Writer. Researcher specialising in British chattel enslavement and colonialism. Playwright. Literary Critic @theTLS
London, England
- Tweets 76
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Excellent work, as ever, by @aljhlester
On Reparations in British History
1/5 Few Britons appreciate that in the early 1870s the US government demanded reparations from the British government of over $2 Billion ($48 Billion today).
history.state.gov/milestones….
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King Charles says: 'none of us can change the past'. But why not acknowledge it? Buckingham Palace promised to comment on my research revealing the trafficking & enslaving of Africans by the King’s ancestor Edward Porteus. 18 months on, still not a word 👑
theguardian.com/uk-news/2023…
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Desirée Baptiste retweeted
The BOCAS Litfest is coming to Madrid on Tuesday - a FREE event at @casaamerica Get a taste of the Caribbean in Madrid! Here we interview one of the visiting writers. @kevinjhosein @bocaslitfest
themadridreview.com/f/kevin-…
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Desirée Baptiste retweeted
What a cracking start to the talks we had today. Thank you to the autumn sunshine for making it extra enjoyable. What can you expect from day 2 at #GlosHistFest24? @DrJaninaRamirez Phil Moss @AndrewRPGlevum @DavidOlusoga @greg_jenner @JANUSZCZAK @corinne_fowler & Stewart Lee
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“There’s also another aspect of the Portuguese colonial history, which is the existence of this big and important community of African descent”❤️
@CatarinaDemony
@lucy28maguire
@corinne_fowler
@MirandaKaufmann
‘I was in tears’: exhibition tells human stories of Portugal’s colonial legacy theguardian.com/world/articl…
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Desirée Baptiste retweeted
For those in the UK, you can support Caribbean filmmakers including Neisha Agostini, hosting a series of Carnival Film Screenings in Notting Hill this weekend, celebrating Caribbean culture.
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What a joy to perform ‘Incidents’ in the exquisite @ChesterCath 💥. Wonderful audience & lively Q&A last night. Looking forward to breaking a leg again later! 🎭 Do come along/share, it’s free!👇
chestercathedral.com/events/… in the Life of an Anglican Slave
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Arrived in beautiful Chester tonight, on Emancipation Day! Excited to be performing ‘Incidents’ (on Friday and Saturday), the first transatlantic slavery poem/play to be staged in an Anglican Cathedral💥 Huge thanks @ChesterCath 🎭⛪️⛓️
chestercathedral.ticketsolve…
Don't miss your chance to see Incidents in the Life of an Anglican Slave on 2 and 3 August. An extraordinary story of resistance and resilience, inspired by a 1723 letter from an enslaved Virginian to the Archbishop of London.
Free tickets book here ⬇️
bit.ly/IncidentsPlay
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Desirée Baptiste retweeted
The importance of engagement and collaboration between descendants of the enslaved and those that enslaved cannot be stressed enough. Otherwise all we have is a new colonial mentality. @VereneAShep @SirGeoffPalmer @CatarinaDemony @desibaptiste @JamaicaGleaner
Anglican Church apologises for slavery past, but Shepherd says it fell short
jamaica-gleaner.com/article/…
@JustinWelby @VereneAShep
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Slave trader Edward Colston (whose statue was toppled in 2020) left money to missionary arm of @churchofengland
(which then purchased more enslaved Africans) ⛪️⛓️⚓️
@JustinWelby
@corinne_fowler
@aljhlester
@Sathnam
@lucy28maguire
amp.theguardian.com/world/ar…
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Desirée Baptiste retweeted
The Caribbean writer @KevinJHosein has won the £25,000 #WalterScottPrize for Historical Fiction 2024 for his novel HUNGRY GHOSTS (@bloomsburybooks), which tells the story of marginalised Hindu communities in colonial 1940s Trinidad. #histfic #HungryGhosts
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Appreciate His Grace Archbishop @justinwelby’s thoughtful response to my research on @churchofengland involvement in chattel slavery on the Codrington plantations. The work continues
@denisobrien_
@lucy28maguire
@KamaliMelbourne
theguardian.com/world/articl…
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A book that I love, transformed into a play 🎭
Sam Selvon’s ‘The Lonely Londoners’ ❤️🤍🖤 adapted by Roy Williams, is at the Jermyn Street Theatre until 6 April. My review is in the current issue @TheTLS
the-tls.co.uk/articles/the-l…
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Desirée Baptiste retweeted
'The individual Haitian lives that we glimpse emerge from a hostile archive, itself built from processes of violence.'
Desirée Baptiste (@desibaptiste) on an enslaved people’s path to revolution the-tls.co.uk/articles/a-sec…
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“There’s not a breathing of the common wind
That will forget thee”
(‘To Toussaint L’Ouverture’ by William Wordsworth. 1802)
In John Garrigus’s superb new book a great many more heroes of the Haitian Revolution are remembered 🔥
My review: @TheTLS
@embassyhaitiuk
@JohnGarrigus
'The individual Haitian lives that we glimpse emerge from a hostile archive, itself built from processes of violence.'
Desirée Baptiste (@desibaptiste) on an enslaved people’s path to revolution the-tls.co.uk/articles/a-sec…
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Desirée Baptiste retweeted
2nd revised and expanded edition of my book Reparations for Slavery and the Slave Trade: A Transnational and Comparative History (@BloomsburyHist) in digital format is out today! 🎉 Physical book available on November 30. Check it out #slaveryarchive bloomsbury.com/us/9781350297…
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Looking forward to this! 💥
Sat 14 October, 7pm
@StJPiccadilly An ode to Quobna Ottobah Cugoano featuring Julianknxx (artist, poet & filmmaker), coinciding with Frieze London and his Barbican exhibition ‘Chorus in Rememory of Flight’ #BlackHistoryMonth
sjp.org.uk/whats-on/cugoano2…
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Really looking forward to revisiting the past, in conversation with @EkowEshun and @Billygfrank at @StJPiccadilly, and to performing ‘Incidents in the Life of an Anglican Slave’
🎭⛪️⛓️🙏
desireebaptiste.com/new-work…
All in honour of Quobna Ottobah Cugoano.
@corinne_fowler @axrenton
Visualising Britain’s Black Past: Performance of @desibaptiste's play and @Billygfrank's film, followed by a panel discussion led by curator @EkowEshun
📆 Sat 7 Oct from 5.30pm
#BlackHistoryMonth
eventbrite.co.uk/e/cugoano25…
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