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Resistance and Remembrance: Marking the 200th anniversary of the Parliamentary Abolition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade

Part of the British Museum's Atlantic Trade and Identity season, Resistance and Remembrance was a commemorative public day held at the British Museum on 25 March 2007, in association with the Royal African Society and Rendezvous of Victory. Placing a strong emphasis on resistance to the slave trade, the day included poetry readings, storytelling with Beyonder and H Patten, Bonnie Greer and Tony Sewell in discussion, and dramatised contemporary accounts of life as a slave. The day culminated in a Ceremony of Remembrance in the Museum's Great Court, featuring the telecast of a special message from Nelson Mandela.

British Museum La Bouche du Roi postcard.pdf

La Bouche du Roi

La Bouche du Roi was created by artist Romauld Hazoumé, who lives and work in the Republic of Benin, West Africa. The multi-media artwork is named after a place on the coast of Benin from where enslaved Africans were transported. It comprised 304 plastic petrol can 'masks', each representing a person, arranged in the shape of the woodcut of the Liverpool slave ship Brookes. The aroma of tobacco and spices are represented alongside the terrible smells of a slave ship. The artwork was accompanied by a film showing the motorcyclists who transport petrol illegally between Nigeria and the Republic of Benin. The cans and motorcyclists are metaphors for modern forms of enslavement and resistance. First exhibited at the British Museum in London, La Bouche du Roi toured to the following venues during 2007-9: Ferens Art Gallery in Hull, International Slavery Museum in Liverpool, Bristol's City Museum and Art Gallery, Laing Art Gallery in Newcastle, and the Horniman Museum in London.

Slave Britain.pdf

Slave Britain: The 21st Century Trade in Human Lives

This photographic exhibition focused on human trafficking was produced by a partnership of Panos Pictures, Anti-Slavery International, Amnesty International, Eaves and UNICEF. Photographer Karen Robinson’s portraits and tales of women trafficked into prostitution explore the devastating impact on their lives. Also on display were David Rose's panoramic photographs of the ordinary British streets where the stories of modern-day slavery have been played out. The photographs were mounted on a cage-like structure which was specially designed for the exhibition at St Paul's Cathedral. The exhibition was also shown in Edinburgh, Hull and Warsaw, and in 2008, in York.

V&A Uncomfortable Truths Museum Trails.pdf

Uncomfortable Truths

Uncomfortable Truths at the Victoria and Albert Museum sought to expose how embedded the transatlantic slave trade was within British culture during the 18th and 19th centuries through art and design. A series of five trails - 'Traces of the Trade' - explored the permanent collections on display through the following themes: Consuming the Black Atlantic, Black Servants in British Homes, Britain and the West Indies, Representing Slavery and Abolitionism, Gold and Slaves Transnational Trade Links. An exhibition of contemporary art examined the impact of the legacies of slavery on modern art and design. The Victoria and Albert Museum commissioned new works by Yinka Shonibare, Romauld Hazoume, Julien Sinzogan and Keith Piper. These and other contemporary interventions by a total of 11 artists were displayed throughout the museum. This exhibition later toured to Ferens Art Gallery in Hull.

The 'Truth and Rights' season of events highlighted often untold stories of Black British heroes, including focus on the actor Ira Aldridge. Visitors were also offered discussions, debates, displays and an eight week free art course. A two-day conference, 'From Cane Field to Tea Cup: The Impact of the Transatlantic Slave Trade on Art and Design' focused on V&A collections took place in February 2007.

2007 Abolition 07 Poster.jpg

Abolition 07

Hackney Museum's Abolition 07 exhibition told the story of British involvement in the transatlantic slave trade, the resistance to it, and its abolition, and in particular emphasised the involvement of Hackney's residents in the abolition movement. The display included new artwork by Godfried Donkor in collaboration with young Hackney artists. A film of interviews with Hackney residents, Hear My Voice, was produced. Over 1200 children from Hackney Primary Schools took part in poetry workshops at the museum with poets Adisa and Baden Prince. Their poems and responses were published in the booklet 'And Still I Rise'.

The research into Hackney's connections to the transatlantic slave trade continued in 2013-2015 with 'Local Roots / Global Routes', a collaborative project between Hackney Museum and Archives and the Legacies of British Slave-ownership project.

2007 London Sugar Slavery info pack.pdf

London, Sugar and Slavery

The Museum of London Docklands opened the London, Sugar and Slavery gallery in 2007, and it remains a permanent exhibition. The museum, housed in an old sugar warehouse on London’s West India Dock, retold the narrative of the transatlantic slave trade from the perspective of London, once the fourth largest slaving port in the world. Through personal accounts, film, music, interactive exhibits and over 140 objects, the exhibition looks at the various stages of the transatlantic slave trade, including life and trade on the West India Dock, and conditions for the enslaved on the Middle Passage and the Caribbean plantations. The final section of the gallery focuses on the legacies of the slave trade for British society today. Community collaborations also helped shape the gallery.

The museum also created a walking trail for the local area, highlighting key architectural features and buildings that had a role in the transatlantic slave trade. The Slave Map of London was developed in collaboration with three London museums: the Cuming Museum in Southwark, Bruce Castle Museum in Haringey and Fulham Palace Museum. Users navigated an online map to discover over 100 different locations throughout London which played a part in the transatlantic slave trade and the fight to end it. A schools programme that accompanied the opening of the exhibition included drama performances and workshops. Courses that ran alongside the exhibition in 2007 included ‘Resistance and Achievement: the story of African and Caribbean people in Britain’, in partnership with Middlesex University.

In 2018, the museum reflected on the 10 year anniversary of London, Sugar and Slavery with a workshop to explore the significance of the gallery, with contributions from artists, museum practitioners and emerging artists.

2007 Parliament & the British Slave Trade Back.pdf

The British Slave Trade: Abolition, Parliament and People

This exhibition in Westminster Hall told the story of the pressures and events, at home and abroad, which influenced Parliament's abolition of the British slave trade in 1807. The Act itself was displayed alongside petitions sent to Parliament by the public. Also on display was Thomas Clarkson's African Box, used on his abolition tours.

As part of the wider project, the Parliamentary Education Service appointed poet and writer Rommi Smith as Parliamentary Writer in Residence to the exhibition. In a series of workshops, Rommi worked with secondary school pupils to explore the historical, social and emotional issues around the transatlantic slave trade in poetry and prose. This included letters and statements that they would have sent to the prime minister of the time, to Olaudah Equiano and other key figures. To mark the UNESCO International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition on 23 August 2007, the Parliamentary Education Unit asked people to submit squares for a commemorative quilt. Some of these designs are available to view on the Parliamentary Archives website, which also uses original source material to tell the story of Parliament's complex relationship with the British slave trade.

2007 YAA Brochure BHM 2007-page 1.jpg

Black History Season 2007: Commemorating the Bicentenary of the Abolition of the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade 1807-2007

A programme of events and activities for Black History Month 2007 from Yaa Asantewaa Arts and Community Centre had a particular focus on the bicentenary. The programme included theatre, youth projects and family days. Calypso Fuh So performed special Calypsos to mark the bicentenary, and YAA/Carnival Village organised a commemorative walk to remember ancestors who died in slavery, and the Black presence in Britain. Ritual Theatre Arts created a film celebrating thirty years of African dance in Britain and International Word Power featured performances of poetry, storytelling and song.

Tate - 1807.pdf

1807 and Tate

The industrialist Sir Henry Tate was the early benefactor of the Tate Collection, rooted in the art of the 18th and 19th centuries. Tate's fortune - much of which was spent on philanthropic initiatives in Britain - was founded on the importation and refining of sugar, a commodity inextricably linked to slave labour in the Caribbean. There were a number of initiatives across the Tate galleries to explore these connections. 'Tracks of Slavery' at Tate Britain displayed a selection of images from the Tate's collections which provided a commentary on the relationship of British society with slavery. Displays at Tate Modern included a selection of new acquisitions linked by their treatment of issues arising from slavery and oppression. Tate Liverpool exhibited paintings by Ellen Gallagher. Special events included Freedom Songs at Tate Britain (workshops to create poetry and music by exploring themes of slavery and freedom) and a discussion at Tate St Ives looking at the links between Cornish maritime traditions, the slave trade and the Caribbean.

2007 City of Westminster abolition events.pdf

Events to mark the bicentenary in the City of Westminster

In 2007 Westminster City Council supported a programme of events in the libraries, galleries and archives of the area, including films, walks and exhibitions, designed to provide opportunities to learn about the culture of Westminster's communities. Highlights included guided heritage walks with historian S. I. Martin, exhibitions of images from the Royal Geographical Society in Paddington Library, Maida Vale Library and Westminster Reference Library, and film screenings (in partnership with 100 Black Men of London). A partnership between the City of Westminster Archives Centre, Tate Britain, Parliamentary Archives, National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery produced a heritage trail 'On the Road to Abolition: Ending the British Slave Trade', which takes in key sites, events and individuals in Westminster relating to the slave trade, between Trafalgar Square and Pimlico. In celebration of Black History Month, Westminster City Council produced a booklet, 'Black History in Westminster', detailing some of the borough's influential Black residents.

2007 Westminster City Archives exhibition.pdf

Westminster and the Transatlantic Slave Trade

An exhibition by the City of Westminster Archives Centre focused on the impact of the transatlantic slave trade and its abolition in Westminster, which drew on the Centre's archives and local studies collections. Links explored included the parish of St Anne's Westminster with St John's Antigua, and the large circle of planters living in Marylebone in the 18th and 19th centuries. The exhibition also documented the lives of the African residents of Westminster during the age of the slave trade. Some of the individuals looked at in the exhibition included James Somerset, Granville Sharp, Ignatius Sancho, Ottobah Cugoano, Olaudah Equiano, and the African activists who styled themselves 'Sons of Africa'.

2007 Links and Liberty Poster.pdf

Links and Liberty

An exhibition at Bruce Castle Museum (in partnership with Euroart Studios) explored the transatlantic slave trade, Haringey's heritage relating to the trade and its legacy, and the historic Black presence in the borough from the 16th century onwards. There was a particular focus on the painting of Lucius and Montague Hare, sons of Lord Coleraine (former owner of Bruce Castle), with their African servant. The exhibition also looked at the extra-parliamentary popular movement against the trade by local Quakers such as Priscilla Wakefield and others. Contemporary dance workshops for secondary schools were led by dance company Movement Angol.

The Links and Liberty exhibition included 'Stolen', a life-size installation by artists at Euroart Studios (John Fowler, Lorraine Clarke and Nigel Young) of a section of a slave ship. School pupils were encouraged to climb inside to imagine conditions on board.

2007 London Borough of Newham The Wickedest of Cargoes Poster.pdf

The Wickedest of Cargoes

London Borough of Newham Council led “The Wickedest of Cargoes…”, an exhibition at Stratford Town Hall, which used local museum and archive collections to explore the history of the slave trade and abolition. It looked at the history of slavery through different societies and cultures, and especially the Barbary pirates who enslaved seamen and passengers from ships on the west coast of North Africa. The exhibition explored the transatlantic slave trade and its abolition from a local perspective, focusing on the large Quaker community in West Ham and, in particular, John Fothergill and Samuel Gurney. Newham has many residents from an African Caribbean background, who were consulted in the development of the exhibition. Addressing the legacies of slavery, the exhibition looked at the rising Black population of the borough through history and the importance of the Coloured Men’s Institute in Canning Town, set up as a place where Black families could meet.

2007 Library of Freemasonry Poster.pdf

Squaring the Triangle: Freemasonry and Anti-Slavery

The exhibition at the Library and Museum of Freemasonry to mark the bicentenary arose from a project to catalogue their historical collections relating to Masonic history in the West Indies and America between 1760 and 1900. This period covers the establishment of African Lodge, the first Masonic lodge for African-Americans. Its first Master was Prince Hall, a freed slave and respected Boston resident who had fought for the British. From 1847 his name has been synonymous with Prince Hall Masonry, the first major Black Masonic organisation in the world. The library holds eleven letters written by or for Prince Hall. The exhibition and cataloguing of this correspondence enabled the library to start compiling details of early Black and Asian Freemasons in its collections. The exhibition also looked at members in the 18th and 19th century who were both slave owners and abolitionists, and the establishment of lodges in the Caribbean.

2007 In Stitches Quilt.pdf

In Stitches

The In Stitches project was led by the African Families Foundation (TAFF) and brought together British, African and African-Caribbean women's quilting groups meeting in London, Liverpool, Bristol, Manchester and Birmingham. The In Stitches Quilt, designed by Janice Gunner, included 60 squares of embroidered images, texts and symbols, depicting historic figures, scenes and artefacts associated with the transatlantic slave trade and its abolition. The Quilt used several of the Adinkra symbols from Africa, originally printed on fabrics worn at funerals by the Akan peoples of Ghana. The accompanying work pack was designed to support learning about slavery based on the four themes of the Quilt: Capture, the Middle Passage, Life in the 'New World', and Proscription of Slavery. The Quilt was unveiled at City Hall in London, and then toured to the British Empire and Commonwealth Museum (Bristol), Central Library (Liverpool), Soho House (Birmingham), the International Quilt Festival (Birmingham) and Central Library (Manchester).

2007 Rough Crossings Brochure WY Playhouse.pdf

Rough Crossings

Historian Simon Schama's true story of a plantation slave (Thomas Peters) and a British naval officer (John Clarkson) and their search for freedom at the time of the American War of Independence. Schama's account was adapted for the stage by Caryl Phillips, directed by Rupert Goold and produced by the Headlong Theatre Company. It explores ideas of racial identity, home and freedom, as former slaves who fought for the British army are led across the Atlantic to the newly-created province of Sierra Leone. The play toured West Yorkshire Playhouse, Birmingham Repertory Theatre, Liverpool Everyman and Lyric Hammersmith.

2007 London Buxton Memorial Fountain.jpg

Restoration of the Buxton Memorial Fountain

The Buxton Memorial Fountain was built by Charles Buxton to celebrate the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 and the achievement of his father, the abolitionist Thomas Fowell Buxton, and his associates who led the parliamentary campaign to abolish slavery. The memorial fountain was built in Parliament Square in 1865-6, and re-erected in Victoria Tower Gardens, Westminster, in 1957. Following extensive restoration by The Royal Parks, the memorial was unveiled on 27 March 2007, to mark the bicentenary. The listed monument was also upgraded from Grade II to II* in 2007.

English Heritage Kenwood House - Slavery and Justice.pdf

Slavery and Justice: The Legacies of Dido Belle and Lord Mansfield

Kenwood House in North London is closely connected to the history of the slave trade through the lives of two of its former inhabitants. Lord Chief Justice Lord Mansfield made a milestone ruling in 1772 towards abolition of the transatlantic slave trade. Dido Elizabeth Belle - born to an enslaved mother - is believed to have been Lord Mansfield's illegitimate great-niece. This exhibition by English Heritage, and sponsored by the Friends of Kenwood, explored their relationship, and the social dimensions of the British slave trade intertwined with the history of Kenwood. Visitors to the exhibition were invited to leave a creative literary response. The Wall of Words, a literary mural in the form of a poem inspired by the recorded responses, was created by Beyonder, a multimedia artist and educator.

2007 Splendid Mummer Flyer.pdf

Splendid Mummer

A play by Lonne Elder, 'Splendid Mummer' looks at the life of Ira Aldridge (1807-1867), the goundbreaking 19th century actor. Aldridge overcame racism and prejudice in European theatres to break away from stereotypical comedy roles and become one of the first Black Shakespearean actors. In 2007, the play was presented by CETTIE (a London charity working with schools, libraries, theatres, and community venues), directed by Malcolm Frederick, and starred Shango Baku. It was performed in various venues in London and at The Drum in Birmingham, and was accompanied by a feature exhibition on Aldridge by Positive Steps. 'Splendid Mummer' was produced in collaboration with the Ira Aldridge Bicentenary Project.

Border Crossings - The Dilemma of a Ghost (leaflet).pdf

The Dilemma of a Ghost

Written by Ghanaian playwright Ama Ata Aidoo, The Dilemma of a Ghost deals with colliding cultures in 21st century Africa. An African-American woman accompanies her Ghanaian husband as he returns home, but the couple are haunted by ghosts of the inheritance of the slave trade. A collaboration between London theatre company Border Crossings and the National Theatre of Ghana, the production used music and dance to celebrate 50 years of Ghana’s independence and 200 years since the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade. The play was performed in Birmingham, Hull, Leeds, Leicester, London, Plymouth and Slough. The production was was accompanied by a new book from Border Crossings, working in collaboration with Anti-Slavery International. ‘Theatre and Slavery: Ghosts at the Crossroads’ explored the ways in which world theatre responds to key issues in modern society and politics, including the issue of contemporary slavery.