Cecil Rhodes’ Oxford

This video provides the background to the creation of the controversial statute of Rhodes in Oxford. This statue looks over the High Street high up on the Rhodes Building which is part of Oriel College, the college at which Cecil Rhodes studied. The video provides a potted history of his life with a special emphasis on his Oxford undergraduate years but also the establishment of the Rhodes Scholarship from its headquarters in Rhodes House to the north of the city. You will get a glimpse of how he accumulated vast wealth and power in the British colonial era and how the University of Oxford rewarded him with an Honorary Doctorate at its Encaenia celebration. After watching you can make up your own mind about whether Rhodes must fall or Rhodes must remain. Also whether Rhodes was an unremitting racist, colonist, exploiter of indigenous peoples, white supremacist and manipulative capitalist or simply a man of his time redeemed to some extent by providing an Oxford education to many young people from many countries through the establishment of the Rhodes Scholarships.