Good point  Kwaku, but the politics of a Poland which had disappeared from the map of Europe was much more complex and as I pointed out in a previous email, you may not have seen, most of Napoleon's Poles turned sides and realised that the slaves had more in common with them, in that they were fighting for freedom. Poland's slogan was "For your freedom and ours".

Dr Wanda Wyporska
Equalities Officer, Association of Teachers and Lecturers
7 Northumberland Street, London, WC2N 5RD

E: [log in to unmask]   M: 07435 970065 Twitter: @ATLWanda
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________________________________________
From: The Black and Asian Studies Association [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Susan Bolton / Jeffrey Green [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 05 February 2013 09:47
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Diversity: Jabłonowski  Mickiewicz's famous epic poem

Fabian seems to have made a simple slip. Polish is said to be the 2nd language of England. Welsh speakers are more numerous than Polish speakers in "England and Wales"; and the survey seemed to ignore Scotland etc.

Not that important but....

Jeff


========================================
Message Received: Feb 04 2013, 04:19 PM
From: "BBM/BMC"
To: [log in to unmask]
Cc:
Subject: Re: Diversity: Jabłonowski  Mickiewicz's famous epic poem

thanks for this


what struck me was this line from Mickiewicz's poem:  Polish general smites the negroes, but sighs for his native soil[<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W%C5%82adys%C5%82aw_Franciszek_Jab%C5%82onowski#cite_note-3>


it reminded me of harriet tubman's quote: (I) could have freed thousands more, if they had known they were... if jabloonowski  really knew he was african, would he really have asked for transfer to haiti, where he tried to put down the revolution by smiting the africans? or perhaps he needed to prove his loyalty to master....


kwaku


On 2 Feb 2013, at 15:55, Fabian Tompsett wrote:


Hi all,

I think the meeting last night was very productive, and it left me
thinking about diversity.

Bearing in mind the recently published information that Polish is now the
second most prolific mother tongue in the UK, I started to do some work on
Władysław Franciszek Jabłonowski, a polish aristocrat with
an english mother and an African father. His mother's husband accepted him
as his son, and he became a general in the French Army. He volunteered to
go to Haiti, where he died of Yellow Fever.

One curious facet of his story is that he is featured in  Adam
Mickiewicz's famous epic poem Pan Tadeusz, where he is described as
visiting the land of pepper and sugar (Haiti) and smiting the negroes (to
use the language of translator George Noyes). No mention is made of his
African paternity!

So, aside from responding to the latest machinations of the government, I
feel we should also be responsive to the changing ethnic make up of the
population.

Anyway for more details see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W%C5%82adys%C5%82aw_Franciszek_Jab%C5%82onowski

all the best

Fabian


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