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Durham Record Office exhibition captions.pdf

Exhibition to mark the bicentenary of the 1807 Act

Durham Record Office held an exhibition of its original documents relating to slavery, the slave trade and abolition. These include reports, maps, and a number of letters, from, for example, Sir John Shaw Lefevre (Under Secretary for the Colonies in 1833), the abolitionist James Stephen and the prominent Quaker activist Josiah Forster. The exhibition was displayed in the Record Office and toured several venues in the region. It was also used for inspiration by members of Jackass Youth Theatre, who produced the play Sharp Practice after visiting the Record Office and consulting some of the original documents on display.

2007 Images from exhibition on Grenada & Slavery Paxton House.pdf

From Slavery to Freedom: Grenada to Paxton

Paxton House in Berwickshire was once owned by Ninian Home, the owner of two sugar plantations on the island of Grenada. The Wedderburn Papers, part of the house archives, contain some 2,000 documents relating to the Grenada properties between the 1760s and the 1840s. In 2007, the Paxton Trust began a project to digitise and increase access to all the documents relating to Grenada (including correspondence between Grenada and Paxton, plus documents relating to the plantations and their enslaved workers). A booklet and exhibition was also organised, and links were made with a youth group based in Acton, London, most members of which are of Grenadian descent. The Wedderburn Papers are held at the National Archives of Scotland.

Harewood 1807.pdf

Harewood 1807

2007 saw a number of different projects taking place at Harewood House in West Yorkshire, home of the Lascelles family. The bicentenary was used as an opportunity to explore the family connections with the transatlantic slave trade and the sugar plantations of the West Indies.

As part of a newly developed Learning Programme, leaflets were produced setting out the family connections to Barbados. 2007 also marked the bicentenary of the Yorkshire election in 1807 contested by William Wilberforce, Henry Lascelles (later 2nd Earl of Harewood) and Lord Milton. Competition between the candidates was fierce, based on issues such as Catholic Emancipation, poverty, workers' rights and abolition of the slave trade.

2007 Sheffield City Archives Towards Liberty Research-Guide.pdf

Towards Liberty: Slavery, the Slave Trade, Abolition and Emancipation

This booklet was produced to mark the bicentenary in 2007 and to highlight the material available in Sheffield Local Studies Library and Sheffield Archives for the study of slavery, the slave trade, abolition movements and emancipation. It looks, in particular, at the role of the city of Sheffield and the surrounding areas, and its local residents. Sheffield benefited from the slave system in that goods manufactured in the city's factories were used on the plantations in the West Indies and America. Sugar and coffee produced on the plantations was consumed by residents. There were active anti-slavery groups in Sheffield, including the Ladies Anti-Slavery Society, and petitioning and boycotts were common. Hannah Kilham, a Sheffield Quaker, published a memoir of her experiences in West Africa as a teacher in the 1820s and 1830s.

2007 Lascelles Slavery Archive.png

Lascelles Slavery Archive

The Lascelles Slavery Archive was a collaborative project between the Borthwick Institute for Archives and Harewood House Trust to conserve, preserve and make available records relating to slavery from the archives of the Lascelles family of Harewood House, Yorkshire. The project deals with a new discovery of papers relating to the family's fortune based on its estates in the West Indies. Key documents providing evidence for the acquisition of the family's wealth, once thought lost, were found in poor condition during an inventory of Harewood House. The Lascelles Slavery Archive is available through the Borthwick's searchrooms as an online resource, and represents an important section of the larger archive of the Lascelles family held by West Yorkshire Archive Service.

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 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 Southampton Uni Poster.jpg

'Irreconcilable with the principles of justice and humanity': the trade in slaves and its abolition

An exhibition held in the Special Collections Gallery at the Hartley Library, University of Southampton. The exhibition took a broad view of the subject of transatlantic slavery across the 18th and 19th centuries, featuring accounts of the horrors of the transatlantic slave trade, the case for abolition, and contemporary tracts and pamphlets putting forward the arguments for total abolition. Alongside these were discussions of the place of slavery in the economy of the West Indies, and the detail of measures taken by governments, such as that of the first Duke of Wellington in 1828-30, and the work of the third Viscount Palmerston, as Foreign Secretary and Prime Minister. The exhibition also looked at the efforts of the Royal Navy to enforce legislation and treaties against slave trading.

2007 Hampshire Record Office Introduction Panel.pdf

The Abolition of Slavery: The Hampshire Perspective

A touring exhibition exploring Hampshire's links with slave ownership and the abolition campaign was produced by (and featured material from) Hampshire Museums and Archives Service and Hampshire Record Office. The exhibition was on show in the Record Office foyer, before travelling to museums, schools and community centres around the county. The exhibition revealed that there were slave owners living in places in Hampshire such as the village of Hurstbourne Tarrant, and told the story of a slave-trading voyage in 1700 led and financed by men from the Titchfield area. Black servants, very likely former slaves, could be found in unlikely places such as Martyr Worthy and Bramdean. The abolition campaign was fought in the columns of the Hampshire Chronicle and the Hampshire Telegraph, and communities as diverse as Portsmouth, Whitchurch and Fordingbridge sent in petitions to Parliament on the subject. The exhibition also mentioned white slaves taken from the English coast by Barbary pirates, and the testimony of a group of emancipated slaves from Cuba who arrived in Southampton in 1855 on their way to Lucomi in Africa.

Suffolk Record Office Thomas Clarkson leaflet.pdf

Thomas Clarkson and the Abolition of the Slave Trade

The county of Suffolk has many connections with the abolitionist Thomas Clarkson. He married in Bury St Edmunds and lived the later years of his life at Playford Hall near Ipswich. Suffolk Record Office commemorated the bicentenary with an exhibition of original documents and exhibition panels about Thomas Clarkson and his links with Suffolk at Ipswich Record Office. The exhibition later toured other venues around the county. A source list was produced to highlight sources for Black and Asian studies in the Record Office.

Ulster and Slavery.pdf

Hidden Connections: Ulster and Slavery 1807-2007

The Hidden Connections exhibition was a result of partnership between the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI) and the Linen Hall Library in Belfast. The exhibition explored Ulster's links with slavery after 1807 via people, events and places, and looked at both the pro and anti-slavery debates in Northern Ireland. It drew on documents from PRONI’s archives, artefacts from the Ulster Museum and contemporary books and pamphlets from the Linen Hall Library and elsewhere. After its launch at Linen Hall Library, the exhibition toured Northern Ireland, travelling to Down Museum, the Harbour Museum in Derry, Lisburn City Library and the Ulster American Folk Park.

The wider Hidden Connections programme featured workshops exploring archival sources, performances and lectures by leading scholars. There was a panel discussion on ‘Slavery Now’, a walking tour of Belfast sites associated with the slavery issue, and a boat trip on the Lagan focusing on the port’s links with slave colonies. Gerry McLaughlin’s ‘Blood sugar’ is a drama documentary devoted to the literature of slavery, music and song. 'Freedom and Liberty' was the theme of the UK-wide Archives Awareness Event. PRONI organised special events and produced a catalogue, 'Ulster and Slavery', listing the references to slavery to be found in the archive.

Norfolk's Hidden Heritage.png

Norfolk's Hidden Heritage

Norfolk’s Hidden Heritage was a partnership project between the Norwich and Norfolk Racial Equality Council (NNREC), the Norfolk Record Office (NRO) and the Norfolk Museums and Archaeology Service (NMAS) which researched the links between Norfolk and transatlantic slavery. For example, many slaving voyages left England from King's Lynn, while the Dalling family of Norfolk owned the Donnington Castle plantation in Jamaica. The exhibition, curated by Norfolk Record Office, won an award for the Best Black History Project for the East of England from the Black History Society. The website provided an interactive timeline to trace Norfolk’s Hidden Heritage from 1670 to today. There was also a database to search for important people, places and dates. Workshops were run in a number of schools, and information packs distributed. More widely, the project worked with the University of East Anglia, Norwich City College, the Prison Service and the Youth Offending Team. As part of the project, Norwich Academy Drama Group put together the production 'Diary of a Son of Africa', about an enslaved African who eventually gained his freedom.

Long Road to Freedom Panels 1.pdf

The Long Road to Freedom

As made clear by The Long Road to Freedom exhibition in 2007, the Record Office for Leicestershire, Leicester & Rutland contains a significant collection of documents which reveal local connections with the slave trade, and with those who campaigned for abolition. Several prominent local families owned slaves on plantations in the Caribbean and on the north coast of South America. Leading Leicester abolitionists, Elizabeth Heyrick and Susanna Watts, orchestrated a vigorous anti-slavery campaign in Leicester, including a boycott on sugar. Local landowner, Thomas Babington of Rothley Temple, was a friend of William Wilberforce and hosted meetings of anti-slavery campaigners at his home. The exhibition also highlighted a unique collection of mid-19th century papers which provide access to the voices of the enslaved in a slave court in Lagos, West Africa. It also told the stories of two former slaves, Rasselas Morjan and Edward Juba, who came to Leicestershire with their owners. This exhibition toured to various venues in the region, including Abbey Pumping Station, where it coincided with family activities focused on the work of Elizabeth Heyrick.

Warwickshire slavery panel 1.jpg

Slavery: A Warwickshire Connection?

An exhibition exploring the connections between Warwickshire and the transatlantic slave trade, using the collections held at Warwickshire Record Office. Several Warwickshire families owned plantations in the Caribbean, such as the Greatheed family of Guy's Cliffe who owned an estate in St Kitts. Vice Admiral Lord Hugh Seymour was prominent in the West Indies as Commander of Britain's naval forces in the Leeward and Windward Islands. Church of England parish registers reveal the presence of black people in Warwickshire's history.

2007 Gloucestershire Inhuman Traffic virtual exhibition.pdf

Inhuman Traffic

The Inhuman Traffic project was led by Gloucestershire Archives, in partnership with the Set All Free initiative. The virtual exhibition and accompanying web resource were based on documents held at Gloucestershire Archives and, in particular, the papers of the anti-slavery campaigner Granville Sharp (1735-1813). The exhibition explored topics such as the contribution of black people to the abolition movement, aspects of the legacies of slavery, including racism and domestic violence. Over 400 copies of the exhibition DVD were sent to schools, churches, tourist information venues and individuals across Gloucestershire. The associated programme of events included performances of the play 'Inhuman Traffic', developed in collaboration with a local theatre company, Spaniel in the Works. The play features four interacting characters with different perspectives on slavery. A cross-curricular teaching resource was later developed, which included a second performance, 'Master and Slave', in partnership with Stroud District Museums Service, Spaniel in the Works, and Parliament Primary School, Stroud.

2007 Bristol BBAP Thumb.jpg

Bristol Black Archives Partnership

The Bristol Black Archives Partnership (BBAP) was set up to collect, protect and make available the heritage of Bristol's local black history. The partnership involved communities, heritage organisations and academic organisations coming together to collect and make accessible the archives - films, photographs, documents and objects - that reflected the experience and contribution of black people in Bristol. BBAP aimed to provide learning resources for a better understanding of Bristol's multicultural history: the 'Me, We, Making History' calendars celebrated local black achievers; 'My Legacy Journal' was made available for African-Caribbean people to record their own family identity, history and stories. A Black Bristolians Teaching Pack was produced, alongside a travelling exhibition based on the project's research entitled 'The Black Presence in Bristol - 16th Century to the Present Day'.

2007 Remembering Slavery 2007 Archive Project.pdf

Remembering Slavery Archive and Mapping Project

Remembering Slavery 2007 involved museums, galleries and other cultural organisations across the North East of England in a programme of exhibitions, events, performances, lectures and activities to explore the themes of slavery and abolition, and identify connections with the region.

The Remembering Slavery Archive Mapping and Research Project, led by the Literary and Philosophical Society in Newcastle and assisted by local history groups, uncovered a large amount of archival material in the region’s institutions, exposing many hitherto unknown links between the North East and the slave trade. The participating record offices and libraries were Tyne and Wear Archives Service, the Literary and Philosophical Society Library, the Northumberland Record Office and the Robinson Library’s Special Collections at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. This reassessment of the North East’s involvement in slavery and the slave trade led to new published research, including John Charlton's 'Hidden Chains: the Slavery Business and North East of England 1600-1865'. There was also a lecture programme at the Literary and Philosophical Society, including talks by Professor James Walvin. Several of the project volunteers published essays based on their research in 'North East History 39' (North East Labour History Society, 2008). The North East Slavery and Abolition Group was established among the project volunteers, and further work on slavery and abolition was included in the Society’s North East Popular Politics project (NEPPP), 2010-13. Much of the material found in the 2007 project has been loaded onto the NEPPP database.

2007 Hidden Histories Hertfordshire Thumb.png

Hertfordshire's Hidden Histories

This partnership project, led by Hertfordshire Archives, investigated the links between Hertfordshire people, the slave trade and abolition through stories from original archival documents. Project outcomes included creative workshops, a booklist, a DVD documentary, a heritage trail booklet, and collaboration with the project for the restoration of the Thomas Clarkson monument in Thundridge. The monument was erected in 1879 to mark his involvement in the campaign to abolish slavery. The ceremony to re-dedicate the monument in November 2007 involved pupils from Thundridge Primary School performing a dance that they had developed with arts-led charity Theatre Is….