In July 2023 Dr Jenny Bulstrode published an article entitled ‘Black metallurgists and the making of the Industrial Revolution’ in the refereed journal History and Technology. Since then the author has been subject to sustained abuse in newspapers and on social media, sparking a campaign of personal vilification. The detailed and wide-ranging evidence the article accumulates concerning Black metallurgists’ material cultures in relation to key innovations has been curtly dismissed by critics. These attacks by a small group of people have neglected both common courtesy and established academic standards, including principles of peer review.
History and Technology, whose editors are acknowledged historians of colonialism and race, has just issued a rigorous review ( https://doi.org/10.1080/07341512.2023.2275357 ) of Dr Bulstrode’s article. This review confirms the work’s thorough research, accuracy and scholarly achievement, noting that the author has consistently conformed to the best standards of academic scholarship in its field.
In our view, the treatment of the paper and its author is clearly connected to its topic, which involves the enterprises of enslaved peoples, people of colour, and other individuals and groups who have long been ignored, marginalised and misrepresented by past historical studies. In fully supporting Dr Bulstrode’s analyses of Black metallurgists’ technologies and material cultures, the British Society for the History of Science reaffirms its commitment to scholarship devoted to these vitally important subjects.
We strongly condemn unwarranted attacks on authoritative and innovative research of any kind.