Black Equestrians
Africans in Georgian Britain have often been portrayed as victims of slavery, unfortunates at the bottom of the social heap. The reality was far more fluid and varied, with many African gentlemen sharing the same cultural and social aspirations as their fellow Englishmen.
The African population of Georgian Britain was large, visible and vocal. The historians Kirstin Olsen and Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina have speculated that Africans may have represented a similar proportion of England’s total population as they do now. African men, women and children appear in paintings and drawings by artists, such as William Hogarth, Allan Ramsay, William Denton and Thomas Gainsborough. Moments of their lives in cities, towns and villages across the country are recorded in parish records, government papers and newspapers.
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