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2007 Breaking the Chain poster.JPG

Breaking the Chain

A play written and directed by Suzanne Hawkes, 'Breaking the Chain' is a dramatic account of Thomas Clarkson's role in the movement to abolish the slave trade. The abolitionists Olaudah Equiano, Granville Sharp and Joseph and Katherine Plymley are also portrayed in the production. Equiano's accounts of the slave trade from his 'Interesting Narrative' feature as dramatic imagery, and the play also examines infamous events that aided the abolitionist cause, such as the uproar surrounding the case of the slave ship 'Zong' and the decision by its Captain to throw overboard 133 enslaved Africans. In 2007, 'Breaking the Chain' was performed at various venues in Suffolk.

2007 HM Govt Bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade 1807-2007.pdf

Bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act 1807-2007

The official publication from the British Government in response to the bicentenary included a message from Prime Minister Tony Blair. It set out the history of transatlantic slavery and resistance to it, and featured a calendar of upcoming events for 2007 relating to slavery and abolition. The publication also detailed contemporary efforts to end modern slavery. Later in 2007, 'The way forward: bicentenary of the abolition of the Slave Trade Act 1807-2007' reflected on some of the commemorative activity that had taken place in Bristol, Hull, Liverpool, London and Greater Manchester. With a foreword by the new Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, the theme of the publication was 'Reflecting on the past, looking to the future' and it linked efforts for the abolition of historical and contemporary slavery. The publication also looked to how to tackle inequality and poverty in the UK, Africa and the Caribbean.

2007 Beyond the Bicentennial photo.JPG

Beyond the Bicentennial

In collaboration with the Peterborough branch of the African Caribbean Forum, Peterborough Museum hosted 'Beyond the Bicentennial, 1788-1838: Exploring 50 Years of the Slave Trade'. The exhibition's focus was the fifty years leading up to the end of slavery in the British Empire, 1833. It highlighted museum objects and local connections to the era of abolition, including black communities in Peterborough and links between slave-produced sugar and the rise of tea drinking in Georgian Britain. Two special event days included Georgian period re-enactors, historical talks on slavery, African drumming workshops, African food tasting and community displays.

Am I Not a Man and a Brother Screenshot.png

Am I Not a Man and a Brother?

‘Am I Not a Man and a Brother?’, an online exhibition to mark the bicentenary, was launched by the Bodleian Library of African and Commonwealth Studies at Rhodes House. Some of the items were also on view in an exhibition at Rhodes House in April and May 2007. The exhibition included manuscripts and books from the Library, among them the manuscript journal of Rev. James Ramsay, who wrote and worked against slavery after seeing for himself the conditions on board a slave ship while a Royal Navy surgeon. Also exhibited were related artefacts from the collection of Franklin Smith, including a tobacco jar and a clay pipe bowl, both in the shape of the head of a slave (indicating that their owners may have been slave owners), and the late 18th-century engraving of a slave market in the West Indies, published by an anti-slave trade body.

2007 Nia Project Squaring the Triangle Booklet.pdf

African History Month 2007: Squaring the Triangle

Squaring the Triangle was the theme of African History Month 2007 in Suffolk. The programme was co-ordinated by the Nia Project (a cultural, arts and heritage project) and explored the history and legacy of slavery through film, literature, exhibition, music and debate. The theme of Squaring the Triangle was underpinned by the African proverb, ‘Until the Lion tells his tale the tale of the hunt will always glorify the hunter’. Highlights included the Nia Memorial Lecture, given by the producer-director Pam Solomon-Fraser. Nubian Films short season looked at the current legacy of slavery and the Diaspora of African peoples. Talks, workshops and debates covered issues such as reparations, retribution, resistance, and educational guidelines for parents on how to discuss the African slave trade with children. Special recognition was given in the programme to Ghana’s 50th anniversary as an independent state. There were heritage walks around Ipswich to uncover some of the cultural connections with Africa, the Caribbean and Suffolk. A Youth Day Conference hosted by the Zimbabwe Youth brought together young people from the community to use music and poetry to explore their ideas on the legacy of the slave trade. Historian Maureen James and representatives from Suffolk County Council led pupils from local schools in researching the anti-slavery movements, with particular reference to the Clarkson family.

2007 Ipswich Museums Abolition Leaflet.pdf

Abolition! The Thomas Clarkson Story

Colchester and Ipswich Museum Service produced an exhibition about slavery and the trade in enslaved Africans and the life of Thomas Clarkson, the abolitionist campaigner who lived the latter part of his life at Playford Hall near Ipswich. The exhibition focused in particular on the African and local history collections in the museum service. A replica mahogany travelling chest was produced as a handling box for local schools - Thomas Clarkson famously displayed a chest filled with materials from Africa and the slave trade while travelling on anti-slavery campaigns.

The exhibition was produced in collaboration with the Nia Project, and was part of a wider programme of events and outreach activities with local schools and African and Afro-Caribbean community groups. The artist Anissa-Jane worked with members of the Ipswich community to create a new art installation to accompany the exhibition.

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 Wisbech Poster.jpg

'A Giant with One Idea': An Exhibition about Thomas Clarkson and the Anti-Slavery Movement

A Giant with One Idea told the story of the anti-slavery campaign through the personal narrative of the abolitionist Thomas Clarkson, who was born and raised in Wisbech. The exhibition included an overview of the transatlantic slave trade, major campaigners in the abolition movement, the antislavery campaign after 1807, and details of Clarkson’s travelling chest, which he used to help illustrate the cruelty of the slave trade. The exhibition later travelled to other venues in the area. Accompanying the exhibition was a handling box based on Clarkson’s chest available for schools and community groups, as well as a children’s activity booklet led by the character of Clarkson himself. The museum also supported the publication of a number of books telling the life stories of Thomas Clarkson, and his less well known brother, the naval officer John Clarkson.