Black lives in Europe

Louverture is remembered today for his inspirational leadership in the revolution in the French colony, which ended enslavement in Haiti and emancipated the Africans enslaved on the island. This led to the establishment of Haiti as a sovereign state and the first Black nation outside of Africa. Beginning in August 1791 and concluding in 1804 with Haitian independence, the Haitian Revolution was the most successful of the many rebellions by enslaved Africans which took place in the Caribbean region during the plantation and enslavement era. The Haitian Revolution defied European colonial rule, military power and the practice of slavery in Saint-Domingue, and acted as a beacon of hope for enslaved Africans everywhere.

In this striking portrait by Anne-Louis Girodet de Roucy-Trioson, Belley wears the uniform of a representative to the Convention and the blue, white and red colours of the Republic. He is posed leaning against a marble plinth with a bust of the French philosopher and anti-slavery campaigner Guillaume Raynal (1713–1796). Belley posed for the portrait in 1797 before he returned from France to Saint-Dominique, and it still hangs in the chapel of the Palace of Versailles. The painting captures the complexity of the Revolutionary era and the fierce struggles for freedom and citizenship in a context of colonial power and empire.

In 1920 De Kom moved to Haiti and, one year later in 1921, to the Netherlands, where De Kom worked in several left-wing organisations such as Links Richten, a socialist-communist writers' collective and magazine. In 1933, he arrived back in Suriname, where the colonial authorities followed his every move. He was arrested without a trial due to his political activities, and sent as an exile back to the Netherlands.

Unemployed, he decided to concentrate fully on his book Wij slaven van Suriname (We Slaves of Suriname), which was published in a censored version in 1934. The book describes the creation, the history and life in the Dutch colony in Suriname. It is an account of the racism, exploitation and oppression faced by Black people in Suriname, both before and after the abolishment of enslavement. The book has been translated to English, German and Spanish and is still widely read. It finishes with the words:

Sranang my fatherland. Once I hope to see you again. On the day when all misery shall be erased from you.
Anton De Kom, Wij slaven van Suriname

In his works, Fanon’s wife, Josie to whom he dictated his texts, wrote down, adapted and in a number of cases, supplemented his texts.

Fanon died at the age of 36 from leukaemia, but his work left a great impact on political and anti-colonial movements around the world.

Considered his masterpiece, this book-length poem is an expression of Césaire's thoughts on self and cultural identity in a colonial setting. It was first rejected by a French publisher but then published in 1939. In 1947 an expanded version with an introductory essay by French writer and poet André Breton was published. In this, André Breton called the poem ‘nothing less than the greatest lyrical monument of our times’.

[Watch full video "Interview with Aimé Césaire"]

Along with the literary works from African American poets and writers such as Langston Hughes and James Baldwin, Césaire’s Cahier was a landmark in Caribbean literature. It was a new European literary style, which allowed Caribbean writers to discard Western interpretations in favour of their own reality, alongside the writing movements of the Harlem Renaissance.

The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual and cultural movement of African American creative arts and politics, which was centred around the district of Harlem in New York during the 1920s and 1930s.

While Cahier is considered an essential piece for the Negritude movement, Leon-Gontran Damas’s Pigments (1937) is sometimes considered the ‘manifesto of the movement’ and was the first text to be published. In the poetry collection, Damas argues against slavery and colonial assimilation of European culture. He also identified the traits of internalised racism and repression of self that are ingrained into the African diaspora. Damas introduced this concept 20 years before it was explored by Franz Fanon who called it ‘the colonized personality’ in his work The Wretched of the Earth.

Pigments was published into several African languages, and has been translated and distributed across several continents. Its impact was widely felt; the Baoulé people of Ivory Coast, inspired by the text, refused to serve in the French army against Germany in 1939. Pigments was seen as a threat to French state security and was banned by the French government.

For Léopold Sédar Senghor, his use of the Negritude movement was to develop a global sense of value and dignity for African people and the African diaspora, in order to advocate for the celebration of African culture, traditions and ideas.

I remember the pagan voices punctuating the Tantum Ergo And processions and palms and the triumphal arches. I remember the dance of the nubile girls The wrestling choirs - oh! young men's final dance, bust Leaning slender, and the pure cry of love of women - Kor Siga! I remember, I remember ... My rhythmic head What a weary march along the days of Europe where sometimes An orphan jazz appears who sobs, sobs, sobs.
Extract from Shadow songs (1945)

On a trip to Italy with Velazquez in 1649, Velazquez painted his famous portrait of Pareja. Most sources claim that in 1650 - while still together in Italy - Velazquez signed a legal document that would grant Pareja his freedom four years later, on the condition that he did not escape or commit any criminal acts in that time. In which case the claims that Pareja was emancipated in 1630 would be false.

From that time until his death in 1670, Pareja worked as an independent painter in Madrid, where he produced portraits and large scale religious works. The Calling of Saint Matthew (1661) is considered to be his masterpiece. In this, he paints himself as the leftmost figure holding a piece of paper that reads ‘Juan de Pareja in the year 1661’.

Sancho is mostly remembered as a composer, writer, actor and abolitionist. After his death, his letters were published. In these letters Sancho gives an account of his life, an early description of enslavement written from the perspective of an enslaved person.

His 2006 album Charango sold over one million copies, and his song Aux arbres citoyens ranked number one in the charts in France for three weeks. The song is about defending the environment and encouraging people to protect our planet. It is often sung in French schools.

[Watch full video "Music Festival: Yannick Noah in concert at Central Park"]

In 2010 he made a comeback with his eighth album, which featured the single Angela, dedicated to American political activist Angela Davis.

This second poster is from 1978 and advertises a wrestling match between Bert Mychel and ‘Negro Samson’, a Colombian wrestler known as Billy Samson (real name Pedro Murillo). Reducing Murillo to just the colour of his skin and not using his name exoticised and dehumanised him.

Bikila participated in a total of sixteen marathons. He came second in his first marathon in Addis Ababa, won twelve other races, and finished fifth in the 1963 Boston Marathon. Abebe won his second gold medal at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, becoming the first athlete to successfully defend an Olympic marathon title.

[Watch full video "Abebe Bikila arriving in Addis Abeba"]

His professional football career began in 1964 playing for Linz Athletic Sport Club (known as LASK) who were winners of the Austrian Football Championship that season. In 1968, he moved to FK Austria Wien, who also won the Austrian Championship that season - helped in part by Köglberger who was the league's top scorer in 1968/69. During the 1974/75 season, he returned to LASK and was again the league's top scorer with a total of 22 goals.

Köglberger played for the Austrian national team 28 times, scoring 6 goals and was also the team's captain.

After retiring as a player, Köglberger managed a number of Austrian teams, as well as supporting the ACAKORO Football Academy in Nairobi, Kenya. Helmut Köglberger died in September 2018, aged 72.

Two years later, at the 1986 European Indoor Championships in Madrid, she won a gold medal, running the 60 metres race in 7 seconds, a world-record time. That year, she was named Dutch Sportswoman of the Year. Her world record remained until 1992, but it still is a Dutch national record today.

Gold medals in the European Indoor Championships followed in 1987, 1988 and 1989, as well as gold medals in the World Indoor Championships in 1987 and 1989. Nelli Cooman retired from athletics in 1995.

With her Olympic gold in 2012, Adams was the first openly LGBTQ+ athlete to win an Olympic boxing medal. 11 years previously, in 2011, she was the first female boxer to ever represent England in a fight against an Irish boxer. In 2007, she became the first ever English female boxer to win a medal at a major tournament, taking silver in the European Championships in Denmark.

At the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Adams defended her title, winning gold.

In 2016, she was the reigning Olympic, World and European Games champion at flyweight, having won all possible amateur championships. In 2017, Adams turned professional, becoming the WBO champion in 2019. Later that year, she retired from boxing to prevent further injuries, and she now pursues a career in media.