An article about the wonderfully gifted actor Sophie Okenedo
in The Guardian (4th July
2014) mentioned that in order to find good parts she has to travel to the USA. She said, “I think a lot of it is [due to] costume and
period drama, which must be, what, at least 40% of what we do here? Which means
40% of opportunities are closed to me already.”
Now this statement bothered me and not just because one of
our best and brightest actors can’t find enough work in the UK. What’s really troubling is the apparent
assumption amongst programme makers that costume and period drama is a
Whites-Only zone. Peter Fryer’s Staying
Power – the definitive history of black people in Britain – really ought to
be required reading for anyone who produces period drama in the UK. Africans,
Asians and their descendants have shaped British Culture and society from Roman
times until the present. So why isn’t that represented on TV? Are programme makers in the UK simply
ignorant? Or is something more sinister
at work here? Have we whitewashed our history the way Hollywood has whitewashed
it in the USA?
I grew up on a steady diet of B-movie Westerns in the
cinema. On TV you just couldn’t get away
from the things - Bonanza, The Virginian, Alias
Smith and Jones, Rawhide the list goes on and on. The cowboys were always white, clean shaven,
morally upright and remarkably clean for men that lived a roving life on the
open prairie.
When I started researching Buffalo Soldier I came across some startling statistics. Around 25% of cowboys and 25% of the US army
during the “Wild West’ period were black.
I must have seen John Ford’s 1954 classic The
Searchers for the first time when I was around five years old. I have a very clear memory of watching it
with my father. Starring John Wayne it
tells the story of Ethan Edwards, an ex-Confederate soldier who swears revenge
after Comanches kill his brother’s family and abduct his niece, Debbie. The film made a huge impact on me at the
time: I remember finding the idea of being captured by the Indians absolutely
terrifying. But what was more terrifying
was what happened when – after 5 years of searching - Ethan finally found the
now grown-up Debbie. I was expecting a
joyful reunion. Instead there was a
moment when Ethan - so revolted by Debbie living “with a buck” – is going to
kill her. I found it profoundly
upsetting back then. I still do.
The Searchers was based on Alan Le May’s book which was
inspired by the real life story of a father who went in search of his
family. It’s only recently that I
discovered the original Searcher was black.
Britt Johnson, born a slave, was the property of Moses
Johnson, a landholder in West Texas. Britt had the relatively privileged foreman’s
position and was allowed to raise his own horses and cattle. But in October 1864 his son was killed in a
raid in a Comanche raid and his wife and two children were captured. Britt Johnson searched for his family until
the summer of 1865. Some sources say he
went to live with the Comanches and managed to arrange their ransom. Others say they were ransomed and released as
part of ongoing peace talks. No one
asked him for his version of events. No
one wrote it down. Shame. It would have made fascinating reading. Either way, Britt Johnson’s family was
rescued and after that (with the end of the Civil War bringing freedom) they
moved to Parker County. From then on he
worked as a teamster and freighter, hauling goods from place to place. 
On January 24th, 1871, a group of Kiowas attacked
a wagon train manned by Britt Johnson and two other black teamsters. Heavily outnumbered, after a desperate fight
all three were killed. They were buried
in a common grave by the side of the road.
We’ve had 12 Years A Slave. It’s time for a re-make of The
Searchers, I think: one that hasn’t been whitewashed.
