White Debt (Part 2)

Available for over a year

Written and presented by Thomas Harding Dramatised by Patricia Cumper Based on the book White Debt by Thomas Harding In 1823 Demerara was the most profitable and one of the most brutally violent of Britain’s West Indian colonies. For the slaveholders, it meant profit, luxury and power. For the enslaved, it meant a lifetime of terrible servitude. But the enslaved outnumbered the colonists thirty to one. The uprising led by Jack Gladstone and his father Quamina was to be, up to that point, the largest in British history. The author and journalist Thomas Harding tells the story of the Demerara Uprising in 1823 that he argues had a decisive effect on Britain’s own attitude to slavery. This piece of history is brought to life with actors as audio drama, written by Patricia Cumper. But the programme also contains a contemporary strand. In the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd and the increased attention being paid to Britain's colonial past, this two-part programme explores the legacy of Britain’s slavery today and asks the question, what, if anything should we do about it? Jack . . . . . Martins Imhangbe Quamina . . . . . Cyril Nri John . . . . . Mark Edel-Hunt Jane . . . . . Grace Cooper Milton Primo . . . . . Justice Ritchie Seaton . . . . . Chris Jack Sandy . . . . . Kemi Durosinmi Stewart . . . . . Michael Begley Hamilton . . . . . Sam Dale M’Turk . . . . . Ben Crowe Leahy . . . . . Joseph Ayre Produced by Sasha Yevtushenko