Was surprised by the recent BBC article 'My Nigerian great grandfather sold slaves'. The writer tells how slavery was the way of life in Nigeria, how everyone was involved long before the white man came and many years later continued to trade in slaves despite strong opposition from Britain and her colonial governors. So ingrained was slavery in Nigeria that there was a popular saying "if you don't have a slave you are one". The writer Adaobi Tricia Nwaubani goes on to state very sensibly that to "Assess the people of Africa's past by today's standards would compel us to cast the majority of our heroes as villians".
My surprise was not the content of the article, which to someone with a degree in History and many years experience of teaching History was common knowledge, but rather the fact that the BBC had put it on their website. Perhaps there is hope yet.
My surprise was not the content of the article, which to someone with a degree in History and many years experience of teaching History was common knowledge, but rather the fact that the BBC had put it on their website. Perhaps there is hope yet.