Francis Williams, a wealthy Black Jamaican polymath born into slavery and later freed, has been revealed as a pioneering intellectual through a groundbreaking reexamination of his 1760 portrait. The painting, long misinterpreted as a satire, has been identified as the earliest Western artwork celebrating a Black individual as an intellectual. Historian Prof. Fara Dabhoiwala discovered hidden clues in the painting, using X-rays and high-resolution scans, that firmly establish Williams' role in the scientific community.
"This painting is making a really powerful statement," Dabhoiwala explained. "It's saying: 'I, Francis Williams, free Black gentleman and scholar, witnessed the most important event in the history of science in our lifetimes, the return of Halley's comet. And I calculated its trajectory, according to the rules of the third edition of Isaac Newton's Principia.'"
Williams' achievements include accurately computing the trajectory of Halley's comet in 1759, a breakthrough that validated Isaac Newton's universal theory of motion and gravity. However, at the time, credit was given exclusively to white astronomers. Williams, proposed as a fellow of the Royal Society in 1716, was rejected "on account of his complexion," reflecting the entrenched racism of the era.
Dabhoiwala uncovered significant details: the page number in the book Williams is reading corresponds to a section in Newton's Principia discussing comet trajectories. Additionally, an X-ray of the painting's background revealed Halley's comet streaking through the Jamaican sky, aligning with stars visible during its 1759 appearance. Instruments for mathematical calculations on the table further highlight Williams' intellectual pursuits.
Despite inheriting a Jamaican estate, including plantations, Williams defied societal norms by establishing a school for free Black youth. He died childless in 1762, and none of his writings survive. "He is a Black man in a white supremacist society. No one thinks it's worth preserving anything by him," Dabhoiwala noted.
Williams' portrait, sold to the Victoria and Albert Museum by descendants of Edward Long—a white plantation owner who mocked Williams—has undergone a profound reinterpretation. This discovery restores Williams' rightful place in history as a trailblazing Black intellectual.
Link: The Guardian
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