As a historian, I always think you know what a moment was 20 years later. — David Olusoga Copy Share Image
Whether we like it or not, there are moments in history when pessimism is the appropriate response. — David Olusoga Copy Share Image
As one of the very few black historians who, from time to time, appears on TV, my daily life is a constant,… — David Olusoga Copy Share Image
Our national history cannot be national if, in the near future, one in three young adults feels their stories remain untold, if… — David Olusoga Copy Share Image
But Johnson's Churchill-lite shtick and Theresa May's even less convincing Iron Lady routine are only even vaguely viable because they tap into… — David Olusoga Copy Share Image
When historians write the last pages of their books, and the producers of history documentaries sit down to edit the final minutes… — David Olusoga Copy Share Image
Humans are pattern-seeking animals, consciously and subconsciously imposing designs and theories on to past events. We do this in both our private… — David Olusoga Copy Share Image
I have always been most drawn to those moments from the past when people from distant lands and different societies made contact… — David Olusoga Copy Share Image
It is of course perfectly possible for a university, or any institution, to carry out a rigorous investigation into the historical origins… — David Olusoga Copy Share Image
What we're seeing is a backlash against any attempt, whether from the world of scholarship or popular culture, to paint non-white people… — David Olusoga Copy Share Image
I think I was eight the first time I saw the Benin bronzes. I was taken to see them at the British… — David Olusoga Copy Share Image
The loss of the American colonies was the first time the process of British empire building had been put significantly into reverse,… — 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 Image
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 Image
Talking about class and identity can be as divisive as talking about race and racism. — David Olusoga Copy Share Image
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 Image
1819 was a year of hunger, mass unemployment, political repression and murderous, state-sanctioned violence. — David Olusoga Copy Share Image
Whether we like it or not, there are moments in history when pessimism is the appropriate response. — David Olusoga Copy Share Image
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 Image
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 Image
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 Image
At 18, I stood in the Louvre in front of the paintings that TV had first shown me. — David Olusoga Copy Share Image
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 Image
