On 30th May, Legacy Makers volunteers Tryphena Anderson and Veronica Barnes alongside Dr Susanne Seymour were featured on the Newstead Abbey Songs of Praise episode. Dr Susanne Seymour talks about Newstead Abbey’s connections to the Quebec sugar plantation in Jamaica and discusses how connections to the plantation funded the renovation of the house and estate. Clips of the Blood Sugar film featuring the Legacy Makers family were shown on the programme and the Blood Sugar film is on permanent exhibition at Newstead Abbey.
The Blood Sugar film was made by Shawn Sobers with illustrations created by Kim Thompson and poetry written by the volunteers from the Legacy Makers family alongside Michelle Hubbard. The Blood Sugar film was shortlisted for a national AHRC Research in Film Award.
Legacy Makers volunteers Tryphena Anderson and Veronica Barnes met with Aled Jones to discuss the projects work on exploring Newstead Abbey’s connections to the transatlantic slave trade. Tryphena and Veronica spoke about what drives them to volunteer on Legacy Makers projects and how their work is motivated by their faith.
The episode of Songs of Praise can be found below:
The Legacy Makers family recently met to discuss one of our goals we’ve wanted to achieve from the beginning of the project: bringing the project to schools. We have always discussed how important it is that we go on to teach younger generations about hidden histories and how UK heritage sites have links to the transatlantic slave trade.
Dr Helen Bates updated us on the research on connections with Darley Abbey. Helen showed us evidence of where the cotton came from and connections between Darley Abbey and Pernambuco in Brazil. We also looked into evidence of transport routes and links between Darley Abbey and Nottingham hosiers. We also explored the Derwent Valley Dichotomy and comparisons between mill workers and the enslaved.
We are really grateful for the help of Bo Olawaye who discussed with us how we can make resources to take into schools for children to take home with them. The Legacy Makers family are now planning what we would like to include in our education package and how we will design the resources to make sure they are accessible and appealing for children whilst also being educational. We would like to say thank you to Bo for helping us with beginning to think about what we want our resource packs to look like and we’re excited to start creating the pack with you soon.
We were also able to show Samantha Musaba’s film to members of the Legacy Makers family who had not seen the film. Samantha worked with us on her graduate student placement to explore the links between the cotton mills and slavery. To read more about Samantha, head over to our student placement page.
On February 17th 2021, Nottingham Castle projected the portraits of 100 Nottingham Residents as part of their Nottingham’s In Your Face project.
Thanks to our partnership with Josh Osoro Pickering, Tryphena Anderson, Paul Pryce, Hyacinth Banton and Charles Wilson-Banton from our Legacy Makers family were projected onto Nottingham Castle alongside other inspiring people from Nottingham. The aim of the projection was to remind people that even though the castle walls were originally built to keep people out, the space of Nottingham Castle now welcomes everyone. We are currently working with Nottingham Castle on improving their space. So far we have had many important conversations surrounding updates on Nottingham Castle’s refurbishment and new exhibition spaces. We’ve been considering the power of objects in exhibition spaces and their cultural meanings with their multiple narratives.
Find out more about the Nottingham’s In Your Face project below:
The Nottingham Legacy Makers family stand in solidarity with #BlackLivesMatterUK and the global movement for black lives.
The Legacy Makers initiative aims to recognise the contribution of our Black ancestors to the creation of material wealth in Britain and has run a variety of projects since May 2014. We have focused on work that enables the contribution of our Black ancestors to become woven into the mainstream narrative of heritage sites and visitor attractions which were involved in the exploitation of our enslaved African ancestors. We have also raised awareness of the importance of having the lives of our ancestors represented and described meaningfully and respectfully in museum and archives collections and catalogues in the UK. This work has not been easy and along the way we have met with racism and encountered many challenges in attempting to ensure that the historical interpretation on these sites and their associated collections and archives acknowledge that Black Lives Matter.
2014
On 17 July 2014, Eric Garner lost his life at the hands of police officers in New York who held him in a deadly choke hold during an arrest. Eric Garner repeated “I Can’t Breathe” eleven times whilst being held face down on the sidewalk by officers. Six years later, George Floyd has lost his life at the hands of the police, being knelt on by a police officer, whilst other officers looked on as he also repeated: “I Can’t Breathe”.
In 2014, many people involved in the Legacy Makers initiative wanted to take action to show solidarity. On 21 December 2014, a peaceful flash mob protest was held at Nottingham’s Victoria Centre and many in the Legacy Makers team got involved.
The protest raised awareness about the state murder of Eric Garner and many other black men and women. Nottingham artists Kriss Riss, Jah Digga, and 2Tone created their ‘I Can’t Breathe’ protest track and music video to raise awareness surrounding police brutality both in the US and here in the UK. Many people involved in Legacy Makers feature in the video.
Kriss Riss, 2Tone, Jah Digga – I Can’t Breathe
2015
The October Dialogues in 2015 was an international conference led by Bright Ideas Nottingham, the Monitoring Group and the University of Nottingham. Speakers on the panel included early career researchers, PhD scholars and scholar activists presenting the latest thinking surrounding BLM. After the conference, October Dialogues delegates met to discuss bringing the Black Lives Matter Movement to the UK. Nottingham formed the first BLM chapter in Europe. People who had been actively involved in Legacy Makers became involved. You can read about the event here:
2016 was a big year of action for the BLM Nottingham chapter. In May 2016, the BLM Nottingham Chapter were joined by Alicia Garza, co-creator of the Black Lives Matter Movement in the United States alongside Natalie Jeffers (Co-creator of BLMUK), Imani Robinson and others. BLM Nottingham also held a public screening of Injustice directedby Ken Fero. Injustice exposes police brutality that occurs in the UK and showing the experience of people whose family members have died in police custody.
July 2016, BLM Nottingham chapter held their Clumber Street Protest, as Black Lives Matter protest swept across the world, spreading the message of Black Lives Matter to the city of Nottingham and sending out messages of solidarity. Many people involved in the Legacy Makers project took part.
As part of #BlackLivesMatter national day of action, in August 2016, the fifth anniversary of Mark Duggan’s death, Black Lives Matter Activists led the #Shutdown protest – a national day of action. In Nottingham a small group of activists brought the city of Nottingham’s transport to a halt when they lay their bodies across the tramtracks in the city centre, gaining mass UK media attention for the movement. The UK movement was also being discussed overseas in, for example, the New York Times.
The shutdown of transport routes raised awareness for the issues affecting black people both in the UK and across the globe. On the same day as the UK Shutdown, a video of the shooting of Paul O’Neal by police officers in Chicago was released. Paul O’Neal was only 18 years old when he was shot in the back by officers who accused him of opening fire, despite him being unarmed.
2018 – 2019
In 2018 speakers from the Nottingham BLM which included people involved with Legacy Makers attended a BLM conference at the British Library:
In 2018 and 2019 BLM Nottingham organised several fundraising events towards helping those affected by the Windrush scandal, for the United Families and Friends Campaign and BME Cancer Communities. Many people on the Legacy Makers project got actively involved and encouraged people to donate.
2020
How many museums, galleries and heritage sites showed signs of solidarity with Black Lives Matter in statements of support on their websites or on social media?
Tate have posted a statement on Instagram standing in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter Movement. They posted a Chris Ofili’s ‘No Woman, No Cry’ (1998) painting which is a tribute to Stephen Lawrence, a London teenager who was murdered in a racially driven attack. Tate’s caption reads “Nobody should have to live in fear because of the colour of their skin”.
The Museums Association have put out a statement sending out a message that sector bodies call for stand against racial injustice: “Museums have a critical role to play in building a society that is diverse, inclusive, tolerant and respectful and the MA will continue to support them to do that.”
On 2nd June, Wollaton Hall in Nottingham was lit up in purple at night as a sign of respect to George Floyd.
News of any statements supporting BLM issued by the specific heritage organisations that we have worked with over the last six years including Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site and Newstead Abbey will be published here when available.
BLM 2020
The Legacy Makers project involves people who are mainly of African Caribbean heritage. During the Covid 19 pandemic, many of them are isolating or shielding or they are supporting family members who need to shield. We are very aware of the content of the recent report by Public Health England that sets out the health inequalities relating to the impact of Covid 19 on BAME communities. We are also aware of the missing information and the call to publish the whole report. We join the call to create recommendations to tackle these inequalities. For those people who feel that their own health and that of their families and friends may be compromised by their attendance at public demonstrations to support Black Lives Matter, there are still lots of things we can do to show support whilst shielding or staying at home. It is important that we remain active during these times and raise awareness, as there is still a lot more to achieve. To support Black Lives Matter you can make donations, sign petitions, and learn and educate others about the movement and the issues black people are facing globally.
The UKBLM Fund is now live, please share and donate:
The Legacy Makers family travelled back to Derwent Valley Mills for a day full of Black History. We had a very interesting coach journey thanks to volunteer Janice Wilson who gave us a bus tour. Janice spoke to us about the history of Arkwright and Cromford Mill, educating us about both the area and cotton as we drove through the countryside. Janice is a Blue Badge trained guide who has previously worked at places like Dove Cottage in the Lake District.
When we reached Cromford Mill we all caught up over a cup of tea before heading over to the main site to begin the event. We all gathered for a talk by volunteers from our Legacy Makers family.
Our volunteers shared the narratives of former enslaved people. They educated us on the cruel and harsh conditions on cotton plantations. Hyacinth Barnes reminded us what the “Slave Trade Triangle” was and how cotton fitted in to that, Veronica Barnes read Mary Prince’s description of an auction and the separation of an enslaved mother from her children, Charles Kihago read a narrative published in 1838 by James William who was enslaved on a cotton plantation Alabama but had escaped to freedom. Charles’s ancestors had also been enslaved on cotton plantations in Alabama, so this was very poignant. Louise Garvey told us more about the treatment of babies and children on the plantation and how mothers had to leave them while they were forced to work.
We also considered how the production of cotton became industrialised and the role the Industrial Revolution played in the demand for enslaved labour. Paul Pryce told us more about the invention of the cotton gin and the role that the Mississippi steamboat and the steam railways played in accelerating the cotton industry. We also learnt how some of the steam engines used in America (such as the first Mississippi steamboat) were designed by Watt of Birmingham.
Michael David again reminded us about the harsh realities of life on the plantation. He used the narrative of the fugitive Harriet Jacobs which was published in 1861 to describe punishment for attempting to escape. The narrative in full can be found bellow:
Jenny Wizzard discussed the enormous risks that the fugitives took in attempting to escape and the help that was offered through the “Underground Railroad”. Finally Mrs Anderson read some newspaper extracts from October and November 1819 to remind the audience of the role that Liverpool played in bringing cotton that had been picked by enslaved labour from New Orleans. Vivinne Whiteley summed up what “Legacies of Slavery” mean to her and how the work that the group had done at Cromford Mill in the past was important. Veronica Barnes ended the session by singing “O Freedom!” The talk was incredibly emotional, however, together we were all able to heal in each other’s company whilst learning more about the Slave Trade and our ancestors’ connection to the industrial revolution in the UK.
Raphael Blake captured the whole day on camera, ready for the creation of our film that will follow us on our journey as a group.
We then had lunch together where we were able to discuss our thoughts and feelings about the day so far.
Whilst the gospel choir (made up from members of the Legacy Makers family) practiced for their performance in the afternoon, the rest of us participated in a stone painting session guided by Evadney Jalloh. We used our painted stones to spread messages of love inspired by the talk we attended in the morning.
After our stone painting session, we all gathered back together as a group to listen to Dr Susanne Seymour’s talk where we were also joined by other guests wanting to learn more about Black History at Cromford Mill. Dr Seymour gave us a talk on Slavery and Supplies of Raw Cotton to the Derwent Valley Mills. This talk focused on a case study of the Strutts family who we learnt about on the Colour of Money phase of our project.
Dr Seymour discussed the historical geographies of connections between the slave trade and the industrial revolution in the UK. We learnt about who the Strutts family were and how they were abolitionist sympathisers. Dr Seymour also showed us how the slave trade is directly linked to Nottingham through businesses such as Nottingham Hosiers who were customers of the Strutts.
Dr Seymour’s presentation was very thought provoking and enabled us to make wider connections between cotton plantations, trade and businesses in the UK. This knowledge inspired the audience to engage with what they had just learnt and ask any questions that they had.
We closed our event with an amazing performance by the gospel choir. The choir begun with an emotional performance of “O Freedom!” by Veronica Barnes.
We are incredibly proud of the gospel choir, including members of the Legacy Makers family, performing at the Legacy Makers event at Cromford Mill. It was the perfect way to end what our volunteers found to be a very valuable day of learning.
“It’s been rewarding to take part in activities of the Legacy Makers, a cultural/ educational group. It is enriching indeed to visit places in the Midlands and further afield to see, at firsthand, the often unacknowledged influence/ impact that the transatlantic Slave Trade has had on Britain’s prosperity and development that resulted from the woeful exploited labour of many generations of enslaved people.
It is easier to appreciate and understand a cultural heritage that blights the well-being of descendants of enslaved people who remain uncompensated for their enforced labour and contrast this to the wealth inheritance of the descendants of former slave owners who built industries as a product of enslaved people and received compensation for “loss of property” when enslaved people were freed.”
The Legacy Makers family are incredibly disappointed in the display boards placed outside of the Museum of London Docklands (not placed by the museum). The display completely fails to recognise our ancestor’s contributions to the wealth derived directly from the trade of things such as sugar and rum. One area of the board even focuses on sugar and manages to state that ‘it was the most highly sought commodity of the period’. However, the effects of sugar being in high demand on enslaved African people is not mentioned at all.
We are unimpressed by the fact that the boards go on to simply glorify the wealth and prosperity gained through the trade in West India Dock; without mention of the work done on plantations to produce items of trade by enslaved African people. Our ancestor’s contributions to trade must be recognised as without their contributions, ‘the prosperity of the area’ would never have been achieved. Furthermore, all the achievements being celebrated, such as five-story warehouses, were also built off the back of the slave trade and were made possible due to the work being done on plantations.
A large picture of the Robert Milligan statue has also been printed onto the display, despite being able to view the statue only a couple of feet away. This area of the board could have been used to teach people about our ancestors’ contributions to the construction of West India Dock and prosperity in the area.
The Legacy Makers family visited the Museum of London Docklands to explore their Slavery, Culture and Collecting Exhibition.
Thank you to Dr Katie Donington for giving a talk about George Hibbert and his family’s wealth in connection to the slave trade. We learnt that George Hibbert’s uncle bought enslaved people in large groups and that the Hibbert family were very invested in the slave trade. They accumulated a lot of power in Jamaica and became plantation owners, trading with rum and sugar. George Hibbert himself was the first chairman of the West India Dock company as well as a merchant and plantation owner.
Dr Katie Donington also gave us a tour of the Museum of London Docklands memorial landscape. Katie spoke to us about the statue of Robert Milligan placed outside of the docklands museum. The Legacy Makers family are concerned by the lack of learning opportunities provided around the statue. There is no plaque, or any information provided for people to learn who Robert Milligan was. Robert Milligan, from a family of sugar plantation owners, was a merchant and ship owner who had a huge involvement in the construction of the West India Dock. We discussed that people walking past would just assume that Milligan is just ‘an important man’ whilst not being able to learn where his importance arose from.
We then went on to look at the display board on the slave trade in West India Docks. We were angered that the board failed to include anything about enslaved African people and glorified how trade in the docks increased the prosperity of the area. Our ancestors contributions were pivotal to the growth of trade within East London and should be acknowledged for the growth in ‘prosperity of the area’.
Please see individual blog post for more information about the display boards
We then got the opportunity to explore the Slavery, Culture and Collecting exhibition within the museum. The exhibition explored the enslavement of African people and their lives on plantations in the Caribbean. Items from Hibbert’s collection were displayed to provide examples of the wealth generated by the slave trade.
We concluded our trip with a group discussion. Together we expressed our thoughts and feelings about everything we had encountered on the trip. Many members of the group felt disconnected to the exhibition and had a lot of questions to ask about the people who were involved in curating the exhibition.
The trip has given us determination to continue finding out more about the people who shaped our landscape in London, one of the UK’s main financial centres. With the beautiful view on the coach journey home we reflected on what we had learnt on the trip and now look forward to the important work we have ahead!
Please find more information on the exhibition below:
Here are some pictures of the Legacy Makers family on our trip to the Museum of London Docklands. We had a stimulating day, exploring the museum and its grounds, which sprouted important conversations that lasted from our group discussion to the whole coach journey back to Nottingham. The trip has excited and motivated us in our mission to ensure that our ancestors contributions are recognised in heritage sites across the UK.
On this phase of the Legacy Makers project we will be joined by Raphael Blake: our film maker.
Raphael joined us at the launch of the project and set to work filming straight away. Whilst capturing important moments during our journey, Raphael will also be interviewing our volunteers and people who join us on the project throughout.
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