I'm reading about William Davidson, a Jamaican born radical who lived in England in the early 19th century and ended up as part of the Cato Street Conspiracy among other radicals. By accounts, Davidson had a life in England as a cabinet maker and was a teacher in a sunday school. He may have faced the occasional prejudice, but it also seems that he was able to socialise within British society.

My view of racism in history has been quite crude, thinking that the further back you go, the more racist people are, evidently, this isn't true though is it? Davidson seems to live before a time of racialised thinking. Is it right to say that he may have got the odd look in the street, but on the whole people didn't think "he is a black man therefore he is x". When did the "scientific" racism and the accompanying political ideology and hatred start?