Preliminary note: The original text was published in El Correo del Golfo, where the author signs his columns with his first name and can be consulted here:
Responding to the magazine’s call ORBISof the Diplomatic and Consular Association of ColombiaI have prepared an essay about a man who is essential for Afro-descendants around the world, a symbol of the fight against the execrable slave system, a crime that shames humanity’s past. As a preview of this historical investigation, I leave to the kind readers the chronicle of Ignatius Sancho, a British enlightened man, abolitionist, writer and composer, but whose life began in Cartagena de Indias, although he came from much further away. Here is the chronicle of a fascinating life that links Africa, Colombia and the United Kingdom.
Ignatius Sancho was born in 1729 on a ship transporting enslaved human beings from Guinea to the port of Cartagena de Indias, although some versions indicate that this illustrious Briton saw the light in the walled city of the Viceroyalty of New Granada, today Colombia. Little Ignatius was orphaned by both parents, was baptized in Cartagena and when he was two years old his owner took him to the United Kingdom, being a gift for three sisters in the town of Greenwich, where he spent 18 years as a servant, but escaped and ended up being rescued by John Montagu, Second Duke of Montagu, who, apart from restoring him to free man status, taught him to read and write, interesting him in literature.
In this way, having become a successful independent merchant, Ignatius Sancho became actively involved in the world of English culture. He became friends with important intellectuals, writers and artists of his time, including the Irish author Laurence Sterne, the actor and theatre entrepreneur David Garrick and the painters Allam Ramsay and Thomas Gainsborough, who painted portraits of Sancho, such as the one at the top of this text.
Ignatius Sancho was keenly interested in writing and music. He was the author of various works, such as essays and plays, but especially of a prolific correspondence in the form of public letters, which were published in the main English newspapers and later collected in books. As a composer, he left more than sixty works of classical music. Sancho soon became involved in the British abolitionist movement, and was also the first African-American to be able to vote in an election. Ignatius Sancho died in 1780. He was the first person of African descent to receive an obituary in the English press of his time, and his figure remains relevant thanks to initiatives by institutions such as Rutgers University.
Today there is a very interesting circumstance, the foreign ministers of Colombia and the United Kingdom are of African descent, they are Luis Gilberto Murillo and the British Labour Secretary David Lammy, who stand out for promoting the cause of their communities, as well as the Colombian vice president Francia Márquez, who recently invited the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Enrique (known as Harry) and his wife Meghan Markle, to Colombia.
I am leaving the idea of promoting an activity in homage to Ignatius Sancho, which would allow him to be presented to the world and in particular to Colombia, because apart from Great Britain and the circle of specialists, he remains unknown to the general public. An event that could take place in Cartagena de Indias, the place from which a man who should not be forgotten, Ignatius Sancho, was projected for posterity, would be a cultural meeting that would serve to spread the word about the historical figure, as well as the discovery of his works, both literary and musical.
It would be very appropriate to declare Ignatius Sancho a universal Colombian, a reference that exalts the human condition and is the perfect symbol of diplomacy and integration between Africa, Colombia and the United Kingdom.
Dixon Acosta Medellin
On what I still call Twitter during recess you can find me as @dixonmedellin
Dixon Acosta Medellín (@dixonmedellin)
Upstart lost in the unknown dimension. Once an aspiring dilettante cronopio and decanted into acceptable fame. From the sins, errors and daily calamities I am rescued by Patricia, unconditional companion. When I come out of Alice’s mirror, I put on a tie, a first name and try to apply what I learned at the National University of Colombia and other pleasant study centers, in diplomacy. I was in the desert and I wish I could leave my mark. During non-working hours you can reach me on Twitter: @dixonmedellin
