In a 1999 episode of Louis Theroux’s Weird Weekends, the eponymous BBC documentary maker interviewed a group of American black nationalists and members of the Black Hebrew Israelite movement. In his beguiling manner, Theroux gently questioned them about their beliefs. Famously, he was told by the elders of the Universal Church of Practical Knowledge that the Vikings, William Shakespeare and Henry VIII were all black men. These beliefs are articles of faith, held by the Black Hebrew Israelites in the United States. They have a long track record of violent extremism, which continues to the present day, including a 2019 mass killing in New Jersey.
Theroux’s documentary invited viewers to marvel at the absurdity of such claims. We all knew it was ahistorical and ridiculous to claim that our mediaeval forebears were black. This was presented to us by the BBC as an opportunity to mock a peculiarly American historical fantasy, which was the legacy of America’s distinct racial relations.
A generation later, the BBC itself seems to have embraced the Black Hebrew Israelites’ worldview. A song from a 2021 episode of the children’s history show Horrible Histories, entitled “We’ve been here from the start”, was released to commemorate the achievements of black British people throughout history.
It includes the lyrics:
We worked in the Stone Age,
Went to war with Bonaparte;
Before these isles were British
Black people played their part.
Cheddar man was Mesolithic
10,000 years from now,
When the animals were terrific
(You should see his giant cow.)
And the Roman Emperor General
And the brave Aurelian Moors,
Were just a few of several
Who walked upon these shores.
Please lend me your ears
For this news I shall impart
Before Harold lost at Hastings
Black people played their part.
This is an interesting way for the national broadcaster to commemorate the achievements of a specific ethnic minority. The overwhelming majority can trace their ancestry back to two postwar migrations to the United Kingdom: the Caribbean migrants known as the Windrush generation; and waves of West African immigration from the 1960s, during the Biafran War and in the last decade.
It is a significant change from previous attempts to shore up black British peoples’ place in modern British society. These efforts focused on ties through Empire and trade, spotlighting the achievements of black British people in this era, with a particular emphasis on cultural and sporting figures, as well as politicians.
Only recently have efforts been made to identify some sort of ancient black heritage for Britain. The BBC of 25 years ago thought this eccentric and absurd, but today thinks it the right sort of thing to include in its programming for children. This is not an isolated case. As has been reported this week, Bloomsbury has published a book called Brilliant Black British History, promoted by the taxpayer-funded organisation The Books Trust. It claimed that Stonehenge was built by black people and that the very first Britons were black.
Read more: The fantasy world of Anglo-Afrocentrism
