Birmingham's history is one of huge growth during the Industrial Revolution, but as happens so often the telling has been selective. "The sad truth is that [Birmingham's] canals were used to carry guns from the Gun Quarter and chains from the Black Country to the UK’s ports, and then to African and American colonies to subjugate slaves and oppress peoples. We need the city’s heritage organisations to tell all of these stories to make sure that the history they are presenting, represents everyone who lives here." This will be an important project educating people about their hidden history and legacy. Read more here...
The Beatfreeks Collective is a group of companies using creativity for good, based in the heart of Birmingham. Their arts initiative, Free Radical, has just won an award as part of the Heritage Lottery £10m 'Kick the Dust' fund. This will fund a 3 year Radical History project: "a landmark opportunity for young people in Birmingham and The Black Country to decolonize the history of the region by connecting them to the stories of the areas they live in. RHP will also support young people in taking their seat at the table and having a say in how heritage organisations work."
Birmingham's history is one of huge growth during the Industrial Revolution, but as happens so often the telling has been selective. "The sad truth is that [Birmingham's] canals were used to carry guns from the Gun Quarter and chains from the Black Country to the UK’s ports, and then to African and American colonies to subjugate slaves and oppress peoples. We need the city’s heritage organisations to tell all of these stories to make sure that the history they are presenting, represents everyone who lives here." This will be an important project educating people about their hidden history and legacy. Read more here... A forgotten part of the history of black people in Britain is to be revisited with an exhibition revealing how some of the most celebrated black fighters in the early struggle against slavery were once held in a British prison. During the wars against revolutionary and Napoleonic France of the late 18th and early 19th Centuries, when Britain’s black population numbered no more than 10,000, some 2,000 African-Caribbean people were held as prisoners of war in Portchester Castle in Portsmouth Harbour. Read more here. The exhibition, 'Black Prisoners of War at Portchester Castle', opens on July 20. More details here. This day conference, set up with help from MJR, was held at the end of April at Gladstone's Library in Hawarden, North Wales. It was led by Dr Nick Draper, Director of the Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slave Ownership, whose research lay behind the BBC programme 'Britain's Forgotten Slave Owners'. Nick took the 18 delegates through a history of Britain's role in the transatlantic slave trade. He focused on the £20m payment by the Government made as compensation to the slave owners in 1833 when slavery was abolished, and the large number of ordinary people who owned slaves. Given the venue and the fact that much of the Gladstone family wealth came from the plantations and slaves owned by John Gladstone, of particular interest was his Prime Minister son William's own position on slavery. Let's just say there was a difference between the received (and sanitised) version and views that he held as a man of his time. In a fascinating and thought-provoking day much was said about the legacy of enslavement, including how its remembrance has been eclipsed by that of abolition. One of MJR's aims is to address the aspects of legacy shared by the two human parts of the engine room of the Industrial Revolution – colonial slaves, and English mill and factory workers. 'Cotton Panic' is a new production which tells the story of the cotton famine in the North of England in the 1860s when supplies dried up during the American Civil War. The show uses "a compelling collage of live music, drama, words and film to evoke an era lost to history: of hard work, of passion, and of the North of England’s inspiring solidarity with the slaves of the American South."
'Cotton Panic' has its World Premiere at this year's Manchester International Festival. It runs from July 8-15. Tickets and more information here. 'Homegoing' is the best-selling debut novel by new author Yaa Gyasi. It tells the story of a family over several generations, exploring the impact of their being taken as slaves from late eighteenth century Gold Coast in Africa, through to Southern US slave plantations and up to modern-day Harlem. The Times review called it "an awe-inspiring debut that gives an insight into the toxic legacy of transatlantic slavery". Gyasi also confronts the involvement of Africans in the enslavement of their own people, not to provide an 'everyone was doing it' excuse but to get us to consider '"the tangled chains of moral responsibility that hang on our history". The Guardian review comments: "If there must be a purpose to the creation of yet another slave narrative other than to show how cruel, unfair, debased and horrific slavery was, it should be to convey the impact of it on modern life. ... [S]lavery is a source of our confusion and discomfort, regardless of which side of the colour divide we descend from. So here is a book to help us remember. It is well worth its weight."
Slavery - a living legacy? An MJR event for Black History Month. #legacydaymcr Looking at the continuing influence of colonial slavery on the mindsets of people today. Speaker: Prof Robert Beckford, with panel chaired by Mike Shaft Venue: Friends Meeting House, Mount Street, M2 5NS Tickets: £6 / £4.50 available here. More info. It may have been officially ended way back in 1834, but does colonial slavery have a continuing influence in our society? A recent Prime Minister suggested it was time to "move on", but is that possible if the legacy of hundreds of years of forcible removal and enslavement of millions still leaves its imprint on our modern mindsets? This half day explores the evidence for the ongoing legacy of slavery and looks at ways it can be acknowledged and addressed. Professor Robert Beckford will speak and show his Channel 4 programme, "The Empire Pays Back", making a case for reparation in the form of resourcing life-chances for young people of slave descent. BBC Radio Manchester's Mike Shaft will chair a panel discussion and Question Time in response. This amazing animation shows the 20,528 voyages over 315 years that comprised the trans-Atlantic slave trade... in two minutes. Over 10 million people forcibly removed from Africa and taken to the Western Hemisphere: South America, the Caribbean and North America. More...
Monday's 'Black Lives Matter' march in Manchester gathered 3-4000 who came together in solidarity with similar protests in the US. While mostly members of our African-Caribbean community, it was good to see a number of people of other colours - including white - in the crowd as each injustice diminishes all of us. The event was good-humoured and celebratory, while at the same time expressing passion, anger and frustration. A member of the MJR Manchester group spoke at the rally before the march and said: "We collectively need to come together, black and white united and say 'this is not OK'". We also noted from the speeches at that rally and also at the end of the march outside Manchester's Town Hall the references to slavery and its legacy of continued oppression, and repeated emphasis on the need for education. What was clear to me was the hunger for justice and truth: exactly what MJR was set up for. We need to tap into this hunger and serve by helping to provide that teaching, but in a way that channels these strong feelings in a positive direction. No small task, and it will be vital that the churches and their leaders play a prominent and encouraging part. When Nehemiah came to Jerusalem he began with the problem identified by the people – the need for security and identity – their agenda, before later bringing them back to the Law of Moses. Do the churches need to do the same? Paul Keeble
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