At the end of the 18th century, slave ship sailors and abolitionists met in the Seven Stars pub to plot the end of the slave trade. Join us at this historic Bristol landmark for a night of plotting, moshing and moonstomping. Compere Mark Steeds will introduce us to the history of the Seven Stars before handing over to Bridgewater DJ Dave Chapple who will lead us towards ska enlightenment. DJ Chapple's lecture will be a musical odyssey from the end of slavery in Jamaica to independence; or as he […]
Adam Hochschild: A multi-award winning author, his first book Half the Way Home: a Memoir of Father and Son, was published in 1986. It was followed by The Mirror at Midnight: a South African Journey, The Unquiet Ghost: Russians Remember Stalin, Finding the Trapdoor: Essays, Portraits, Travels, King Leopold's Ghost: a Story of Greed, Terror and Heroism in Colonial Africa and Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire's Slaves. His widely read books have won numerous […]
Jim McNeill's contribution concentrated on how the Emancipation Act of 1833 awarded Bristol-based slave owners compensation of over £500,000 for the 'loss' of their slaves. Jim looked at how this money was invested to stimulate the establishment and growth of industrial development, including Gas, Cotton and Railways in the city. Listen to this talk: Part 1 Part 2 Download Part 1 (10 Mb mp3 file) Download Part 2 (7.3 Mb mp3 file) See a pdf file containing the power point slides for this lecture
Directed by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea, 1976, 120 minutes, Colour. (Spanish with English subtitles) Attempting to fulfil a religious obligation, the Count of a sugar mill in Cuba at the end of the eighteenth century decides to recreate the Last Supper, playing Jesus Christ himself and randomly selecting twelve slaves as his disciples. Tensions break out between Don Manuel, a cruel, hardened overseer who believes that slaves have nothing to do with God and that letting slaves eat at the master's table […]
Jane Bradley and Dawn Dyer kindly complied a selection of books, posters and newspapers from the Reference Library's collection charting both the slave trade and its abolition. These included an early edition of Equiano's An Interesting Narrative, election posters from 1832 (for and against the continuation of slavery) and adverts in newspapers offering rewards for runaway slaves.
Jim McNeill, local historian, storyteller and member of Living Easton will lead us on a walk that explores the history of Bristol Blue glass and reveals its links to slave money. From Ye Shakespeare Public House, (Victoria St) to The Ostrich Public House. A walk along the River Avon, through the districts of Redcliffe and Temple, Bristol, to explore the sites of the city's glasshouses and how they were sustained by colonial expansion and Bristol's involvement in the slave trade. Read an […]
Pontecorvo's memorable sequel to Battle of Algiers sees Brando in finely ambiguous form as the drunken, cynical Sir William Walker, a British agent sent to the Caribbean island of Queimada in the mid-1800s to stir up a native rebellion against the Portuguese sugar monopoly; ten years later, he is forced to return there to destroy the leader he himself created, in order to open up trade with Britain. Falling between epic adventure and political allegory, the film is occasionally clumsily […]
Sugar and Tobacco: Drugs of Capitalism - Dave Cullum This lecture studies the impact of Bristol's international trade on the developing industrial economy of England in the 18th and 19th centuries, with a focus on diet, nutrition and addiction amongst the new urban proletariat…. Listen to this talk: Download this lecture The Anti-slavery Movements in Bristol - Madge Dresser There were three anti-slavery campaigns in Bristol between the late eighteenth and the early twentieth centuries: the […]
Clarkson This film tells the story of an unsung hero in the fight to abolish slave trading and is set in Bristol in 1787. Although Wilberforce has won public acclaim for finally outlawing the trade, it was Thomas Clarkson who provided him with much of the data that he used to back up the cause. The film is one of contrast: between the pious young divinity student, straight out of University, and the bawdy taverns and rough slave port where he conducted his fact-finding. Clarkson 'grows up' as […]
West Country Slavery (700-1150) - Chris Brian Slavery in England is little known about, neither is the fact that in medieval times the West Country had a very high proportion of it's population enslaved. The talk highlights West Country slavery, including the early establishment of Bristol as a slave trading post. It also explores who was likely to become a slave in medieval England, and asks what were the conditions like for these slaves, compared to other slave cultures. Slave Revolts - Edson […]
