From 2007 to 2010, I was closely involved in the PhD project De Zwarte Schande. Het debat over de inzet van Afrikaanse troepen in Europa, 1914-1922 of Dick van Galen Last, then the librarian of the Netherlands Institute for War Documentation (NIOD). In January of 2010, Dick successfully defended the manuscript at the University of Amsterdam. he died two weeks later, aged 57.
By request of the NIOD, I am currently reworking the vast manuscript into a compact, publishable book, not unlike the one, I hope, that Dick hoped to publish. To an extent, this is a labour of love -ensuring that the magnum opus of my late friend remains available to posterity- but that is not the only reason to undertake this project. Black Shame offers an unparallelled overview of the scholarly literature on early Twentieth Century racism, and shows how crucial this period was for the development of both racist attitudes in Europe, and for the development of black emancipation in both Europe, the Americas and Africa itself.
The project was recently discussed by Professor Bruno the Wever of Ghent university on the Dutch language digital television channel of the Flemish public broadcaster (VRT). It can be accessed here.