Slavery Archives - Contested Histories

ACTe Memorial in Point-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe

Contested Histories Admin — Mon, 10 Aug 2026 08:00:00 +0000

Inaugurated on May 10, 2015, the Memorial ACTe marked the realisation of a vision to deliver a world-leading centre for the memory of slavery in Guadeloupe. However, contested political ‘ownership’ plagued the project from the start and financial mismanagement has also jeopardised the MACTe, culminating in the dismissal of the director in August 2023 and a Court of Auditors Report in November 2023 that uncovered serious financial risks. At the time of this research, Investigations into the misuse of European Regional Development Funds have also been ongoing.

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Louis Faidherbe Statue & Landmarks in Saint-Louis

Paula — Mon, 27 Jul 2026 10:00:00 +0000

On September 5, 2017, a 126-year-old statue of Senegaal (Senegal) governor, Louis Faidherbe, collapsed after heavy rain and winds. The accident sparked a protest among activists and religious communities across Senegal. Minimising the extent of the protest, local authorities restored the statue within a few days, resulting in even more controversy, with debates on social media and in the local and international press. Demands to bring down the statue collided with local authorities’ fears of losing the UNESCO World Heritage Site status and subsidies from the French government.

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Emancipation Memorial in Boston and Washington

Paula — Mon, 18 May 2026 10:00:00 +0000

The first Emancipation Memorial, also known as the Freedmen’s Memorial, was erected in Washington, D.C., in 1876. Funded by formerly enslaved persons, the statue celebrates President Abraham Lincoln. During the American Civil War, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, offering limited freedom to enslaved people. Shortly after the creation of the Emancipation Memorial in Washington, a copy, known as the Emancipation Group, was installed in Boston, Massachusetts. Despite the memorials’ nod to emancipation, they have attracted historical and recent controversy for the positioning of the figures, mainly the sculpted enslaved person kneeling at Lincoln’s feet, and praise of Lincoln. In 2020, the City of Boston removed the Emancipation Group, and though the Freedmen’s Memorial in Washington garnered similar controversy, as of 2022, it remains in its original place. This case study examines the power of iconography and the impact of federal and municipal governments on decision-making regarding monuments within their jurisdiction.

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Voortrekker Monument in Pretoria

Paula — Mon, 04 May 2026 10:00:00 +0000

The Voortrekker monument is a large granite building which represents Dutch settler nationalism in South Africa. It was built as an attempt to construct a narrative of Afrikaner nationalist pride, tying it in with a complicated legacy of colonialism and racial prejudice. It has thus been subject to criticism over its place in modern South Africa. Since the fall of apartheid, a counter-monument of Freedom Park has served to re-contextualise in physical space the distinctions drawn between settler and African identities. However, the legacy of the Voortrekker monument remains controversial. This case study shows the challenges of reckoning with the material histories of colonialist regimes in postcolonial nations and the challenges of addressing legacies of racism in post-apartheid societies.

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Monument to the Flag in São Paulo

Paula — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 10:00:00 +0000

The Monument to the Flags is a monument in São Paulo, Brazil, that commemorates the Bandeirantes Paulistas. A group of colonists explored the territory of the Portuguese colony as Brazil expanded its limits. The Monument, designed by Victor Brecheret, is one of the most significant statues in the state. The story of the Bandeirantes plays a significant role in the cultural and physical territory of São Paulo, and many regard them as ‘heroes and founding fathers’. However, the figure of the Bandeirantes started to be contested in the early 2010s due to the questionable way they treated natives and enslaved people during their expeditions. This case study examines the impact of the Monument on changing Brazilian society and the ongoing salience of its contestation process to the present day.

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Explorers’ Monument in Fremantle

Paula — Mon, 09 Mar 2026 10:00:00 +0000

In February 1913, the killing of three settlers by Aboriginal people in 1864 was commemorated with the unveiling of the Explorers’ Monument. Yet the history remembered by the memorial was just one side of the story – its plaque failed to mention the deaths of almost 40 Aboriginal people by the three settlers and the punitive recovery expedition. In 1994, a second plaque was added to the monument, recognising the right of Aboriginal people to defend their land and commemorating all Aboriginal people who died in the invasion of Australia.

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Slave Auction Site Plaque in Charlottesville, Virginia

Paula — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 10:00:00 +0000

On February 6, 2020, a historical plaque marking the site of a slave auction went missing in Charlottesville, Virginia. For some residents, the removal of the plaque revived complaints about the inadequacy of the memorial; others felt the removal erased Black history. Five days later, police arrested a local activist who admitted he removed the plaque, calling its placement in the pavement insulting. Community members created a temporary memorial with flowers and signs at the original site. In response, Charlottesville’s City Council commissioned the Historic Resources Committee to evaluate how best to commemorate the location’s history. Following the Committee’s efforts on March 3, 2025, a new marker was unveiled that included expanded historical context and humanised the victims of the slave auctions. This case study highlights how the removal of a contested marker became an opportunity for deeper historical recognition of the legacy of slavery in Virginia.

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Codrington Library, All Souls College in Oxford

Contested Histories Admin — Mon, 25 Aug 2025 10:00:00 +0000

In 2015, the student organisation Rhodes Must Fall in Oxford began to place sustained pressure
on All Souls College to confront the legacy of their ‘Codrington Library’ – named for the enslaver
and benefactor Christopher Codrington. Across two ‘waves’ of targeted protest in 2015-16 and
2020, the College made a range of concessions: it introduced scholarships for graduate students
of Caribbean descent, pledged over £1,000,000 to initiatives including Codrington College in
Barbados and Oxford’s Black Academic Futures programme, and installed a commemorative
plaque honouring those enslaved on Codrington’s plantations. In 2020, it ceased using the name
‘Codrington Library’ and in 2021, recontextualised the statue through digital displays and texts
that address the College’s legacy of slavery. This case study demonstrates how sustained
student-led activism prompted an elite institution to confront its colonial history and highlights
the tension between symbolic and material forms of redress in higher education.

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Modeste Testas Monument in Bordeaux

Contested Histories Admin — Mon, 11 Aug 2025 10:00:00 +0000

In September 2021, the Modeste Testas statue in Bordeaux, which commemorates the city’s involvement in the slave trade, was covered in white plaster. Initially, the City Council believed there were racist motives behind the move, so they issued a legal complaint and started an investigation. However, it was established that the culprit was an art student who remained anonymous and had no racist motive; thus, the complaint was withdrawn. As such, this case study reveals the importance of intentionality – specifically, the intention to degrade – in instances of statute contestation. While this act was not necessarily a contestation of the statue and the history it represents, the event can open a conversation about the broader issue of Bordeaux’s confrontation with its slave-trading past.

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Mémorial Acte in Pointe–à–Pitre

Contested Histories Admin — Wed, 04 Jun 2025 07:00:00 +0000

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