email Wikipedia Facebook LinkdInTwitter
Jo Stanley

Consultant in maritime history and creative lifestory

The sea and people of colour

The richness and complexity of maritime history can be best understood if studies take into account what are now called 'protected characteristics' : race, caste, religion or belief, age, disability, height, physical appearance, gender reassignment, pregnancy, marriage and civil partnership. People of colour in maritime can experience multiple intersecting disadvantages. And racism must be talked about when we talk about race, because of the way systems marginalise stigmatised workers.

Until recently women of colour were doubly excluded (or more) from working at sea. This is a good starting place if you want to learn more: 10 FAQs. Black women in maritime history.

Their place in the maritime world can be understood if we also look at port workers and passengers.

I'm particularly interested in the following sorts of women of colour in maritime. So I can give talks on:

Ayah at children's party on ship. Painting by Godefroy Durand, 1889.

Ayah at children's party on ship. Painting by Godefroy Durand, 1889

  • Women on the Empire Windrush, 1947: Caribbean seamstresses and white lady writers too.(see 'Women of Windrush: Britain's adventurous arrivals that history forgot,' New Statesman, 22 June 2018.
  • The few 18C women of colour who cross-dressed on sailing ships as cabin boys, including 'William Brown' from Grenada
  • Ayahs as women of colour travellers, 1850-1930.
  • 20C sex workers in ports. They serviced visiting seamen and in doing so gave men entrée into the hidden local culture beyond tourism
  • Gash Jennies in 20C Hong Kong. See 'A warm stroke from shore to ship: naval homages to Hong Kong's female side-parties', Port Towns and Urban Cultures, 14 April 2020. porttowns.port.ac.uk/hong-kongs-female-side-parties

 

You can get my 11-page bibliography of people of colour seafarers by emailing me: .

My recent talks, which you can see online.

AYAHS. The Lascar's posh aunties: Indian ayahs working as passengers of the Raj: 1800-1939. Black History Month talk, in Maritime UK's Ethnicity in Maritime Network, October 2021. Now available as streamed PowerPoint talk at bit.ly/AyahsMUK

AYAHS AND LASCARS. Anything like Lascars? Race, gender and Ayahs (Asian nannies) as working passengers, 1850-1950,'Blaydes Maritime History Seminar, Hull. November 2021 and now available as PowerPoint at www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxBcDJx73z0

Filmed talks

Read This

Articles

Items in my blog on the gendered seas

NB. There are many more blog items. The blog began in 2008. It is digitally searchable by topic e.g 'ayah'. It's backed up at British Library's UK Web Archive. www.webarchive.org.uk/

Home | Women and the sea | The sea and LGBT+ | The sea and people of colour | Lifestory recording | My other lives | Blog