History Extra Podcast
Episode: Britain and the Caribbean: from slavery to Black Lives Matter
Date: August 24, 2025
Host: Rob Attar (B)
Guest: Imabong Umaren (A), Associate Professor of International History at LSE
Episode Overview
This episode explores the deep and continuing connections between Britain and the Caribbean, from early colonial encounters in the 16th century through the era of slavery, abolition, post-emancipation, and the afterlives of empire in contemporary Britain and the Caribbean. Drawing on her new book, Empire Without End, historian Imabong Umaren examines the entwined histories of colonialism, race, and resistance, arguing that the legacies of empire—and specifically the racial caste hierarchy it created—persist today. The conversation connects past events to present social issues, including the Black Lives Matter movement, migration, reparations, and current debates about British identity.
Main Discussion Points & Insights
1. Motivation for the Book & Historical Intervention
- Genesis of the book (02:51)
- Umaren started the project due to a combination of her research interests and events surrounding the 2020 Black Lives Matter movement.
- She noticed a gap: “One of the things that I was as a historian kind of wanting the kind of larger media and public audience to know more about was the longer histories of anti, anti black racism in Britain and how deeply interconnected it was with the larger project of empire.” (03:37)
- She sought to connect racism with other intersecting identities, particularly class.
- Importance of historical perspective (04:54)
- The 2020 debates, triggered by the toppling of Edward Colston’s statue, focused on slavery but missed the enduring consequences and evolution of racism after abolition.
2. Deep Historical Roots of British-Caribbean Relations
- Early contacts and race construction (06:17)
- Umaren emphasizes starting in the 16th–17th centuries to track the development of racial concepts and laws, e.g., the Barbados slave code.
- “If we understand the kind of roots and origins of the construction of race, we can see and we can map how it changes over time, ... but also how it stayed the same in many ways.” (06:27)
- The Caribbean’s global influence (07:14)
- Racial ideologies and practices developed in the Caribbean influenced the wider British Empire, the US, and Latin America.
3. Complex Relationship Between Racism and Slavery
- Entwined origins (08:11)
- Early on, both indentured white laborers and enslaved Africans worked on plantations, but as the Caribbean turned to sugar, slavery became racialized.
- Legal frameworks like the 1660 Barbados slave code entrenched racial hierarchies and shaped societal structures.
- Post-abolition, anti-Black racism persisted and even intensified due to economic and policy shifts.
4. Misinterpretation of Abolition and Its Aftermath
- Celebratory but incomplete public narratives (10:10)
- The end of slavery is often depicted as a triumph of white British abolitionists.
- Umaren stresses the crucial but overlooked role of enslaved and formerly enslaved people, e.g., Equiano, in achieving abolition.
- The British paid compensation to slaveholders, not the enslaved, and various coercive labor systems replaced slavery.
- “So, yes, slavery has ended, but white supremacy, racism still exists and as I said, is even more prominent in the 1840s.” (11:39)
5. The Racial Caste Hierarchy
- Explanation and evolution (12:26)
- Hierarchy: Enslaved at the bottom, mixed-race peoples in the middle (some slave owners), white elites at the top.
- Non-static—shaped by tensions, gender, class, religion, and shifts over time.
- “...this hierarchy is undergirded by violence.... this racial caste hierarchy traveled to Britain. It shaped the color bar that existed in Britain, and it broadly shaped anti black racism...” (13:28)
6. Twentieth Century Turning Points: The World Wars & Migration
- World Wars as catalysts (16:31)
- Both wars saw African-Caribbean men seeking equal participation in the Empire, facing persistent racism.
- Post-WWII shifts: Disillusionment with the "Motherland" led to Caribbean nationalism, decolonization, and new British-Caribbean identities.
- Windrush and migration (19:09)
- Many Caribbean arrivals viewed themselves as imperial citizens, not immigrants, but faced exclusion and hostility, reshaping their self-understanding and Britishness.
- “They saw themselves as colonial citizens who had just as much right to be in Britain as white Britons.” (19:22)
- Resistance and the formation of black British identity occurred alongside lived discrimination.
7. Resistance: Multiple Forms and Persistent Struggle
- Evolving resistance (21:06)
- Spanning from slave revolts to 20th-century movements, resistance was diverse in strategy and form.
- Black Power movements developed both in the Caribbean and in Britain, showing local and transnational struggles.
8. "Empire Without End": Persistent Legacies
- Legacies beyond decolonization (22:28)
- Despite formal independence and constitutional changes, the effects of empire (political, economic, racial) remain.
- Neocolonialism and neoliberal policies in the late 20th century perpetuate inequalities.
- “Empire really hasn't ended. The racial caste hierarchy still exists in different ways, but the resistance to these two things is ongoing...” (22:58)
- Contemporary Caribbean attitudes (23:25)
- Diverse responses: strong reparations movements; some advocating for moving on; elite minorities minimizing colonial harm.
- Current debates on republicanism reflect continuing unease with Britain’s enduring influence (e.g., Jamaica’s moves toward republicanism).
9. British Debates: Why is History So Controversial?
- Contested memory and resistance to confronting racism (26:13)
- Ongoing public discomfort about recognizing the depth and persistence of racism in British history.
- Umaren: “There’s still this contestation over definitions of racism. There are some people who think it doesn’t exist. But ... there's so much historical, anecdotal, contemporary evidence to counter those voices.” (26:15)
- She advocates for facing difficult history as necessary for genuine progress.
10. Individuals Highlighted in the Book
- Underrecognized histories, especially of women (27:40)
- Featured figures: Sally Basset (Bermuda), Claudia Jones (Trinidad & UK), Harold Moody (Jamaica & UK).
- Umaren foregrounds women’s resistance and activism, noting they often faced both racial and gender-based barriers.
- “I really did want to highlight the experiences, the lives of women who are oftentimes not the focus of sort of big history books.” (28:52)
Notable Quotes
-
On historical perspective:
“We can't really understand racism without thinking about other categories of identity that shape racism, and one of them being class.”
— Imabong Umaren, (03:19) -
On the inadequacy of the abolition narrative:
“This very celebratory history is presented without thinking about the compensation that was paid to slaveholders, and also without thinking about, okay, so what happens next?”
— Imabong Umaren, (10:37) -
On the persistence of empire:
“The legacies still very much are present both in the Caribbean and in Britain.... Empire really hasn't ended. The racial caste hierarchy still exists in different ways, but the resistance... is ongoing.”
— Imabong Umaren, (22:30, 22:58) -
On resistance and redefinition:
“They [Caribbean migrants] challenge that racism, they challenge the inequalities and they challenge the broader racial caste hierarchy... they come to identify themselves as black Britons.”
— Imabong Umaren, (20:09)
Key Timestamps of Important Segments
- Genesis of the book & the Black Lives Matter context: 02:51–04:54
- Caribbean’s central role in constructing race: 06:04–07:14
- Complexities of slavery, racism, and abolition: 08:03–12:15
- Explanation of the racial caste hierarchy: 12:26–14:50
- World Wars and migration shaping British-Caribbean relations: 16:19–20:52
- Evolution of resistance across time and geographies: 21:06–22:17
- Legacies and contemporary repercussions of empire: 22:17–26:01
- Controversies and public memory in Britain: 26:01–27:40
- Individual stories, especially of women activists: 27:40–29:00
Conclusion
Imabong Umaren underscores the importance of acknowledging the full, complex histories of Britain’s involvement with the Caribbean and how legacies of race, class, and resistance shape both regions today. Rather than closure at decolonization, she urges recognition of ongoing injustices and their roots in the past, insisting that a reckoning with history is vital for meaningful change in contemporary society.
Empire Without End is positioned not just as a comprehensive historical account but as a call for “reparatory history”—a history that confronts the enduring consequences of empire and the transformative power of resistance.