony; collaboration with E.D. Morel’s reform movement ([40:08]).

7. Results and Legacy

• Change in Policy: International outcry forces Leopold to cede control of the Congo to the Belgian government in 1908 ([41:30]).
• Human Cost: Modern estimates of deaths under Leopold range from 1 to 15 million, converging around 10 million ([41:50]).
• Unequal Recognition:
  • John Harris becomes an MP and is knighted; Alice receives "sod all" ([42:12]).
  • “Whenever they refer to her as Lady Harris she says, don’t call me lady.” – Anita Anand ([42:42])
• Family Memory: Even Alice's descendants overlooked her role until Mark Twain’s King Leopold’s Soliloquy sparked further investigation ([44:27]).

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On the White Savior Photograph:

  “She is at the top of a great sort of mountain of people… she is the only white person… the only person wearing clothes at all because everyone else is sort of naked as far as one can see.” – William Dalrymple ([11:09])

• The Image That Changed Everything:

  “Out fell two tiny pieces of human anatomy. A tiny child’s foot and a tiny hand. I mean, just imagine that, Willy.” – Anita Anand ([13:18])

• On Camera’s Power:

  “Only the Kodak camera could not be bribed as a witness.” – Mark Twain, via Anita Anand ([43:27])

• Photo-Driven Reform:

  “It’s the photographs that make a difference.” – William Dalrymple ([40:36])
  “Alice is going to gather evidence of these terrible atrocities that are carrying on around her in the name of commerce… This is now her vocation.” – Anita Anand ([17:07])

Key Segments & Timestamps

| Time | Segment & Content Summary | |------|--------------------------| | 01:49 | [Content Warning & Opening] – Anita warns of graphic content. | | 02:21 | [Intro to Alice Seeley Harris] – Alice’s obscured legacy. | | 05:47 | [Early Life and Character] – “She looks like a quintessential librarian.” | | 08:34 | [Permission via Marriage] – Seven years to finally go to the Congo. | | 11:09 | [Photograph Description] – “A great sort of mountain of people…” | | 13:18 | [Nisala’s Trauma & The First Photo] – Severed child’s foot and hand. | | 15:44 | [Describing the Iconic Photo] – Raw, silent horror. | | 17:07 | [Turning Point] – Alice’s mission becomes gathering evidence. | | 20:13 | [Return: The Brownie Camera’s Role] – Tech revolution and moral impact. | | 25:52 | [Rubber Boom] – Why rubber made the Congo so lucrative and cruel. | | 29:54 | [Abir Company’s Brutality] – Description of the worst abuses. | | 31:20 | [Threats & Surveillance] – Photo evidence means danger for all. | | 33:19 | [The Iconography of Atrocity] – Mutilated children, artistic choices for maximum impact. | | 35:41 | [Chain Gangs & Slavery] – Staged photos evoke horror and drive reform. | | 37:01 | [Congo Commission of Inquiry] – Smuggling out glass plates for Western scrutiny. | | 40:36 | [Partnering with Roger Casement] – The broader movement for Congo reform. | | 41:30 | [Results: Leopold Forced Out] – Impact of Harris’s campaign. | | 42:12 | [Recognition Injustice] – John knighted, Alice overlooked. | | 43:27 | [Mark Twain’s Tribute] – The unbribable camera. | | 44:27 | [Family Remembrance] – Alice’s memory in her own family. |

Tone, Language & Style

• Dynamic and Engaged: Anita is passionate, personal, and at times outraged; William provides context, reflection, and occasional wry humor.
• Accessible Analysis: The episode alternates between personal storytelling, historical context, and detailed analysis of photographs, maintaining a conversational—yet deeply informed—tone.
• Emotional and Graphic: Hosts do not shy away from the emotional impact of Harris’s work or the horrors she documented.

Final Thoughts

This episode shines a vital spotlight on the role of photography in exposing imperial abuses and changing history, as well as the tendency for women’s credits to be lost in the background. Through Alice Seeley Harris’s lens, the suffering and resilience of the Congolese becomes unignorable—her Brownie camera as important a weapon as any.

Memorable Quote:

“Only the Kodak camera could not be bribed as a witness.”
— (Mark Twain, via Anita Anand, [43:27])

For more stories on empire, photography, and the women who changed history, the hosts tease a future dive into Julia Margaret Cameron and urge listeners to explore their back catalog—and consider joining the Empire Club for early access and more.