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The Crown's Silence

The Hidden History of the British Monarchy and Slavery

Join us for a talk by historian Dr. Brooke Newman on her latest book, “The Crown’s Silence: The Hidden History of the British Monarchy and Slavery.”

The Crown’s Silence: The Hidden History of the British Monarchy and Slavery uncovers the British monarchy’s deep entanglement in the transatlantic slave trade and colonial slavery, which includes King Charles III’s direct ancestor Edward Porteus, an enslaver who owned a tobacco plantation in Virginia. 

Dr. Brooke Newman recounts how, for centuries, Britain has told itself and the world that it is an abolitionist nation, one that, unlike the United States, rejected human bondage and dismantled its Atlantic slave empire without tearing itself apart in violence. It presented itself as an abolitionist nation headed by a just, humane monarch who liberated enslaved Africans and recognized their descendants as free and equal subjects of the British Crown. Ranging from the Tudor era to the reign of Queen Victoria, she shows how successive monarchs invested in, profited from and defended an imperial system built on racial slavery — and how the Crown’s silence continues to shape public memory to this day.  

This event is part of the Library’s programming commemorating Virginia's role in the 250th anniversary of American independence.

Dr. Newman is an associate professor of history at Virginia Commonwealth University and a fellow of the Royal Historical Society. She specializes in the history of early modern Britain and the British Atlantic, with a focus on slavery and its legacies. 

This is a free event, but registration is required. For more information contact education@lva.virginia.gov

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