Good morning to you all on this beautiful Whitsunday morning!
Perhaps a rather serious question today, but I'm only looking for spontaneous, gut answers!
Today is Abolition Day, when the Carribean Island of St Martin celebrates the abolition of slavery on the islands. You can find out more about this interesting island in the following link: Collectivity of St Martin.
I am sorting out old books, both in English and in German, and wondering what to do with them, now that they are no longer politically correct and quite embarrassing. A lot of old books deal with exploration of "unknown" territories and the choice of words when describing the local communities is simply intolerable.
But today, I have a case which concerns the slave trade and its effects.
In 1952 or 1953, I believe all children in London schools were given a very small, but informative book "Proud Heritage: A Portrait of Greatness" with pictures of the most important historical characters from Great Britain up until the 1950's.
I still have my copy, dedicated to King George VI but with a picture of the young Queen Elizabeth II glued onto the final page.
This small book, the box somewhat damaged, turned up recently. I could remember that Darwin, Shakespeare and Dickens were included But now that history is being rewritten I took a closer look. I searched and found William Wilberforce (who abolished the slave trade with Great Britain by an Act of Parliament in 1807) but apart from male writers and pioneers in the field of social reform, medicine and science, most of the remaining characters are those who profited immensely from the slave trade and building up the British Empire (royalty and the nobility and opportunists)
Of the 50 important persons, only 4 women are included: Queen Elizabeth I, Elizabeth Fry, Queen Victoria, Florence Nightingale (plus the afterthought Queen Elizabeth II).
Do I keep or throw such printed material? Should I burn my books? Yes or No?
Perhaps a rather serious question today, but I'm only looking for spontaneous, gut answers!
Today is Abolition Day, when the Carribean Island of St Martin celebrates the abolition of slavery on the islands. You can find out more about this interesting island in the following link: Collectivity of St Martin.
I am sorting out old books, both in English and in German, and wondering what to do with them, now that they are no longer politically correct and quite embarrassing. A lot of old books deal with exploration of "unknown" territories and the choice of words when describing the local communities is simply intolerable.
But today, I have a case which concerns the slave trade and its effects.
In 1952 or 1953, I believe all children in London schools were given a very small, but informative book "Proud Heritage: A Portrait of Greatness" with pictures of the most important historical characters from Great Britain up until the 1950's.
I still have my copy, dedicated to King George VI but with a picture of the young Queen Elizabeth II glued onto the final page.
This small book, the box somewhat damaged, turned up recently. I could remember that Darwin, Shakespeare and Dickens were included But now that history is being rewritten I took a closer look. I searched and found William Wilberforce (who abolished the slave trade with Great Britain by an Act of Parliament in 1807) but apart from male writers and pioneers in the field of social reform, medicine and science, most of the remaining characters are those who profited immensely from the slave trade and building up the British Empire (royalty and the nobility and opportunists)
Of the 50 important persons, only 4 women are included: Queen Elizabeth I, Elizabeth Fry, Queen Victoria, Florence Nightingale (plus the afterthought Queen Elizabeth II).
Do I keep or throw such printed material? Should I burn my books? Yes or No?
