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Outlook: My ancestors were both slaves and slave owners

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Malik Al Nasir at the airport in Guyana in 2008

28/09/2020 GMT

My ancestors were both slaves and slave owners

BBC World Service - Outlook, My ancestors were both slaves and slave owners

How a black Victorian footballer led Malik Al Nasir to discover his own complex history

When Malik Al Nasir saw Victorian footballer Andrew Watson’s photo he was stunned at the resemblance between them. It set him on a journey to discover his own complicated history.

Malik Al Nasir was casually watching a TV documentary one day when a face jumped out at him – it was a photograph of the black Victorian football star Andrew Watson. Stunned at the close resemblance between them, he became determined to find out how they were connected. Little did he know that that journey would lead him from Liverpool to Guyana to discover how his family history was inextricably connected with the international slave trade.

Claire Belhassine’s Tunisian grandfather died when she was young. She remembers him from childhood summer holidays in Tunisia, sitting quietly in his chair, never the centre of attention. But years later, sitting in a taxi in Paris, Claire came upon her grandfather's glamorous past. This interview was first broadcast in July 2019.
 
Picture: Malik Al Nasir at the airport in Guyana in 2008
Credit: Abdul Malik Al Nasir

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