Lest we forget "Whipped Peter"
In 1863, a picture of “Whipped Peter” scourge back showed white people the result of using a “whip as a tool” to control Black people’s behaviour.
“For thousands of white people, it was a shocking image that helped fuel the fires of abolition during the Civil War.”(Blakemore, 2022)
Today, Birmingham based Midland Heart says a reference to the “tool” use to control “Whipped Peter” is anti-social behaviour, which Lord Justice Jackson says is “criminal conduct” (Jackson, 2013).
In 2014, Midland Heart was ready to evict or imprison a Jamaican slave descendant if he repeated the “legal tools” used to control “Whipped Peter”.
Black History Month 2023The Atlantic slave trade was a crime against humanity (Wikipedia). Today, many institutions acknowledge and apologise for their role in the slave trade.
It is shameful a city once involved in the slave trade, Birmingham is where slave descendants’ freedom of speech is controlled by risk of eviction or prison (Mullen, 2020).
Black History Month 2023 is to be a remembrance of those black slaves who refused to be controlled by white slavers’ tools: the cat o nine tails. (Wooten, 2013)
In October, let’s tell Midland Heart about the Atlantic slave trades “Whipped” Peters.
Check Facebook if you’re interested in taking part in “Whipped Peter” remembrance.
See also “Emancipation”, a film based on Whipped Peter”.
References
- Blakemore, Erin( 2022), “The Shocking Photo of ‘Whipped Peter’ That Made Slavery’s Brutality Impossible to Deny”
- Jackson, L J (2013) Birmingham City Council and Gavin James [2013] EWCA Civ 552 para 21
- Wikipedia, "Slave revolt and punishment"
- WOOTEN, ANDRE (2013), “SAMUEL SHARPE (CA. 1780-1832)”
- Mullen, Stephen (2020), “James Watt and Slavery in Scotland”