This series is absolutely informative and powerful and done with great frankness. It tells you the story of the origins of racism and the origins of it from the very dawn of European culture. It covers how Europe in the modern era became the global power and how ancient ideas combined with modern techniques influenced European attitudes to people different from themselves at various stages in time from the American Indians to the slave trade and colonialism and the real motivations of the "abolitionists" by which slavery transformed in to colonialism from economic practicality to political ideology and how aspects of traditional culture and nascent science developed European attitudes. It also gets more controversial as the series goes on in to the modern era and the present such as the eugenics movement and its influence and impact in shaping Nazism by which many have a naive and isolate understanding of and the various atrocities. The BBC does excellent documentaries as they do not go with the conventional subjects or have Junior attitudes in their content of making documentaries. The reason why i have given it a 9 is an extra episode could of been about Orientalism making the series in a wider context more informative and scrupulously structured on wider issues of racism rather then just in a colonial context.
4 Reviews
Outstanding
reynirorn20 March 2010
Racism: A History was made by the BBC in 2007... and frankly, I am stunned to see the low amount of attention it's getting. It covers an immensely important subject matter, it cuts through the veils of censorship and history-whitewashing and illuminates SO much that you never heard from anywhere else! By watching this miniseries, you will learn about the history, and the current situation, of blacks in the United States. You will learn about the impact that European colonialism has had on Africa and other parts of the world. You will learn that slavery continued all over the world, in slightly subtler forms, long after the so-called abolition of slavery.
Most interestingly, you will learn that the situation of U.S. blacks actually got much WORSE after the abolition of slavery in the U.S., and you will learn the interesting (and scary) fact that Nazism wasn't an isolated aberration, but part of a global continuum (namely scientific racism and eugenics).
Anyway, this is a MUST see miniseries. It's made by the BBC so you'll have no problems seeing it legally online. Just google if you don't believe me.
P.S. You'll probably find the first episode a lot more boring than the others. Don't give up, at least see what episode 2 is about!
Most interestingly, you will learn that the situation of U.S. blacks actually got much WORSE after the abolition of slavery in the U.S., and you will learn the interesting (and scary) fact that Nazism wasn't an isolated aberration, but part of a global continuum (namely scientific racism and eugenics).
Anyway, this is a MUST see miniseries. It's made by the BBC so you'll have no problems seeing it legally online. Just google if you don't believe me.
P.S. You'll probably find the first episode a lot more boring than the others. Don't give up, at least see what episode 2 is about!
Bad Work
einsteininsteadprophets2 May 2016
Warning: Spoilers
I can't share positive opinions about this very one-sided piece of work. A documentation about history of slavery and racism which doesn't even mention the far more cruel and larger slave-markets of the Islamic world than in America (even Muhammed held slaves and enslaved many men and women) isn't true at all and remembers propagandistic work.
Tidiane N'Diaye from Senegal tells in his historical work "Le genocide voilé, Étude de la traite négrière arabic-musulmane" of a minimum number of 17 million Africans as victims of Arab slave trade, outnumbering the transatlantic one by far - and it is said, that only 1 out of 10 men survived the barbaric emasculation and transport across the African desert - done by the Islamic slave-hunters).
Fact is, slave markets in Cairo and Constantinopel existed until the beginning of the 20th century - and were closed only under pressure of the public opinion of the western Christian-inspired world and the strength of democratic powers like France and GB!
Tidiane N'Diaye from Senegal tells in his historical work "Le genocide voilé, Étude de la traite négrière arabic-musulmane" of a minimum number of 17 million Africans as victims of Arab slave trade, outnumbering the transatlantic one by far - and it is said, that only 1 out of 10 men survived the barbaric emasculation and transport across the African desert - done by the Islamic slave-hunters).
Fact is, slave markets in Cairo and Constantinopel existed until the beginning of the 20th century - and were closed only under pressure of the public opinion of the western Christian-inspired world and the strength of democratic powers like France and GB!
absurdly narrow view of history
howboutthisone_huh2 March 2022
I really wanted to like this series and given the ratings I was sure this would be something different but no it's all the same tripe trying to exploit popular discontent. First off, refer to the dictionary definition of racism vs discrimination. The dictionary definition is pretty narrow when it comes to racism because it's based on the premise that certain groups are inferior because of the color of their skin but that's not the same definition of discrimination. Most people, including this series, get the definitions all wrong. Racism is pretty narrow. Discrimination, bias, bigotry, prejudice, is a more broad term that most people assume to be the same as racism but it's not. It's not just semantics but also a symptom of mass manipulation to focus attention on one particular group while gas lighting everyone else. Once again, you take out color and you still have hatred and discrimination, a behavior that has been around for thousands of years. One group cannot claim a monopoly in subjugation and suffering. To describe it that way is just ignorant of history. If you're going to tell a story of one people it does no good, if you don't explain the story of all. The nature of such spins is discriminatory and defamatory in itself. The roots of discrimination are more complicated and to avoid all perspectives is to ignore the roots of bigotry and never break the cycles. Like it or not, for thousands of years, humans have been discriminating against others, and it still goes on today because the media with series like this concentrate only on their perspective of the victims and perpetrators and not on history. What's that phrase? Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
And to say that slavery is special vs other forms of subjugation is also ignorant of historical fact. For thousands of years we've also various forms of slavery from the serfs of russia to the indentured servants at jamestown, who were treated usually no more different from slaves. Jamestown was founded on slavery. Indentured servants were forced to come to america and their masters were legally allowed to treat them as property and do with them anything they wanted, short of say murder, and local morals. They were allowed to use whipping and other forms of punishment to force servants to their will. Also, the irish story has always been spun one way by the media which doesn't match up to the facts. For example, when you think of the irish immigration you'd probably think of boston or new york but in the 1850s the 2nd largest irish immigration was in new orleans where they were often put to work doing jobs considered too dangerous for slaves because slaves were worth money as property and the irish weren't worth anything. And speaking of louisiana, where's the story of the melrose plantation and black slave owners, or william ellison plantation in south carolina? Where to they fit in the narrative?
And it's not just history but you'll today that subjugation and suffering covers the whole planet and people of all sorts of racial profiles and origin, all of which is ignored in this series. Even today, there are stories worth telling that never get told. Racial discrimination in cuba where it's supposedly illegal. The caste system still exists in india despite being outlawed. Discrimination of indigenous people in central ameria. The ughyars people in china. Religious discrimination against palestinians living in israel. And so on...
Unfortunately, this series fails miserably telling the past, present and future of the world, so it does little to help make the world a better place to live for all, on equal terms, and not even very entertaining if it's purpose is to spin and not educate.
And to say that slavery is special vs other forms of subjugation is also ignorant of historical fact. For thousands of years we've also various forms of slavery from the serfs of russia to the indentured servants at jamestown, who were treated usually no more different from slaves. Jamestown was founded on slavery. Indentured servants were forced to come to america and their masters were legally allowed to treat them as property and do with them anything they wanted, short of say murder, and local morals. They were allowed to use whipping and other forms of punishment to force servants to their will. Also, the irish story has always been spun one way by the media which doesn't match up to the facts. For example, when you think of the irish immigration you'd probably think of boston or new york but in the 1850s the 2nd largest irish immigration was in new orleans where they were often put to work doing jobs considered too dangerous for slaves because slaves were worth money as property and the irish weren't worth anything. And speaking of louisiana, where's the story of the melrose plantation and black slave owners, or william ellison plantation in south carolina? Where to they fit in the narrative?
And it's not just history but you'll today that subjugation and suffering covers the whole planet and people of all sorts of racial profiles and origin, all of which is ignored in this series. Even today, there are stories worth telling that never get told. Racial discrimination in cuba where it's supposedly illegal. The caste system still exists in india despite being outlawed. Discrimination of indigenous people in central ameria. The ughyars people in china. Religious discrimination against palestinians living in israel. And so on...
Unfortunately, this series fails miserably telling the past, present and future of the world, so it does little to help make the world a better place to live for all, on equal terms, and not even very entertaining if it's purpose is to spin and not educate.
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