David Olusoga

I was born in Africa but brought up in the north-east of England. Most of my childhood was spent living on a…

— David Olusoga

Donald Trump did not cause America's democratic crisis of faith, he rode to power on it. Once in control, he and other…

— David Olusoga

Talking about class and identity can be as divisive as talking about race and racism.

— David Olusoga

I only ever wanted to do history, and make documentaries.

— David Olusoga

Britain in the 19th century was two things simultaneously; the hub of the largest empire on earth and the greatest manufacturing and…

— David Olusoga

1819 was a year of hunger, mass unemployment, political repression and murderous, state-sanctioned violence.

— David Olusoga

Whether we like it or not, there are moments in history when pessimism is the appropriate response.

— David Olusoga

In the case of the second world war the distorting factor is not poetry but our seemingly insatiable need to view the…

— David Olusoga

I disagreed with my teachers on pretty much everything, including what grades I was going to get at A-level. I was sure…

— David Olusoga

Democratically elected governments meekly requesting giant corporations to pay pitifully low levels of tax on their enormous profits is not a good…

— David Olusoga

At 18, I stood in the Louvre in front of the paintings that TV had first shown me.

— David Olusoga

I have met other black and mixed-race people who were victims of racism, often far worse than anything I experienced, and who…

— David Olusoga

The great untruth around which everything pivots is the idea that the defenders of these statues are the defenders of history and…

— David Olusoga

The age of national leaders, or candidates for high office, has never been automatically regarded as an issue for concern.

— David Olusoga

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

I never had a black teacher or lecturer, I never once met a black British person who held any sort of professional…

— David Olusoga

Britain today is not revolutionary France. There are no grades of citizenship. An immigrant who has just shaken hands at the end…

— David Olusoga

Since I began presenting programmes about black history my life has become a constant impromptu focus group. I am stopped in the…

— David Olusoga

The easiest way to make television authentic is to make it really authentic.

— David Olusoga

Racism is not primal or instinctive.

— David Olusoga

The OBE, CBE and MBE are among the ways Britain honours its citizens for their contribution to national life. I wish we…

— David Olusoga

When historians write the last pages of their books, and the producers of history documentaries sit down to edit the final minutes…

— David Olusoga

A hard Brexit would be so damaging to the true interests of the UK that what might follow - if we are…

— David Olusoga

The history of the British empire, the chapter of our national story that would have explained to my classmates why a child…

— David Olusoga

Historians spend their days engaged in the literally endless task of reshaping and expanding our view of the past, while statues are…

— David Olusoga