The Body of Amelia Newsham: Empire, Science, and Race-Making

ERTEGUN FUTURES seminar in association with TORCH

The Body of Amelia Newsham: Empire, Science, and Race-Making

Professor Meleisa Ono-George (Queen’s College, Oxford)

In the autumn of 1753, a young, enslaved girl arrived in London from Jamaica to be exhibited and studied. Separated from her family, Amelia was born with albinism, a condition that made her skin white and her hair blond, at a time when albinism was not understood medically and shrouded in superstition. For this reason, Amelia was shown as a curiosity across Britain, examined by some of Europe’s leading physicians and scientists, and painted by one of its most celebrated artists. Though largely forgotten today, by the end of the eighteenth-century Amelia was a household name throughout the country. Drawing on the fragmentary archives that document the scientific and medical examinations Amelia endured, this talk will reveal the intimate history of 'race making' in Britain and legacies that continue to shape racial politics today.

Host or Publisher TORCH | The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities