"Who Do You Think You Are" Series 13, Episode #3: Liz Bonnin

[Clarkey500]

I really enjoyed this episode. It was very captivating. Liz seemed very genuine and took each step at a time like family historians do. She wasn't thrown way back in time straight away, missing lots of ancestors, which probably made this episode really good!

This series has been very enjoyable thus far and I hope it continues!

[groom]

First:  Rootschat IS a friendly forum where people help each other
Second:  I cant see any remarks by PharmaT about Scottish Intelligence - I can see a comment that being educated in Scotland does not guarantee a good knowledge of history. That , I would say, is a fair point.   I can also see some amusing examples of comments made by people generally who haven't got a good knowledge of History.

I agree Liz. However, it isn't just Scotland, I think in general, historical knowledge isn't that good - you only have to watch some of the quiz shows to see how lacking some very intelligent people are about the history of their own country. I know from my own education, there were large periods of history that were missed out. It's only as I got older that I began to fill in those gaps for myself by reading or watching programmes about them.

[ruth52]

I agree this was a brilliant programme. I have enjoyed the whole series so far. However although I consider myself fairly well educated, and knew all about the slave trade, I had no idea that large numbers of Indians came to the West Indies as indentured servants
You are never too old to learn something new!

PS I too am surprised by the lack of historical knowledge in some of my contempories and agree with Pharma t that education has little to do with it, rather more the attention span when we were being taught, and subsequently the desire to learn more.

[JAKnighton]

I think even with the best education in the world you can't avoid being ignorant of large chunks of history. There is a lot of it after all.

[ankerdine]

I am sorry that my post has caused problems. I had no idea that French plantation owners  in Martinique were involved in the slave trade. I have of course heard about the trade routes using Bristol and Liverpool, west Africa and the southern states of the USA.

Sadly I did not choose to continue with History at school and chose a different route, though nowadays I wish I had continued with the subject.

This episode of WDYTYA was one of the most interesting and colourful of the series so far.

I am learning new things every day especially through this site!

Judy

[aelfric]

Just for balance about general ignorance, a couple of facts which are not widely known, and to demonstrate my potential ignorance I haven't checked them so I'm open to correction:

Denmark ended its slave trading before Britain did, but doesn't shout about it.

And I think that when Liz Bonnin's earliest Desormeaux ancestor recognised his children by his ex-slave partner all slaves in French possessions were free after the Revolution.  Napoleon decided to restore slavery shortly after.

[clairec666]

I missed this episode, but having heard everyone's comments, I must catch up with it. Admittedly, I'm quite ignorant when it comes to the slave trade, and some other periods in history as well... I can't blame my education, surely our education continues after we leave school, and our curiosity should lead us to continue learning as adults?

[Blue70]

I acquired most of my historical knowledge through taking an interest rather than being taught it at school. I'm still learning. I was aware that people from Asia went to other British colonies but wasn't aware of the details. It's interesting how people's attitudes to slavery and Empire changed over time. Today's accepted status quo is tomorrow's embarrassment. 


Blue

[LizzieW]

This was played out in Africa when tribes raided the villages of other tribes and took villagers as their slaves at a later date such captives were sold on to English, French and Dutch traders to work the plantations. It could be argued that if it was not for the help of various tribes or peoples in Africa the Atlantic slave trade could not have existed.

I think people used to know this - I did and I'm 75 - but the PC brigade seemed to have wiped it from history so that people and dare I say it, especially Europeans, no longer have any knowledge of this.

Anyway, wherever people were educated, whether they learned a lot of history or a little, it was a very good programme.  I wonder if it would have been possible to trace the family of the oldest ancestor they found who was born in France, it would have been interesting to see what kind of a family he came from.