Discover the little-known history of Black Africans in Tudor England and challenge your preconceptions of Black history. Explore the forgotten lives of Black Tudors in Renaissance England. “Before the English founded their first surviving colony in the Americas, or began regularly trafficking enslaved Africans across the Atlantic, Africans lived free in Tudor England. ‘Black Tudors’ uncovers the experiences of men and women long forgotten by history.” – Dr. Miranda Kaufmann
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Based on Miranda Kaufmann’s acclaimed 2017 book Black Tudors: The Untold Story, this course will take you on a vivid tour through the fascinating lives of Africans living in Tudor and early Stuart England.
Alongside Dr. Kaufmann, you’ll learn how to analyse historical documents and investigate archives, as you examine this often forgotten but vitally important period of Black history.
Examine Black history in England before the era of enslavement
On this course, you’ll discover the real lives of ten historical figures who lived in England in the 16th and early 17th century and delve into the stories of many others.
By studying how Africans freely lived, worked, married, and died in English society before colonialism and enslavement, you’ll challenge common preconceptions about Black history, and discover what it was really like to live as a Black person in England at the time.
Become a historical detective
You’ll investigate archival material and develop your ability to evaluate and critique historical sources and artefacts. You’ll construct arguments that interrogate the past and uncover the era’s narrative themes.
Inform your opinion of Black history
You’ll examine important and topical debates around Black history, and delve into social and political issues around Black identity that – in the wake of Black Lives Matter – have never been more relevant.
Ultimately, you’ll come away with a fresh view of history, with transferable skills in critical thinking, discussion, and historical research.
What topics will you cover?
- Who were the Black Tudors and what can they tell us about Black history, identity, and freedom?
- How can their stories challenge preconceived narratives of Black history and in particular the later history of colonial slavery?
- What were the personal stories of Africans in sixteenth and early seventeenth-century England?
- How can we use archival research methods to reconstruct the stories of Africans in Tudor and early Stuart England, and challenge preconceived assumptions?
What will you achieve?
By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...
- Investigate prior assumptions and preconceptions in narratives of the past informed by historical evidence in relation to Black History
- Debate historical and contemporary issues in Black History informed by your reading of the book 'Black Tudors: The Untold Story' by Dr. Miranda Kaufmann
- Evaluate text based and visual historical sources and manuscripts in order to provide sound interpretations of the past based on historical evidence
- Explore historical archival material and develop your skills in searching, evaluating, interpreting and critical analysis of historical primary and secondary sources
- Reflect on the lives of Black historical figures from the Tudor and early Stuart period inspired by historian Dr. Miranda Kaufmann’s narratives and your own interpretation of historical sources
- Apply a variety of interpretations from different historians, learn to think about how the topic fits into the larger subject of Black History and begin to enter the debate, formulating your own analysis based on evidence
Who is the course for?
This course is for anyone who wants to learn more about Black History, and in particular about a less well-known aspect of Black British History which challenges common assumptions about the historical experiences of Africans in Britain.
The course will be useful to teachers, archivists, museum and heritage sector workers looking to diversify the way they present Tudor History, and to students at all levels who want to improve their historical methods.
