Enslavement

Colston's Girl School as seen from the road, with trees in front.

Colston in Bristol

School Renaming

By Samuel Wall 12 February 2021

After a storm comes the calm. When applied to “storms” of popular protest fuelled by contestations over controversial legacies of the past in public spaces – specifically those raised by the Black Lives  Matter Movement concerning colonialism, slavery, and racism in the wake of George Floyd’s killing on  25th May 2020… Read More

Torn down statue of Edward Colston being thrown into Bristol harbour by protestors
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Monuments Matter

A Comment on Bristol

By Marie-Louise Jansen 8 June 2020

Yesterday, protestors in the English port city of Bristol toppled a statue of an 18th Century slave- trader, dragged the life-size bronze through the streets, and heaved it over a stone embankment into the Bristol harbour. Hundreds of Bristol residents looked on and cheered. (See appended link). The statue’s unauthorized… Read More

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J. Marion Sims Statue in New York

United States of America

By Jade

In Central Park in New York, New York, a statue of physician J. Marion Sims was raised in 1934. Sims was credited with highly impactful procedures in gynaecology; However, many of these procedures were generated by conducting surgery on enslaved Black women without anaesthesia. Local activists began calling for the… Read More

CARGO Movement Classroom Initiative

By CARGO Movement 2021

The CARGO classroom initiative aims to address the narratives that are missing from the history that is taught in schools across the UK, including the perspectives of individuals of African and African Diaspora descent and the recognition of their resilience, contributions and visionary leadership. Includes lesson plans and they are… Read More

Learning Resources

By The Black Curriculum 2021

A social enterprise that aims to deliver black British history all across the UK. We run a variety of virtual and in-person programmes to schools, young people and corporations to promote the importance of Black history. We also have a curriculum and develop free and licensable resources for schools to… Read More

Transforming Community Spaces

A Toolkit on Equitable Collaboration

By University of Virginia’s Institute for Engagement & Negotiation 2021

Dedicated to communities who are committed to facing their contested spaces, from statues to historic buildings, to names and dedications, the Toolkit supports institutions and communities who are interested in using a commitment to change as an opportunity to go beyond symbolism, to tell more complete and truthful histories, and… Read More

Getting the Balance Right?

An Inspection of how Effectively the Police Deal with Protests

By Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services 2021

The report is a investigation into how effectively the police manage protests. An assessment is made of the extent to which the police have been using their existing powers effectively, and what steps the Government could take to ensure that the police have the right powers to respond to protests. Read More

The 1619 Project Curriculum

By Pulitzer Center February 2021

The 1619 Project challenges us to reframe U.S. history by marking the year when the first enslaved Africans arrived on Virginia soil as our nation’s foundational date. Includes reading guides, activities, and other resources to bring The 1619 Project into the classroom. Read More

Interim Report on the Connections between Colonialism and Properties now in the Care of the National Trust, Including Links with Historic Slavery

By National Trust 2020

The report includes sections on the global slave trades, goods and products of enslaved labour, compensation for slave ownership, abolition and protest, the East India Company, and the British Raj. A factual gazetteer lists the 93 places and collections that have strong historical links to Britain’s colonial past. Read More

Should Slavery’s Statues be Removed?

On Transitional Justice and Contested Heritage

By Joanna Burch-Brown 2020

What should we do with statues and place-names memorializing people who committed human-rights abuses linked to slavery and postslavery racism? In this article, I draw on UN principles of transitional justice to address this question. I propose that a successful approach should meet principles of transitional justice recognized by the… Read More