1 00:00:01,280 --> 00:00:04,320 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:13,640 Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio. Hello and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,720 --> 00:00:16,880 Speaker 1: I'm Tracy V. Wilson and I'm Holly Fry. Today we 4 00:00:16,880 --> 00:00:20,560 Speaker 1: are going to talk about Ignatius Sancho, who, among a 5 00:00:20,680 --> 00:00:23,560 Speaker 1: number of other firsts, was the first black Britain to 6 00:00:23,680 --> 00:00:28,440 Speaker 1: vote in parliamentary election. That happened in seventeen seventy four. 7 00:00:29,040 --> 00:00:32,400 Speaker 1: He became something of a celebrity in eighteenth century London, 8 00:00:32,680 --> 00:00:36,479 Speaker 1: but documentation of his life, especially his early life, is 9 00:00:36,520 --> 00:00:39,320 Speaker 1: a little bit spotty. Today, first we should talk a 10 00:00:39,360 --> 00:00:41,960 Speaker 1: little bit about the world that Ignatius Sancho lived in. 11 00:00:42,560 --> 00:00:46,360 Speaker 1: During his lifetime, England's population grew from about six and 12 00:00:46,400 --> 00:00:50,160 Speaker 1: a half to about seven million people, and somewhere between 13 00:00:50,200 --> 00:00:53,840 Speaker 1: fifteen thousand and twenty thousand of them were black. Most 14 00:00:53,880 --> 00:00:57,120 Speaker 1: of England's black population lived in cities, with two thirds 15 00:00:57,200 --> 00:01:00,360 Speaker 1: or more living in London. But these embers are really 16 00:01:00,400 --> 00:01:04,679 Speaker 1: really approximate. The first British census wasn't conducted until eighteen 17 00:01:04,680 --> 00:01:09,520 Speaker 1: o one, so these are definitely estimations. Slavery was legal 18 00:01:09,560 --> 00:01:12,440 Speaker 1: and practiced in England, so some of this population that 19 00:01:12,480 --> 00:01:16,839 Speaker 1: we're talking about was enslaved, many of England's black population 20 00:01:16,920 --> 00:01:20,959 Speaker 1: worked as household staff. Wealthy people considered it fashionable to 21 00:01:21,080 --> 00:01:26,199 Speaker 1: have specifically black household help, whether enslaved or free. One 22 00:01:26,280 --> 00:01:28,920 Speaker 1: trend was to have a black valet or maid who 23 00:01:29,040 --> 00:01:33,000 Speaker 1: acted as a personal assistant or a traveling companion, as 24 00:01:33,000 --> 00:01:36,319 Speaker 1: well as a conversation piece for other white aristocrats. I 25 00:01:36,319 --> 00:01:38,920 Speaker 1: said valet instead of valet, because I've been watching a 26 00:01:38,959 --> 00:01:42,360 Speaker 1: lot of Downton Nattie. Yeah, that's how you do. Of course, 27 00:01:42,680 --> 00:01:45,680 Speaker 1: regardless of whether they were free or enslaved, not every 28 00:01:45,680 --> 00:01:49,200 Speaker 1: black person in England was doing domestic work. Many were 29 00:01:49,320 --> 00:01:52,160 Speaker 1: or had been sailors, and many former sailors worked as 30 00:01:52,240 --> 00:01:56,639 Speaker 1: laborers or doc workers. Black workers also took industrial jobs 31 00:01:56,640 --> 00:02:00,120 Speaker 1: in cities, including things like processing and repackaging. Import had 32 00:02:00,160 --> 00:02:02,560 Speaker 1: goods like sugar and tobacco which had been grown in 33 00:02:02,560 --> 00:02:07,040 Speaker 1: the America's using enslave labor. Eighteenth century England was also 34 00:02:07,160 --> 00:02:10,320 Speaker 1: home to black performers and musicians, as well as black 35 00:02:10,400 --> 00:02:15,280 Speaker 1: music teachers and composers. Although some were recruited or conscripted 36 00:02:15,360 --> 00:02:18,800 Speaker 1: for things like regimental bands, it wasn't particularly common for 37 00:02:18,840 --> 00:02:22,200 Speaker 1: black performers to gain access to other white ensembles or 38 00:02:22,240 --> 00:02:26,600 Speaker 1: to white performance spaces. Instead, many black musicians performed at 39 00:02:26,600 --> 00:02:30,480 Speaker 1: home and within an evolving black social scene, and the 40 00:02:30,520 --> 00:02:33,200 Speaker 1: words of a seventeen sixty four article in the London 41 00:02:33,320 --> 00:02:37,520 Speaker 1: Chronicle quote among the sundry fashionable routes or clubs that 42 00:02:37,520 --> 00:02:40,160 Speaker 1: are held in town, that of the blacks or the 43 00:02:40,200 --> 00:02:43,720 Speaker 1: Negro servants is not the least. On Wednesday last no 44 00:02:43,840 --> 00:02:46,720 Speaker 1: less than fifty seven of them, men and women supt 45 00:02:46,880 --> 00:02:51,160 Speaker 1: drank and entertained themselves with dancing and music consisting of violins, 46 00:02:51,280 --> 00:02:54,120 Speaker 1: French horns and other instruments at a public house in 47 00:02:54,200 --> 00:02:57,120 Speaker 1: Fleet Street till four in the morning. No whites were 48 00:02:57,120 --> 00:02:59,880 Speaker 1: allowed to be present, for all the performers were all black. 49 00:03:00,280 --> 00:03:03,359 Speaker 1: While most of England's black population had come or been 50 00:03:03,400 --> 00:03:06,520 Speaker 1: brought from the America's and the Caribbean, some had arrived 51 00:03:06,560 --> 00:03:11,160 Speaker 1: from Africa. This included diplomats and dignitaries from African nations, 52 00:03:11,200 --> 00:03:14,320 Speaker 1: and students whose families had sent them to English universities 53 00:03:14,360 --> 00:03:17,960 Speaker 1: to study. All of this together meant that England's black 54 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:22,200 Speaker 1: population in the eighteenth century was predominantly male. It was 55 00:03:22,240 --> 00:03:25,359 Speaker 1: not uncommon for free black men to marry working class 56 00:03:25,400 --> 00:03:29,960 Speaker 1: white women During Ignatius Sancho's lifetime, England was also the 57 00:03:30,040 --> 00:03:34,160 Speaker 1: dominant force and the trans atlantic slave trade. Slaveships operated 58 00:03:34,200 --> 00:03:38,440 Speaker 1: from numerous British ports, including London, and while Ignatius Sancho 59 00:03:38,600 --> 00:03:42,200 Speaker 1: was alive, the two largest slave ports were Bristol and Liverpool. 60 00:03:42,960 --> 00:03:46,240 Speaker 1: A vast amount of British wealth came directly from this 61 00:03:46,400 --> 00:03:49,320 Speaker 1: trade and from goods produced in the Caribbean and the 62 00:03:49,320 --> 00:03:53,560 Speaker 1: Americas using enslaved labor. A movement for the abolition of 63 00:03:53,600 --> 00:03:56,400 Speaker 1: slavery and the slave trade started to evolve in Britain 64 00:03:56,480 --> 00:04:01,040 Speaker 1: during Sancho's lifetime, although formal organizations with the goal, including 65 00:04:01,040 --> 00:04:05,800 Speaker 1: the Sons of Africa, were not established until after his death. However, 66 00:04:05,840 --> 00:04:08,720 Speaker 1: in seventeen seventy two, William Murray, the first Earl of 67 00:04:08,760 --> 00:04:12,000 Speaker 1: Mansfield and the Lord Chief Justice of Britain, issued a 68 00:04:12,080 --> 00:04:15,280 Speaker 1: ruling in the Somerset Case which ruled the enslaved people 69 00:04:15,560 --> 00:04:19,160 Speaker 1: who escaped their enslavement in England could not be captured 70 00:04:19,200 --> 00:04:23,440 Speaker 1: and returned to slavery abroad. Although many enslaved people living 71 00:04:23,440 --> 00:04:26,919 Speaker 1: at the time interpreted this as having ended slavery entirely, 72 00:04:27,520 --> 00:04:30,159 Speaker 1: its real effects were much more limited than that, and 73 00:04:30,200 --> 00:04:32,880 Speaker 1: we talked about this ruling previously in our episode three, 74 00:04:32,920 --> 00:04:38,120 Speaker 1: Astonishing bells Ignatious Sancho had connections to all of this history, 75 00:04:38,160 --> 00:04:40,360 Speaker 1: but as we noted, some of the details are spotty. 76 00:04:41,040 --> 00:04:44,320 Speaker 1: Brief glimpses of his last few years survived thanks to 77 00:04:44,400 --> 00:04:46,760 Speaker 1: some published letters. We're going to talk about those letters 78 00:04:46,800 --> 00:04:50,640 Speaker 1: more later, but beyond that, his first biographer was Welsh 79 00:04:50,680 --> 00:04:54,880 Speaker 1: barrister and politician Joseph Checkel, whose brief account of Sancho's 80 00:04:54,920 --> 00:04:58,400 Speaker 1: life was published with the letters. For the first several 81 00:04:58,440 --> 00:05:02,520 Speaker 1: printings of these letters, this biography was published anonymously. Jekyll's 82 00:05:02,600 --> 00:05:05,400 Speaker 1: name was finally included in the fifth edition, which came 83 00:05:05,400 --> 00:05:08,520 Speaker 1: out in eighteen oh three. Joseph Jekyl was born in 84 00:05:08,600 --> 00:05:11,479 Speaker 1: seventeen fifty four, which would have made him about twenty 85 00:05:11,520 --> 00:05:14,839 Speaker 1: six when Sancho died, and in the years after Sancho's 86 00:05:14,839 --> 00:05:17,800 Speaker 1: death he became a member of Parliament. In terms of 87 00:05:17,800 --> 00:05:21,599 Speaker 1: when both men were living, Jackal studied at Oxford in 88 00:05:21,640 --> 00:05:24,280 Speaker 1: the late seventeen sixties and was called to the bar 89 00:05:24,400 --> 00:05:28,680 Speaker 1: at Lincoln's Inn in London in seventeen seventy eight. During 90 00:05:28,720 --> 00:05:31,680 Speaker 1: those same years, Sancho was living and working in London, 91 00:05:31,800 --> 00:05:34,359 Speaker 1: including at a grocery that became a gathering place for 92 00:05:34,400 --> 00:05:38,440 Speaker 1: writers and musicians and a fashionable place for affluent people 93 00:05:38,480 --> 00:05:41,440 Speaker 1: to be seen shopping because of the novelty of its 94 00:05:41,480 --> 00:05:46,040 Speaker 1: black proprietor. So it's definitely within the realm of possibility 95 00:05:46,080 --> 00:05:48,960 Speaker 1: that these two men did know each other, or that 96 00:05:49,000 --> 00:05:51,760 Speaker 1: they at least met. And we do have a surviving 97 00:05:51,839 --> 00:05:54,800 Speaker 1: letter from Sancho's son, William, who wrote to Jekyl to 98 00:05:54,880 --> 00:05:57,359 Speaker 1: thank him for some service to their family and for 99 00:05:57,440 --> 00:06:01,480 Speaker 1: some corrections. That's his word, and that's probably in reference 100 00:06:01,520 --> 00:06:04,200 Speaker 1: to footnotes that appear in the eighteen or three edition 101 00:06:04,240 --> 00:06:08,240 Speaker 1: of Sancho's Letters. So it's possible that Jackal's knowledge of 102 00:06:08,279 --> 00:06:11,679 Speaker 1: Sancho's life came from Sancho himself or from his family. 103 00:06:12,200 --> 00:06:15,360 Speaker 1: But a lot of what he describes is really impossible 104 00:06:15,400 --> 00:06:19,520 Speaker 1: to corroborate, and some of it just contradicts documentation that 105 00:06:19,680 --> 00:06:22,960 Speaker 1: does exist. Jackal also doesn't mention some of the most 106 00:06:23,040 --> 00:06:26,919 Speaker 1: notable parts of Sancho's life, while also including other details 107 00:06:26,960 --> 00:06:31,320 Speaker 1: that seem pretty improbable. Also, it's clear that in writing 108 00:06:31,400 --> 00:06:35,200 Speaker 1: and publishing this biography, Jekyll was trying to contradict racist 109 00:06:35,240 --> 00:06:39,360 Speaker 1: ideas that were used to justify the institution of slavery, 110 00:06:39,400 --> 00:06:43,599 Speaker 1: instead showing Sancho as a human being withinnate worse, here 111 00:06:43,680 --> 00:06:47,279 Speaker 1: is a quote. He who surveys the extent of intellect 112 00:06:47,320 --> 00:06:50,920 Speaker 1: to which Ignatious Sancho had attained by self education, will 113 00:06:50,960 --> 00:06:54,520 Speaker 1: perhaps conclude that the perfection of the reasoning faculties does 114 00:06:54,560 --> 00:06:57,960 Speaker 1: not depend on a peculiar confirmation of the skull or 115 00:06:58,000 --> 00:07:01,159 Speaker 1: the color of a common integument. In defiance of that 116 00:07:01,240 --> 00:07:04,880 Speaker 1: wild opinion which says a learned writer of these times 117 00:07:05,200 --> 00:07:09,000 Speaker 1: restrains the operations of the mind to particular regions, and 118 00:07:09,040 --> 00:07:11,800 Speaker 1: supposes that a luckless mortal may be born in a 119 00:07:11,800 --> 00:07:15,240 Speaker 1: degree of latitude too high or too low for wisdom 120 00:07:15,360 --> 00:07:20,200 Speaker 1: or for wit. So to add a little explanation to that, 121 00:07:20,840 --> 00:07:24,400 Speaker 1: the learned writer of these times that he references was 122 00:07:24,640 --> 00:07:28,200 Speaker 1: Samuel Johnson, who was writing about John Milton when he 123 00:07:28,240 --> 00:07:30,680 Speaker 1: made that comment. And as a side note that e. 124 00:07:30,760 --> 00:07:33,840 Speaker 1: Ten oh three edition of Sancho's Letters also included this 125 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:38,000 Speaker 1: statement quote. Dr Johnson had promised to write the life 126 00:07:38,000 --> 00:07:41,520 Speaker 1: of Ignatius Sancho, which afterwards he neglected to do, and 127 00:07:41,560 --> 00:07:44,600 Speaker 1: it was accordingly written by Mr jekyll An imitation of 128 00:07:44,720 --> 00:07:49,480 Speaker 1: Dr Johnson's style. In other words, Joseph Jekyl thought Ignatius 129 00:07:49,480 --> 00:07:52,320 Speaker 1: Sancho was notable enough to have been written about by 130 00:07:52,320 --> 00:07:56,880 Speaker 1: Samuel Johnson, regardless of whether Johnson ever specifically said that. 131 00:07:57,400 --> 00:08:00,080 Speaker 1: At the same time, even though Jackal seems too have 132 00:08:00,160 --> 00:08:03,679 Speaker 1: been motivated by reinforcing the intrinsic humanity of a black 133 00:08:03,720 --> 00:08:07,720 Speaker 1: man living in eighteenth century England and dispelling racist ideas, 134 00:08:08,200 --> 00:08:12,480 Speaker 1: he also repeats some of the day's racist stereotypes about Africans. 135 00:08:13,120 --> 00:08:15,080 Speaker 1: That makes it hard to figure out which parts of 136 00:08:15,120 --> 00:08:18,160 Speaker 1: his account are real and which are exaggerated, And at 137 00:08:18,160 --> 00:08:20,559 Speaker 1: this point it is just not possible to know where 138 00:08:20,560 --> 00:08:24,040 Speaker 1: any of his information came from. Having gotten through all 139 00:08:24,080 --> 00:08:26,680 Speaker 1: that context, we will get to what we know, or 140 00:08:26,720 --> 00:08:29,480 Speaker 1: at least what we think we know, about Ignatius Sancho's 141 00:08:29,520 --> 00:08:41,719 Speaker 1: life after a sponsor break. Joseph Checkel's biography describes Ignacious 142 00:08:41,720 --> 00:08:44,880 Speaker 1: Sancho as being born on a slave ship in seventeen 143 00:08:44,920 --> 00:08:48,559 Speaker 1: twenty nine, en route from Guinea and West Africa to 144 00:08:48,880 --> 00:08:54,600 Speaker 1: Cartagena and Columbia. This very earliest moment in his account 145 00:08:54,600 --> 00:08:57,040 Speaker 1: of Sancho's life is also the very first thing that 146 00:08:57,080 --> 00:09:00,240 Speaker 1: seems to be undermined by the actual historical rec heard 147 00:09:00,320 --> 00:09:03,239 Speaker 1: because there was not a ship that made that particular 148 00:09:03,400 --> 00:09:07,040 Speaker 1: voyage in seventeen twenty nine. For his part, in a 149 00:09:07,120 --> 00:09:10,800 Speaker 1: letter written in seventeen eighty, Sancho described himself as quote 150 00:09:10,880 --> 00:09:14,840 Speaker 1: born in Africa that suggested that he was or at 151 00:09:14,880 --> 00:09:18,360 Speaker 1: least believe that he was born in Africa. Jackal goes 152 00:09:18,360 --> 00:09:21,840 Speaker 1: on to say that Sancho was named Ignacious at his baptism, 153 00:09:21,880 --> 00:09:24,720 Speaker 1: which was performed by the bishop, but he doesn't really 154 00:09:24,720 --> 00:09:28,520 Speaker 1: elaborate on what might have prompted a bishop to baptize 155 00:09:28,559 --> 00:09:33,000 Speaker 1: an enslaved baby. According to Jekyl, Ignatius's mother died while 156 00:09:33,040 --> 00:09:35,240 Speaker 1: he was still a baby, and his father took his 157 00:09:35,280 --> 00:09:39,760 Speaker 1: own life rather than being enslaved. Then, when Ignacious was 158 00:09:39,840 --> 00:09:43,520 Speaker 1: between two and three, his enslaver took him to England 159 00:09:43,559 --> 00:09:47,920 Speaker 1: and gave him to quote three maiden sisters resident at Greenwich. 160 00:09:48,720 --> 00:09:52,199 Speaker 1: According to historian Anne Dingsdale, this may have been Elizabeth, 161 00:09:52,280 --> 00:09:55,520 Speaker 1: Susannah and Barbara Legg, who lived in Blackheath, which is 162 00:09:55,520 --> 00:09:58,720 Speaker 1: adjacent to Greenwich. That is the right number of sisters 163 00:09:58,760 --> 00:10:02,680 Speaker 1: and roughly the right location, but this is still conjecture. 164 00:10:03,040 --> 00:10:06,480 Speaker 1: Another conjecture is that the young Ignacious Sancho is depicted 165 00:10:06,520 --> 00:10:10,160 Speaker 1: in the painting Taste in High Life Bypath podcast subject 166 00:10:10,280 --> 00:10:14,439 Speaker 1: William Hogarth. That painting was completed in the seventeen forties 167 00:10:14,559 --> 00:10:17,760 Speaker 1: and it satirizes upper class women in their fashion choices. 168 00:10:18,360 --> 00:10:20,680 Speaker 1: Seated in a chair. On the left side of the 169 00:10:20,720 --> 00:10:24,520 Speaker 1: canvas in this painting is a black page. The Yale 170 00:10:24,559 --> 00:10:28,360 Speaker 1: Center for British Art describes this identification as this page 171 00:10:28,400 --> 00:10:35,600 Speaker 1: and the painting as Ignatious Sancho as traditional but implausible. Listen, 172 00:10:35,600 --> 00:10:39,520 Speaker 1: everybody's always said it, but it really doesn't make any sense. 173 00:10:40,720 --> 00:10:43,600 Speaker 1: Jackal also says these three sisters were the ones who 174 00:10:43,679 --> 00:10:47,120 Speaker 1: gave Ignacious the last name of Sancho because they thought 175 00:10:47,120 --> 00:10:51,439 Speaker 1: that he resembled Don Quixote, Squire Sancho Panza. In Spanish, 176 00:10:51,480 --> 00:10:54,000 Speaker 1: ponza means belly, and it stems from the Latin word 177 00:10:54,000 --> 00:10:57,640 Speaker 1: for paunch. This makes Sancho's name a little bit complicated. 178 00:10:58,360 --> 00:11:00,560 Speaker 1: It is the name he used his whole life, and 179 00:11:00,679 --> 00:11:03,880 Speaker 1: later on he called his daughters his sent Sinetta's, but 180 00:11:03,960 --> 00:11:05,760 Speaker 1: it was a name that was given to him as 181 00:11:05,800 --> 00:11:09,680 Speaker 1: an insult because of his weight. Magnatius Sancho described his 182 00:11:09,800 --> 00:11:12,880 Speaker 1: early years this way in a letter to Lawrence Stern, 183 00:11:13,200 --> 00:11:15,920 Speaker 1: the author of the Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy 184 00:11:16,120 --> 00:11:20,040 Speaker 1: gentleman quote, the first part of my life was rather unlucky, 185 00:11:20,160 --> 00:11:22,880 Speaker 1: as I was placed in a family who judged ignorance 186 00:11:22,960 --> 00:11:26,720 Speaker 1: the best and only security for obedience. A little reading 187 00:11:26,760 --> 00:11:30,880 Speaker 1: and writing I got by unwearied application. The latter part 188 00:11:30,880 --> 00:11:33,920 Speaker 1: of my life has been, through God's blessing, truly fortunate, 189 00:11:34,000 --> 00:11:35,760 Speaker 1: having spent it in the service of one of the 190 00:11:35,800 --> 00:11:39,280 Speaker 1: best and greatest families in the Kingdom. My chief pleasure 191 00:11:39,320 --> 00:11:43,680 Speaker 1: has been books philanthropy. I adore. The best and greatest 192 00:11:43,760 --> 00:11:47,319 Speaker 1: family seems to be the House of Montague, beginning with John, 193 00:11:47,440 --> 00:11:51,280 Speaker 1: second Duke of Montagu. The Duke had previously been Governor 194 00:11:51,360 --> 00:11:54,240 Speaker 1: of Jamaica, and one of his residences in England was 195 00:11:54,320 --> 00:11:58,199 Speaker 1: Montague House in Blackheath, just across from the leg Sisters. 196 00:11:59,000 --> 00:12:01,680 Speaker 1: Earlier in his life, the Duke had reportedly funded the 197 00:12:01,760 --> 00:12:05,920 Speaker 1: education of Francis Williams, an enslaved man from Jamaica, although 198 00:12:05,920 --> 00:12:10,360 Speaker 1: Williams's attendance at Cambridge is not actually documented. The Duke 199 00:12:10,520 --> 00:12:13,199 Speaker 1: seems to have taken an interest in Sancho, giving him 200 00:12:13,240 --> 00:12:16,640 Speaker 1: books and encouraging him in his studies. The Duke died 201 00:12:16,679 --> 00:12:20,000 Speaker 1: in seventeen forty nine, and it seems that sometime after 202 00:12:20,120 --> 00:12:23,760 Speaker 1: that the three sisters that we mentioned earlier threatened to 203 00:12:23,800 --> 00:12:27,840 Speaker 1: send Sancho to the Caribbean. Sancho went to Montague's widow, 204 00:12:28,000 --> 00:12:31,640 Speaker 1: lady Mary, Duchess of Montague for help and Jackal's words. 205 00:12:31,720 --> 00:12:36,000 Speaker 1: When she refused, he quote procured an old pistol for purposes, 206 00:12:36,040 --> 00:12:39,760 Speaker 1: which his father's example had suggested as familiar and had 207 00:12:39,800 --> 00:12:44,000 Speaker 1: sanctified as hereditary. In this frame of mind, the futility 208 00:12:44,120 --> 00:12:48,400 Speaker 1: of remonstrance was obvious at that point. The Duchess hired 209 00:12:48,440 --> 00:12:50,800 Speaker 1: Sancho as a butler, and he worked with her until 210 00:12:50,880 --> 00:12:54,200 Speaker 1: her death in seventeen fifty one. In her will, she 211 00:12:54,280 --> 00:12:57,640 Speaker 1: bequeathed him seventy pounds, along with an annuity of thirty 212 00:12:57,640 --> 00:13:00,720 Speaker 1: pounds per year. Sancho used this money to try to 213 00:13:00,760 --> 00:13:03,640 Speaker 1: make his own way in London. He may have tried 214 00:13:03,679 --> 00:13:06,880 Speaker 1: a career on the stage, appearing in Shakespeare's Othello and 215 00:13:06,960 --> 00:13:11,480 Speaker 1: Afribans Orinoco, but according to Jekyl quote, a defective and 216 00:13:11,559 --> 00:13:16,680 Speaker 1: incorrigible articulation rendered it abortive, which was a roundabout way 217 00:13:16,720 --> 00:13:19,440 Speaker 1: of saying he didn't work out with that because he 218 00:13:19,480 --> 00:13:24,360 Speaker 1: had a speech disorder. Sancho's tastes outstripped his income in London, though. 219 00:13:24,840 --> 00:13:27,640 Speaker 1: This is where Jekyl describes his behavior as quote a 220 00:13:27,679 --> 00:13:31,640 Speaker 1: disposition of African texture. But really none of this seems 221 00:13:31,640 --> 00:13:34,560 Speaker 1: particularly unusual for a twenty two year old living as 222 00:13:34,600 --> 00:13:36,560 Speaker 1: a freeman with some money of his own. For the 223 00:13:36,600 --> 00:13:40,760 Speaker 1: first time, he enjoyed himself with cards and theater and women, 224 00:13:41,080 --> 00:13:43,440 Speaker 1: before realizing that he could not support that kind of 225 00:13:43,480 --> 00:13:46,920 Speaker 1: lifestyle on his annuity. He once again turned to the 226 00:13:46,960 --> 00:13:50,160 Speaker 1: House of Montague, this time George, Duke of Montague and 227 00:13:50,200 --> 00:13:53,280 Speaker 1: Earl of Cardigan, whose wife Mary was the daughter of 228 00:13:53,320 --> 00:13:57,240 Speaker 1: the late John and Mary Montague. The details here are 229 00:13:57,320 --> 00:13:59,760 Speaker 1: a little bit sketchy, but he was most likely employed 230 00:13:59,800 --> 00:14:04,160 Speaker 1: as George's valet. On December seventeenth, seventeen fifty eight, Ignatious 231 00:14:04,160 --> 00:14:07,640 Speaker 1: Sancho married An Osborne, described as a black woman from 232 00:14:07,640 --> 00:14:11,400 Speaker 1: the West Indies. They had at least six children together, 233 00:14:11,800 --> 00:14:16,559 Speaker 1: William known as Billy, Kitty, Fanny, Lydia, Mary, and Elizabeth 234 00:14:16,640 --> 00:14:20,040 Speaker 1: known as Eliza. We don't know much at all about Anne, 235 00:14:20,240 --> 00:14:22,840 Speaker 1: but we do know from Sancho's letters that she was literate, 236 00:14:23,240 --> 00:14:25,360 Speaker 1: that she had a brother named John, and that their 237 00:14:25,400 --> 00:14:29,200 Speaker 1: two families were close. It's also clear from Sancho's letters 238 00:14:29,200 --> 00:14:33,280 Speaker 1: that he truly dearly loved his wife and children. Sancho 239 00:14:33,360 --> 00:14:36,160 Speaker 1: continued to work as part of the Montague household staff 240 00:14:36,200 --> 00:14:39,200 Speaker 1: after he got married. In seventeen sixty eight, he had 241 00:14:39,200 --> 00:14:41,920 Speaker 1: his portrait painted by Thomas Gainsborough, who was one of 242 00:14:41,920 --> 00:14:45,320 Speaker 1: Britain's most fashionable and renowned artists in the eighteenth century. 243 00:14:46,000 --> 00:14:48,240 Speaker 1: This happened in Bath when Gainsboro came to do a 244 00:14:48,280 --> 00:14:51,960 Speaker 1: portrait of Lady Elizabeth Montague, who was George and Mary's daughter. 245 00:14:52,840 --> 00:14:55,960 Speaker 1: Even though Sancho was working as household staff at this point, 246 00:14:56,280 --> 00:14:59,240 Speaker 1: he is not wearing livery in the portrait, and he's 247 00:14:59,360 --> 00:15:02,080 Speaker 1: using the hand than the waistcoat pose that was common 248 00:15:02,160 --> 00:15:04,400 Speaker 1: in portraits of the upper class in the eighteenth and 249 00:15:04,480 --> 00:15:07,960 Speaker 1: nineteen centuries. Today, that portrait is in the collection of 250 00:15:07,960 --> 00:15:10,800 Speaker 1: the National Gallery of Canada. By the time he was 251 00:15:10,840 --> 00:15:13,840 Speaker 1: in his forties, Sancho's health made it difficult for him 252 00:15:13,880 --> 00:15:18,320 Speaker 1: to continue working in domestic service. He had asthma and gout, 253 00:15:18,480 --> 00:15:22,000 Speaker 1: and the gout in particular became increasingly painful and debilitating, 254 00:15:22,520 --> 00:15:24,880 Speaker 1: so in seventeen seventy three the family gave him a 255 00:15:24,920 --> 00:15:27,720 Speaker 1: small annuity to help him start a grocery store, which 256 00:15:27,720 --> 00:15:30,000 Speaker 1: he ran and managed with the help of his wife, 257 00:15:30,600 --> 00:15:34,080 Speaker 1: and another example of how eighteenth century England was deeply 258 00:15:34,120 --> 00:15:37,720 Speaker 1: connected to slavery. The most important products in his stock 259 00:15:37,800 --> 00:15:41,320 Speaker 1: were tobacco, sugar and tea, all of which were being 260 00:15:41,360 --> 00:15:44,520 Speaker 1: grown through the use of enslaved labor. The grocery was 261 00:15:44,560 --> 00:15:47,440 Speaker 1: at number twenty Charles Street in Westminster, and while the 262 00:15:47,480 --> 00:15:50,640 Speaker 1: building itself is now the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the 263 00:15:50,680 --> 00:15:54,680 Speaker 1: shop's former location is marked with a historical plaque today. 264 00:15:54,760 --> 00:15:57,680 Speaker 1: In addition to selling goods, Sancho also made it into 265 00:15:57,800 --> 00:16:02,120 Speaker 1: something of a literary salon, hosting discussions among prominent writers 266 00:16:02,120 --> 00:16:07,000 Speaker 1: and musicians. Regular visitors may have included formerly enslaved abolitionists 267 00:16:07,000 --> 00:16:12,680 Speaker 1: Autoba Cuguano and O Lauda Equiano. Known visitors included aspiring 268 00:16:12,720 --> 00:16:17,720 Speaker 1: writer George Cumberland, politician Charles James Fox, antiquary Richard Payne Night, 269 00:16:17,840 --> 00:16:21,600 Speaker 1: and artist John Hamilton's Mortimer. As we noted earlier, the 270 00:16:21,600 --> 00:16:25,120 Speaker 1: grocery also became something of a tourist attraction, with wealthy people, 271 00:16:25,200 --> 00:16:27,760 Speaker 1: making it a point to shop there because of its proprietor, 272 00:16:28,120 --> 00:16:31,720 Speaker 1: known as the remarkable Negro. In other words, Sancho had 273 00:16:31,760 --> 00:16:34,680 Speaker 1: assimilated into middle class British society to the point that 274 00:16:34,720 --> 00:16:36,600 Speaker 1: he was able to have his own shop, in his 275 00:16:36,680 --> 00:16:39,320 Speaker 1: own home and all these connections, but he was still 276 00:16:39,360 --> 00:16:44,120 Speaker 1: definitely an outsider within that society. Joseph Jekyl describes the 277 00:16:44,160 --> 00:16:47,480 Speaker 1: grocery this way quote A commerce with the muses was 278 00:16:47,520 --> 00:16:50,920 Speaker 1: supported amid the trivial and momentary interruptions of a shop. 279 00:16:51,440 --> 00:16:54,520 Speaker 1: The poets were studied and even imitated, with some success. 280 00:16:55,160 --> 00:16:58,400 Speaker 1: Two pieces were constructed for the stage. The theory of 281 00:16:58,480 --> 00:17:01,760 Speaker 1: music was discussed, published and dedicated to the Princess Royal, 282 00:17:02,280 --> 00:17:04,919 Speaker 1: and painting was so much within the circle of ignatious 283 00:17:04,920 --> 00:17:09,720 Speaker 1: Sancho's judgment and criticism that Mortimer came often to consult him. 284 00:17:09,840 --> 00:17:13,040 Speaker 1: Such was the man whose species philosophers and anatomis have 285 00:17:13,200 --> 00:17:16,679 Speaker 1: endeavored to degrade as a deterioration of the human And 286 00:17:16,760 --> 00:17:19,320 Speaker 1: such was the man whom fuller, with a benevolence and 287 00:17:19,400 --> 00:17:24,240 Speaker 1: quaintness of phrase, peculiarly his own accountess God's image, though 288 00:17:24,280 --> 00:17:27,480 Speaker 1: cut in ebony, since he owned the grocery store in 289 00:17:27,560 --> 00:17:31,040 Speaker 1: his home. Sancho was eligible to vote in the British elections, 290 00:17:31,080 --> 00:17:34,360 Speaker 1: which at the time were open only to male property holders. 291 00:17:34,880 --> 00:17:36,879 Speaker 1: That was, of course, a tiny, tiny fraction of the 292 00:17:36,880 --> 00:17:41,080 Speaker 1: British population. Sancho voted in seventeen seventy four, making him 293 00:17:41,119 --> 00:17:44,080 Speaker 1: the first black Britain known to do so, and he 294 00:17:44,160 --> 00:17:47,760 Speaker 1: voted again in seventeen eighty. Also in seventeen eighty he 295 00:17:47,800 --> 00:17:51,320 Speaker 1: witnessed the anti Catholic Gordon Riots, something that he wrote 296 00:17:51,359 --> 00:17:54,240 Speaker 1: about in his letters toward the end of his life. 297 00:17:54,359 --> 00:17:57,240 Speaker 1: These letters were really the primary way that Sancho kept 298 00:17:57,320 --> 00:18:00,520 Speaker 1: up with his enormous social circle. The a client in 299 00:18:00,600 --> 00:18:03,240 Speaker 1: his health had made it difficult, too impossible for him 300 00:18:03,280 --> 00:18:06,960 Speaker 1: to go visit people. In addition to his general correspondence, 301 00:18:06,960 --> 00:18:09,960 Speaker 1: he also wrote letters to newspapers and to public figures, 302 00:18:10,320 --> 00:18:13,960 Speaker 1: many of them advocating for the abolition of slavery. His 303 00:18:14,119 --> 00:18:17,399 Speaker 1: last letters to friends and family make frequent mentions of 304 00:18:17,480 --> 00:18:21,760 Speaker 1: illness and pain, and visits from doctors. Ignatia Santo died 305 00:18:21,880 --> 00:18:25,840 Speaker 1: on December fourteen, seventy He was buried at St Margaret's, 306 00:18:25,840 --> 00:18:30,440 Speaker 1: Westminster on December sevent In addition to his other firsts. 307 00:18:30,440 --> 00:18:32,840 Speaker 1: He was the first person of African descent to have 308 00:18:32,880 --> 00:18:37,000 Speaker 1: an obituary published in the British newspapers. Although Joseph Jekyl's 309 00:18:37,040 --> 00:18:39,720 Speaker 1: biography is the source of a lot of the information 310 00:18:39,720 --> 00:18:42,400 Speaker 1: that we've mentioned so far, we get a better sense 311 00:18:42,400 --> 00:18:45,879 Speaker 1: of Ignatia Sancho's own thoughts and personality through his letters, 312 00:18:46,040 --> 00:18:48,399 Speaker 1: and we'll talk more about that after we first have 313 00:18:48,440 --> 00:18:59,280 Speaker 1: a sponsor break. After Ignatia Sancho died, his son William 314 00:18:59,280 --> 00:19:02,440 Speaker 1: took over the Growth Street before eventually becoming a librarian 315 00:19:02,560 --> 00:19:06,679 Speaker 1: for naturalist Joseph Banks and also opening a bookshop that 316 00:19:06,760 --> 00:19:11,160 Speaker 1: made William Sancho England's first known black bookseller, and since 317 00:19:11,200 --> 00:19:13,840 Speaker 1: he published some of his father's work as well as 318 00:19:13,840 --> 00:19:17,399 Speaker 1: an edition of Voltaire, he was also England's first known 319 00:19:17,480 --> 00:19:21,880 Speaker 1: black publisher. William Sancho also worked with Francis Crewe, who 320 00:19:21,920 --> 00:19:25,280 Speaker 1: had been one of ignatius correspondents, on publishing a collection 321 00:19:25,320 --> 00:19:29,320 Speaker 1: of his father's selected letters after his father's death. In 322 00:19:29,440 --> 00:19:32,639 Speaker 1: cruse words, she was motivated by quote the desire of 323 00:19:32,680 --> 00:19:36,520 Speaker 1: showing that an untutored African may possess abilities equal to 324 00:19:36,560 --> 00:19:40,399 Speaker 1: a European and the still superior motive of wishing to 325 00:19:40,440 --> 00:19:44,440 Speaker 1: serve his worthy family. Sancho had actually become publicly known 326 00:19:44,480 --> 00:19:47,560 Speaker 1: for his letter writing while he was still living, thanks 327 00:19:47,600 --> 00:19:51,520 Speaker 1: to an exchange of letters with author Lawrence Stern. A 328 00:19:51,600 --> 00:19:55,159 Speaker 1: seventeen sixties six letter that Sancho wrote to Stern and 329 00:19:55,200 --> 00:19:58,360 Speaker 1: then three letters that Stern wrote back to Sancho were 330 00:19:58,400 --> 00:20:01,800 Speaker 1: included in the Letters of the Late Reverend Lawrence Stern 331 00:20:01,880 --> 00:20:05,000 Speaker 1: to His Most Intimate Friends that was first published in 332 00:20:05,000 --> 00:20:10,320 Speaker 1: seventy Sancho wrote this letter after reading Stern's job's account 333 00:20:10,320 --> 00:20:12,960 Speaker 1: of the Shortness and Troubles of Life, which included a 334 00:20:13,000 --> 00:20:17,280 Speaker 1: passage about slavery being a bitter draft. Sancho's letter to 335 00:20:17,320 --> 00:20:19,760 Speaker 1: Stern was a little like a fan letter, but it 336 00:20:19,800 --> 00:20:22,040 Speaker 1: was also a request for Stern to take up the 337 00:20:22,080 --> 00:20:25,960 Speaker 1: issue of slavery more powerfully in his own writing. We 338 00:20:26,000 --> 00:20:28,320 Speaker 1: read a bit of this letter earlier in the episode. 339 00:20:28,680 --> 00:20:31,320 Speaker 1: Beyond what we already read, Sancho went on to talk 340 00:20:31,359 --> 00:20:34,119 Speaker 1: about how much he appreciated the character of Uncle Toby 341 00:20:34,160 --> 00:20:38,399 Speaker 1: interest from Shandy, before saying, quote, consider how great a 342 00:20:38,480 --> 00:20:41,280 Speaker 1: part of our species, in all ages down to this, 343 00:20:41,760 --> 00:20:44,679 Speaker 1: have been trod under the feet of cruel and capricious 344 00:20:44,720 --> 00:20:48,720 Speaker 1: tyrants who would neither hear their cries nor pity their distresses. 345 00:20:49,359 --> 00:20:52,760 Speaker 1: Consider slavery what it is, how bitter a draft, and 346 00:20:52,800 --> 00:20:56,040 Speaker 1: how many millions are made to drink of it. From there, 347 00:20:56,080 --> 00:20:59,040 Speaker 1: Sancho went on to say that none of his favorite 348 00:20:59,080 --> 00:21:02,359 Speaker 1: authors had ever quote drawn a tear in favor of 349 00:21:02,359 --> 00:21:07,000 Speaker 1: my miserable black brethren, the only exceptions being Stern and 350 00:21:07,040 --> 00:21:10,399 Speaker 1: the author of Sir George Ellison. That's the History of 351 00:21:10,400 --> 00:21:13,160 Speaker 1: Sir George Ellison, which was published in seventeen sixty six 352 00:21:13,160 --> 00:21:16,439 Speaker 1: by Sarah Scott. Then Sancho went on to say, quote, 353 00:21:16,440 --> 00:21:18,639 Speaker 1: I think you will forgive me. I am sure you 354 00:21:18,680 --> 00:21:21,600 Speaker 1: will applaud me for beseeching you to give one half 355 00:21:21,680 --> 00:21:25,120 Speaker 1: hour's attention to slavery as it is at this day 356 00:21:25,200 --> 00:21:28,560 Speaker 1: practiced in our West Indies. That subject, handled in your 357 00:21:28,600 --> 00:21:32,320 Speaker 1: striking manner, would ease the yoke perhaps of many. But 358 00:21:32,400 --> 00:21:35,439 Speaker 1: if only one, gracious God, what a feast to a 359 00:21:35,440 --> 00:21:39,120 Speaker 1: benevolent heart. Stern, to reply to this, began quote, there's 360 00:21:39,160 --> 00:21:42,440 Speaker 1: a strange coincidence, Sancho, in the little events as well 361 00:21:42,480 --> 00:21:45,199 Speaker 1: as in the great ones of this world. For I 362 00:21:45,200 --> 00:21:47,919 Speaker 1: had been writing a tender tale of the sorrows of 363 00:21:47,960 --> 00:21:51,360 Speaker 1: a friendless, poor negro girl. And my eyes had scarce 364 00:21:51,400 --> 00:21:54,479 Speaker 1: done smarting with it when your letter of recommendation, in 365 00:21:54,520 --> 00:21:57,480 Speaker 1: behalf of so many of her brethren and sisters came 366 00:21:57,520 --> 00:22:01,879 Speaker 1: to me. But why her brethren or yours, Sancho, anymore 367 00:22:02,000 --> 00:22:05,879 Speaker 1: than mine. Stern's reply went on to say, in part quote, 368 00:22:06,240 --> 00:22:09,240 Speaker 1: but tis no uncommon thing, my good Sancho, for one 369 00:22:09,359 --> 00:22:11,720 Speaker 1: half of the world to use the other half of 370 00:22:11,760 --> 00:22:14,600 Speaker 1: it like brutes, and then endeavor to make them so. 371 00:22:15,480 --> 00:22:18,000 Speaker 1: For my part, I never look westward when I am 372 00:22:18,040 --> 00:22:20,399 Speaker 1: in a pensive mood at least, but I think of 373 00:22:20,440 --> 00:22:24,160 Speaker 1: the burthens, which are brothers and sisters? Are they're carrying? 374 00:22:24,760 --> 00:22:28,880 Speaker 1: Sterns letter to Sancho was circulated in abolitionist literature after 375 00:22:28,960 --> 00:22:31,400 Speaker 1: it was published, and the same was true of Sancho's 376 00:22:31,440 --> 00:22:35,120 Speaker 1: own letters. Sancho also seemed to pattern his own writing 377 00:22:35,200 --> 00:22:38,879 Speaker 1: style after Sterns and Tristram Shandy, using lots and lots 378 00:22:38,880 --> 00:22:42,360 Speaker 1: of dashes and something of a wandering style. There's been 379 00:22:42,359 --> 00:22:44,920 Speaker 1: some debate among literary critics about whether this was a 380 00:22:45,040 --> 00:22:48,760 Speaker 1: sort of super fans fawning mimicry of their favorite author 381 00:22:48,840 --> 00:22:52,439 Speaker 1: style or not Sancho was definitely a huge fan of Stern, 382 00:22:52,560 --> 00:22:55,640 Speaker 1: even owning a cast of a statue representing Stern's head, 383 00:22:55,960 --> 00:22:58,720 Speaker 1: but it could also just be Sancho's own genuine voice 384 00:22:58,840 --> 00:23:02,240 Speaker 1: and possibly a written an approximation of how he actually spoke. 385 00:23:03,000 --> 00:23:07,600 Speaker 1: These letters that Santa wrote are candid, rye ironic, sometimes 386 00:23:07,640 --> 00:23:11,760 Speaker 1: a little suggestive, and often self deprecating. Here's an example 387 00:23:11,840 --> 00:23:15,280 Speaker 1: from a seventeen seventy seven letter to artist and printmaker 388 00:23:15,480 --> 00:23:18,119 Speaker 1: John B. Hugh, who was a clerk on the Board 389 00:23:18,119 --> 00:23:22,200 Speaker 1: of Control. Sancho writes about having been ill and about 390 00:23:22,200 --> 00:23:25,840 Speaker 1: how the gout in his hand was making even writing painful, 391 00:23:26,320 --> 00:23:29,359 Speaker 1: and then an ink blot fell on the page. He wrote, 392 00:23:29,520 --> 00:23:33,000 Speaker 1: I hope confound the ink. What a blot? Now? Don't 393 00:23:33,040 --> 00:23:36,360 Speaker 1: you dare suppose I was in fault? No, sir, the 394 00:23:36,400 --> 00:23:41,040 Speaker 1: pen was diabbled, the paper worse. There was a concatenation 395 00:23:41,240 --> 00:23:45,320 Speaker 1: of ill sorted chances all coincided to contribute to that 396 00:23:45,480 --> 00:23:49,080 Speaker 1: fatal blot, which is so disarranged my ideas that I 397 00:23:49,160 --> 00:23:52,800 Speaker 1: must perforce finish before I had half disburthened my head 398 00:23:52,880 --> 00:23:56,680 Speaker 1: and heart. In some printed editions of Sancho's letters, the 399 00:23:56,720 --> 00:24:00,919 Speaker 1: ink blot in question is is reproduced the page like 400 00:24:01,000 --> 00:24:04,199 Speaker 1: with a smudgy little some sort of like typeface that 401 00:24:04,240 --> 00:24:06,119 Speaker 1: they created to be like. This is the ink block 402 00:24:06,240 --> 00:24:08,760 Speaker 1: character that we will use to print this love it. 403 00:24:09,400 --> 00:24:11,919 Speaker 1: The letters also give glimpses into what it was like 404 00:24:12,000 --> 00:24:15,120 Speaker 1: to be a black man living in London. A seventeen 405 00:24:15,200 --> 00:24:18,440 Speaker 1: seventy seven letter describes a night out in Voxhall courtesy 406 00:24:18,440 --> 00:24:21,280 Speaker 1: of a monsieur l quote. If you should happen to 407 00:24:21,320 --> 00:24:23,880 Speaker 1: know him, you may tell him from me that last 408 00:24:24,000 --> 00:24:27,240 Speaker 1: night three great girls, a boy and a fat old 409 00:24:27,240 --> 00:24:30,000 Speaker 1: fellow were as happy and pleased as a fine evening, 410 00:24:30,520 --> 00:24:34,639 Speaker 1: fine place, good songs, much company, and good music could 411 00:24:34,680 --> 00:24:38,760 Speaker 1: make them heaven and earth. How happy, how delighted were 412 00:24:38,760 --> 00:24:42,680 Speaker 1: the girls? Oh, the pleasures of novelty to youth. We 413 00:24:42,720 --> 00:24:47,320 Speaker 1: went by water, had a coach home, were gazed at, followed, etcetera, etcetera, 414 00:24:47,680 --> 00:24:51,639 Speaker 1: but not much abused. Sancho's criticisms of slavery include a 415 00:24:51,680 --> 00:24:55,560 Speaker 1: reference to past podcast subject Phyllis Wheatley, specifically to the 416 00:24:55,600 --> 00:24:58,920 Speaker 1: fact that John and Susannah Wheatley continued to enslave her 417 00:24:58,960 --> 00:25:02,800 Speaker 1: while also helping to publish her work. Quote it reflects 418 00:25:02,960 --> 00:25:06,320 Speaker 1: nothing either to the glory or generosity of her master, 419 00:25:06,720 --> 00:25:09,879 Speaker 1: if she is still his slave, except he glories in 420 00:25:09,960 --> 00:25:13,240 Speaker 1: the low vanity of having in his wanton power a 421 00:25:13,400 --> 00:25:18,560 Speaker 1: mind animated by Heaven, a genius superior to himself. This 422 00:25:18,640 --> 00:25:20,800 Speaker 1: letter was written in seventeen seventy eight, at which point 423 00:25:20,840 --> 00:25:24,560 Speaker 1: Phillis Wheatley had been manumented. In the seventeen seventy eight 424 00:25:24,600 --> 00:25:27,760 Speaker 1: letter to Jack wind Grave, Sancho responds to earlier letters 425 00:25:27,760 --> 00:25:32,760 Speaker 1: in which wind Grave had described Africans as deceitful. Sancho writes, quote, 426 00:25:32,760 --> 00:25:35,480 Speaker 1: my good friend, you should remember from whom they learned 427 00:25:35,480 --> 00:25:38,800 Speaker 1: those vices. Before going on to condemn the institution of 428 00:25:38,840 --> 00:25:43,159 Speaker 1: slavery and England's participation in it, Sancho acknowledges that he 429 00:25:43,280 --> 00:25:46,920 Speaker 1: himself has enjoyed what he called many blessings living in England, 430 00:25:46,960 --> 00:25:51,159 Speaker 1: before describing the nation's conduct as uniformly wicked in the 431 00:25:51,200 --> 00:25:54,399 Speaker 1: Indies and in Guinea. He then goes on to say, quote, 432 00:25:54,440 --> 00:25:57,840 Speaker 1: in Africa, the poor, wretched natives, blessed with the most 433 00:25:57,880 --> 00:26:01,360 Speaker 1: fertile and luxuriant soil, are rendered so much the more 434 00:26:01,359 --> 00:26:05,199 Speaker 1: miserable for what providence meant as a blessing. The Christians, 435 00:26:05,280 --> 00:26:09,040 Speaker 1: abominable traffic for slaves, and the horrid cruelty and treachery 436 00:26:09,080 --> 00:26:13,200 Speaker 1: of the petty kings, encouraged by their Christian customers who 437 00:26:13,280 --> 00:26:17,080 Speaker 1: carry them strong liquors to inflame their national madness, and 438 00:26:17,200 --> 00:26:20,920 Speaker 1: powder and bad firearms to furnish them with the hellish 439 00:26:20,960 --> 00:26:25,359 Speaker 1: means of killing and kidnapping. Beyond these selections, Sancho's letters 440 00:26:25,440 --> 00:26:29,040 Speaker 1: ranged all over in terms of their content. There's gossip, 441 00:26:29,320 --> 00:26:32,879 Speaker 1: ordinary goings on what was happening with Sancho and his family, 442 00:26:33,200 --> 00:26:36,560 Speaker 1: and observations of what was happening around him. He wrote 443 00:26:36,560 --> 00:26:38,920 Speaker 1: to other black men who were embarking on their free 444 00:26:38,960 --> 00:26:42,439 Speaker 1: adult lives with advice and guidance. Some of his letters 445 00:26:42,480 --> 00:26:46,240 Speaker 1: also include requests for help, like soliciting donations to help 446 00:26:46,240 --> 00:26:50,160 Speaker 1: black Londoners in need and the words of European Magazine 447 00:26:50,160 --> 00:26:54,200 Speaker 1: in two. Through his letters, Sancho quote presents to us 448 00:26:54,240 --> 00:26:57,600 Speaker 1: the naked effusions of a negro's heart, and it shows 449 00:26:57,600 --> 00:27:01,000 Speaker 1: it glowing with the finest philanthropy and the purist affections. 450 00:27:01,440 --> 00:27:04,120 Speaker 1: They have more warmth and elegance of diction and more 451 00:27:04,240 --> 00:27:08,480 Speaker 1: feeling than correctness. As we've talked about before, publishing books 452 00:27:08,520 --> 00:27:11,400 Speaker 1: at this point involved getting subscribers to buy the book 453 00:27:11,440 --> 00:27:14,960 Speaker 1: in advance. The first edition of Sancho's Letters, which came 454 00:27:14,960 --> 00:27:18,400 Speaker 1: out in seventeen eighty two, had one thousand, one eighty 455 00:27:18,480 --> 00:27:22,119 Speaker 1: one subscribers, and subscribers were all over the social and 456 00:27:22,160 --> 00:27:26,879 Speaker 1: economic spectrum, including servants, artists, and politicians, and including the 457 00:27:26,920 --> 00:27:31,480 Speaker 1: Prime Minister. Sancho's Letters became an immediate bestseller, with five 458 00:27:31,640 --> 00:27:35,520 Speaker 1: editions published between seventeen eighty two and eighteen o three. 459 00:27:35,920 --> 00:27:38,359 Speaker 1: Sancho's Letters have come and gone out of favor since 460 00:27:38,400 --> 00:27:41,400 Speaker 1: they were first published, in a pattern that's really similar 461 00:27:41,520 --> 00:27:45,760 Speaker 1: to past podcast subject Phillis Sweetly. Although both writers work 462 00:27:45,880 --> 00:27:49,040 Speaker 1: was used to support abolition, it was also cited by 463 00:27:49,080 --> 00:27:52,960 Speaker 1: people like Thomas Jefferson in Notes on the State of Virginia. 464 00:27:53,040 --> 00:27:56,399 Speaker 1: Jefferson wrote, quote, religion indeed has produced to Phillis s Wheetly, 465 00:27:56,520 --> 00:27:59,600 Speaker 1: but it could not produce a poet. The compositions published 466 00:27:59,640 --> 00:28:03,159 Speaker 1: under her name are below the dignity of criticism. The 467 00:28:03,200 --> 00:28:06,399 Speaker 1: heroes of Densidad are to her as hercules to the 468 00:28:06,440 --> 00:28:10,520 Speaker 1: author of that poem. Ignacious Sancho has approached nearer to 469 00:28:10,640 --> 00:28:13,760 Speaker 1: merit in composition. Yet his letters do more honor to 470 00:28:13,920 --> 00:28:17,040 Speaker 1: the hearts than the head. Sancho's work went out of 471 00:28:17,080 --> 00:28:19,800 Speaker 1: print in the nineteenth century, and when it was reprinted 472 00:28:19,800 --> 00:28:23,600 Speaker 1: in the nineteen sixties, some critics dismissed it as inauthentic 473 00:28:23,680 --> 00:28:27,040 Speaker 1: and too deferential to white British society, some of the 474 00:28:27,040 --> 00:28:30,080 Speaker 1: same criticisms that had been applied to Wheatley's poetry in 475 00:28:30,119 --> 00:28:34,400 Speaker 1: the twentieth century. But as was the case with Phyllis Wheatley, 476 00:28:34,440 --> 00:28:37,560 Speaker 1: in more recent years, critics have given Sancho more credit 477 00:28:37,840 --> 00:28:40,400 Speaker 1: for his ability to carve out a space for himself 478 00:28:40,400 --> 00:28:45,000 Speaker 1: in British society and to persistently press his correspondence on 479 00:28:45,080 --> 00:28:49,160 Speaker 1: issues like racism. In addition to his letters, Sancho was 480 00:28:49,200 --> 00:28:52,400 Speaker 1: the first black Man to publish music and the European 481 00:28:52,520 --> 00:28:57,959 Speaker 1: musical tradition. Four collections of his music survived today. Minuets, 482 00:28:58,000 --> 00:29:01,800 Speaker 1: Cotillions and Country Dances for the Island Mandolin, German Flute 483 00:29:01,800 --> 00:29:05,000 Speaker 1: and Harpsichord Composed by an African, which came out in 484 00:29:05,040 --> 00:29:08,760 Speaker 1: seventeen sixty seven. A collection of New Songs Composed by 485 00:29:08,760 --> 00:29:13,000 Speaker 1: an African, humbly inscribed to the Honorable Mrs James Brudenell 486 00:29:13,160 --> 00:29:15,840 Speaker 1: by her most humble and Obedient Servant, which came out 487 00:29:15,840 --> 00:29:20,720 Speaker 1: in seventeen sixty nine. Minuets Etcetera, Etcetera for the Violin, Mandolin, 488 00:29:20,920 --> 00:29:24,640 Speaker 1: German Flute and Harpsichord Books, Second Composed by an African 489 00:29:24,800 --> 00:29:28,360 Speaker 1: which came out in seventeen seventy and twelve Country Dances 490 00:29:28,400 --> 00:29:31,320 Speaker 1: for the Year seventeen seventy nine, sept for the Harpsichord 491 00:29:31,400 --> 00:29:35,040 Speaker 1: By Permission Humbly dedicated to the Right Honorable Miss North 492 00:29:35,480 --> 00:29:40,000 Speaker 1: by her most obedient Servant, Ignacious Sancho. All of these 493 00:29:40,040 --> 00:29:42,840 Speaker 1: works were published for the author, meaning that Sancho paid 494 00:29:42,880 --> 00:29:46,600 Speaker 1: for the printing himself, which was typical for amateur composers 495 00:29:46,680 --> 00:29:50,240 Speaker 1: and for professionals who were just starting out. This musical 496 00:29:50,240 --> 00:29:54,440 Speaker 1: work has been described as reflective of a knowledgeable, capable amateur, 497 00:29:54,800 --> 00:29:57,560 Speaker 1: a selection of charming songs that were easy for other 498 00:29:57,560 --> 00:30:00,880 Speaker 1: amateurs to sing and play at home. It's possible that 499 00:30:00,920 --> 00:30:03,800 Speaker 1: Sancho performed the music he wrote either at home or 500 00:30:03,840 --> 00:30:07,960 Speaker 1: at gatherings within London's black community as well. Menu scripts 501 00:30:07,960 --> 00:30:10,520 Speaker 1: of these works still exist and are in the collections 502 00:30:10,560 --> 00:30:13,680 Speaker 1: of the British Museum in the Library of Congress. A 503 00:30:13,800 --> 00:30:17,240 Speaker 1: theory of music that Sancho wrote unfortunately has been lost. 504 00:30:17,840 --> 00:30:21,680 Speaker 1: There are though videos of various ensembles performing selections of 505 00:30:21,720 --> 00:30:24,400 Speaker 1: this music that you can find online. Yeah, if you 506 00:30:24,440 --> 00:30:27,880 Speaker 1: google something like Ignacious Sancho music, you'll find videos of 507 00:30:28,440 --> 00:30:32,760 Speaker 1: performances and things like that. Ignacious Sancho has also been 508 00:30:32,800 --> 00:30:36,760 Speaker 1: the subject of a one man play by Paterson Joseph, who, 509 00:30:36,800 --> 00:30:39,440 Speaker 1: in addition to his other work, played Connor Mason on 510 00:30:39,480 --> 00:30:42,640 Speaker 1: the TV show Timeless, which I was a huge fan 511 00:30:42,720 --> 00:30:45,080 Speaker 1: of and I know many of our listeners were also. 512 00:30:45,520 --> 00:30:48,480 Speaker 1: This one man show is called Sancho an Active Remembrance, 513 00:30:48,800 --> 00:30:51,480 Speaker 1: and in a piece called Preface to Sancho an Active 514 00:30:51,520 --> 00:30:54,440 Speaker 1: Remembrance that was published on the website of the British Library, 515 00:30:54,840 --> 00:30:58,680 Speaker 1: Joseph writes about how many Black Britons trace their identities 516 00:30:58,720 --> 00:31:02,240 Speaker 1: back to the wind Rush gen ration that was a 517 00:31:02,280 --> 00:31:05,560 Speaker 1: wave of immigration to Britain from the Caribbeans starting with 518 00:31:05,720 --> 00:31:09,520 Speaker 1: arrivals aboard the h MT Empire wind Rush which arrived 519 00:31:09,520 --> 00:31:14,200 Speaker 1: on June. That, of course, is a whole other story, 520 00:31:14,280 --> 00:31:17,280 Speaker 1: which could be its own episode of the podcast. He 521 00:31:17,400 --> 00:31:21,240 Speaker 1: writes about how his research into Ignatius Sancho and the 522 00:31:21,320 --> 00:31:23,880 Speaker 1: time that he was living in quote changed forever the 523 00:31:23,960 --> 00:31:27,520 Speaker 1: meaning of the words black British. That piece is well 524 00:31:27,560 --> 00:31:30,520 Speaker 1: worth a read. It's easily found by googling preface to 525 00:31:30,520 --> 00:31:35,960 Speaker 1: Sancho an active remembrance um, and that is ignisious. Sancho. 526 00:31:36,800 --> 00:31:39,000 Speaker 1: Do you have a bit of listener mail for us? 527 00:31:38,880 --> 00:31:41,000 Speaker 1: I do, before I get to that. There are, of 528 00:31:41,040 --> 00:31:43,920 Speaker 1: course lots of places to read all of those letters 529 00:31:43,920 --> 00:31:47,720 Speaker 1: yourself online. Um. The whole thing, it's in the public domain. 530 00:31:48,400 --> 00:31:52,120 Speaker 1: I have a super super quick Facebook comment from Lynn 531 00:31:52,680 --> 00:31:55,000 Speaker 1: that is in reference to our podcast on James Baldwin, 532 00:31:55,200 --> 00:31:57,120 Speaker 1: and Lynn writes, just want to let you know that 533 00:31:57,160 --> 00:32:00,080 Speaker 1: in reference to the James Baldwin podcast, City College of 534 00:32:00,080 --> 00:32:02,960 Speaker 1: New York was tuition free until the early nineteen seventies, 535 00:32:03,320 --> 00:32:06,960 Speaker 1: so Baldwin didn't attend for other reasons. Um. We got 536 00:32:06,960 --> 00:32:10,280 Speaker 1: a couple of notes about that. One of the biographies 537 00:32:10,400 --> 00:32:13,360 Speaker 1: of of James Baldwin that I read for the episode 538 00:32:13,480 --> 00:32:16,360 Speaker 1: characterized his not attending City College of New York as 539 00:32:16,400 --> 00:32:18,840 Speaker 1: being about not being able to afford the tuition. And 540 00:32:18,880 --> 00:32:20,920 Speaker 1: in my head, I was like, I thought City College 541 00:32:20,920 --> 00:32:24,560 Speaker 1: of New York was free, And in my googling of that, 542 00:32:25,040 --> 00:32:28,560 Speaker 1: the first thing I saw was a h An article 543 00:32:28,640 --> 00:32:31,880 Speaker 1: that was about a tuition free um program for like 544 00:32:31,960 --> 00:32:36,280 Speaker 1: one particular set of like economically relatively disadvantaged students that 545 00:32:36,280 --> 00:32:38,120 Speaker 1: New York was rolling out, and I was like, oh, 546 00:32:38,160 --> 00:32:39,600 Speaker 1: that must have been what I was thinking of, and 547 00:32:39,680 --> 00:32:43,160 Speaker 1: just moved on in my head. Um, but that is correct. 548 00:32:43,240 --> 00:32:46,640 Speaker 1: It was not charging tuition as of the forties that 549 00:32:46,640 --> 00:32:51,640 Speaker 1: had been established as a tuition free learning institution and 550 00:32:51,680 --> 00:32:55,760 Speaker 1: continued to be so until various economic factors and whatnot 551 00:32:55,800 --> 00:33:00,920 Speaker 1: caused it to start charging tuition. Um. It probably still 552 00:33:01,200 --> 00:33:04,120 Speaker 1: was for financial reasons that he didn't go though, Like 553 00:33:04,240 --> 00:33:08,960 Speaker 1: his family was really really impoverished, and by working instead 554 00:33:09,000 --> 00:33:10,680 Speaker 1: of going to college it meant that he was able 555 00:33:10,720 --> 00:33:13,760 Speaker 1: to help them make ends meet. So I think even 556 00:33:13,760 --> 00:33:16,320 Speaker 1: though there wasn't tuition involved, that was still the root 557 00:33:16,600 --> 00:33:20,960 Speaker 1: of that matter. So thank you for that correction. I 558 00:33:21,040 --> 00:33:27,280 Speaker 1: apologize for not going deeply enough in fact checking myself. UM. 559 00:33:27,280 --> 00:33:28,680 Speaker 1: And if you would like to write to us about 560 00:33:28,680 --> 00:33:31,000 Speaker 1: this or any other podcast, where at History podcast at 561 00:33:31,040 --> 00:33:33,400 Speaker 1: iHeart radio dot com. And then we're all over social 562 00:33:33,400 --> 00:33:35,120 Speaker 1: media at miss in History. That's where you'll find our 563 00:33:35,120 --> 00:33:38,760 Speaker 1: Facebook and Pinterest, Twitter, and Instagram, and you could subscribe 564 00:33:38,760 --> 00:33:40,720 Speaker 1: to our show on the I Heart radio app and 565 00:33:40,760 --> 00:33:49,160 Speaker 1: Apple podcasts and anywhere you get your podcasts. Stuff you 566 00:33:49,200 --> 00:33:51,880 Speaker 1: missed in History Class is a production of I heart Radio. 567 00:33:52,200 --> 00:33:55,040 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from i Heeart Radio, visit the iHeart 568 00:33:55,120 --> 00:33:58,239 Speaker 1: Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 569 00:33:58,240 --> 00:33:58,959 Speaker 1: favorite shows.