I finally got to watch 'Roots' in my mid-teens, on a video rental. Slowly and meticulously Roots fed its black characters through the mincing machine of American slavery. People with names, hopes and family connections were destroyed and dehumanised before… — David Olusoga Copy Share Image
I was born in Africa but brought up in the north-east of England. Most of my childhood was spent living on a council estate… — David Olusoga Copy Share
Donald Trump did not cause America's democratic crisis of faith, he rode to power on it. Once in control, he and other populists discovered… — David Olusoga Copy Share
Talking about class and identity can be as divisive as talking about race and racism. — David Olusoga Copy Share
Britain in the 19th century was two things simultaneously; the hub of the largest empire on earth and the greatest manufacturing and trading nation… — David Olusoga Copy Share
1819 was a year of hunger, mass unemployment, political repression and murderous, state-sanctioned violence. — David Olusoga Copy Share
Whether we like it or not, there are moments in history when pessimism is the appropriate response. — David Olusoga Copy Share
In the case of the second world war the distorting factor is not poetry but our seemingly insatiable need to view the war through… — David Olusoga Copy Share
I disagreed with my teachers on pretty much everything, including what grades I was going to get at A-level. I was sure I'd pass,… — David Olusoga Copy Share
Democratically elected governments meekly requesting giant corporations to pay pitifully low levels of tax on their enormous profits is not a good look. — David Olusoga Copy Share
At 18, I stood in the Louvre in front of the paintings that TV had first shown me. — David Olusoga Copy Share
I have met other black and mixed-race people who were victims of racism, often far worse than anything I experienced, and who have taken… — David Olusoga Copy Share
The great untruth around which everything pivots is the idea that the defenders of these statues are the defenders of history and truth; while… — David Olusoga Copy Share
The age of national leaders, or candidates for high office, has never been automatically regarded as an issue for concern. — David Olusoga Copy Share
Humans are pattern-seeking animals, consciously and subconsciously imposing designs and theories on to past events. We do this in both our private lives and… — David Olusoga Copy Share
