Published author, Paul Crooks is Black Britain’s trailblazing expert in tracing African-Caribbean family history. In 1990, he was told that it would be impossible to trace records of slave-ownership let alone his African ancestors enslaved on plantations in Jamaica. Undeterred, he embarked on a remarkable journey of discovery that led from suburban North London to Jamaica and ultimately back to the Gold Coast of Africa.
Paul’s acclaimed historical novel Ancestors (Arcadia books) provides a narrative on the controversial history of Britain’s transatlantic slave trade, experiences of slaves (from kidnap to working on plantations) and resistance. ‘Ancestors’ broke through the barriers to tracing slave ownership and African-Caribbean family history. Subsequent speaking engagements, an appearance on ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’ and national radio interviews, inspired a generation of to start exploring legacies of Britain’s slave ownership.
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Books by Paul Crooks
‘ANCESTORS’ – In the late 18th century, at the age of ten, Paul Crook’s great-great-great-grandfather John Alexander Crooks was captured and put aboard a slave ship from West Africa bound for Jamaica. Pauls novel ‘Ancestors’ is the fictionalised account of John’s experiences in the forty years from 1798 to 1838, the year enslaved people in the British West Indies were set free.
Paul says,
“My novel Ancestors is my attempt to reconstruct my family’s pre-emancipation history in a way that aims to be both informative and enjoyable”
‘A TREE WITHOUT ROOTS: The Guide to Tracing British, African and Asian Caribbean Ancestry’
Paul’s second book is acclaimed having unlocked the secrets of tracing African and Caribbean ancestry.
For more information: http://www.paulcrooks.info
Paul Crooks talking at UCL London
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