Irish role in slavery is marked - The part played by people in Northern Ireland in the abolition and promotion of the slave trade is being marked.
By Arthur Strain
BBC News

The part played by people in Northern Ireland in the abolition and promotion of the slave trade is being marked.

In Belfast's Linenhall Library rare documents and artefacts have gone on display as part of the Hidden Connections exhibition marking the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the African slave trade.

Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness opened the display on Tuesday, describing the trade as a "manifestation of racism and greed".

Mr McGuinness said he found it hard to believe that slavery was ever acceptable and that it was significant to the history of Ireland.

"There were many people who were involved, either as opponents of slavery or as traders with slave colonies," he said.

"We need to face the fact that many Irish people became rich on the proceeds of black slavery."

He said that today about 20m people remained in slavery or servitude and racism was still a problem for society.

Part of Belfast's commercial and industrial advances were linked to trade with the slave economies of the West Indies.

The founding president of the Belfast Chamber of Commerce, Waddell Cunningham made a fortune from slavery and tried to set up a slave company in Belfast.

He even had a plantation of his own in Dominica, which he renamed Belfast.

His attempt to establish a slave trading company in Belfast in 1786 is documented in one of the exhibits in a copy of the Belfast Mercury.

This was unsuccessful but the documents show that as well as opposing slavery, there were people from Ireland who went abroad and engaged in the slave trade.

One part of the display features a bill of sale of a child named William to Ulsterman Samuel Ferguson, the cost of the boy was $245.




BBC NEWS | UK | Northern Ireland | Irish role in slavery is marked

Young people discuss the issues in UK parliament

Young people from all over the world recently joined with UK politicians in Westminster to discuss the legacy of slavery, as part of our Africa 2007 programme.

Preparing the debate

In the two days before the debate, fifty young adults from sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean, the United States and the UK talked about the impact of the slave trade on our life today. They then joined the politicians in the historic Grand Committee Room of the House of Commons, to pass on the questions and perceptions from their intense discussions.

A timely and practical debate

To commemorate the two-hundredth anniversary of the Slave Trade Abolition Act, the debate considered how lessons from the past could be applied to our future, and could help to tackle today's forms of slavery (such as human trafficking and the recruitment of child soldiers).

Reparations for slavery

One Kenyan teenager received a lot of support from her fellow debaters when she asked: `Why is there no reparation available to the descendants of victims of the Atlantic slave trade in the way that there was for victims of the Holocaust?’ Senior politician, John Prescott, replied: ‘Certainly it is much easier to identify individuals who suffered during events in our lifetime, such as the Jews during the war against Germany, than it is in this case. But we have a responsibility because a great sin - a great evil trade - took place. What we have done in this bicentenary year is not only to remind our people of the terrible slave trade that went on, but to change our education legislation so that we can begin to tell the truth about what happened.'

How the debate came to be

It was during a recent visit to Ghana, to experience our pioneering Connecting Classrooms programme, that John Prescott invited young people to create the Westminster debate. After the debate he said, ‘The British Council Slavery Youth Debate is a tribute to the energy and vision of young people who want a better future for themselves and their children. I look forward to their recommendations for tackling modern-day forms of slavery to be presented to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) youth forum in Uganda this November’.

Making history

The debate was made historic by the attendance of the Paramount Chief of Elmina, Nana Kowdo Condua VI. This is the first time a paramount chief from Elmina has set foot on UK soil for more than a century. In March this year he lifted a 134 year ban on flying the Union Jack in the Elmina community to commemorate the passing of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act.

Slavery debate - World of difference - British Council - About us

In contrast to Blair's "statement of regret" the Australian Prime Minister, today apologised for the state's treatment of the Aboriginal People. The speech below, declares a national apology to all indigenous Australians



"Today we honour the Indigenous peoples of this land, the oldest continuing cultures in human history.

We reflect on their past mistreatment.

We reflect in particular on the mistreatment of those who were Stolen Generations – this blemished chapter in our nation’s history.

The time has now come for the nation to turn a new page in Australia’s history by righting the wrongs of the past and so moving forward with confidence to the future.

We apologise for the laws and policies of successive Parliaments and governments that have inflicted profound grief, suffering and loss on these our fellow Australians.

We apologise especially for the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families, their communities and their country.

For the pain, suffering and hurt of these Stolen Generations, their descendants and for their families left behind, we say sorry.

To the mothers and the fathers, the brothers and the sisters, for the breaking up of families and communities, we say sorry.

And for the indignity and degradation thus inflicted on a proud people and a proud culture, we say sorry.

We the Parliament of Australia respectfully request that this apology be received in the spirit in which it is offered as part of the healing of the nation.

For the future we take heart; resolving that this new page in the history of our great continent can now be written.

We today take this first step by acknowledging the past and laying claim to a future that embraces all Australians.

A future where this Parliament resolves that the injustices of the past must never, never happen again.

A future where we harness the determination of all Australians, Indigenous and non-Indigenous, to close the gap that lies between us in life expectancy, educational achievement and economic opportunity.

A future where we embrace the possibility of new solutions to enduring problems where old approaches have failed.

A future based on mutual respect, mutual resolve and mutual responsibility.

A future where all Australians, whatever their origins, are truly equal partners, with equal opportunities and with an equal stake in shaping the next chapter in the history of this great country, Australia."

My Lords, I thank my noble friend Lady Howells of St Davids for her clarity in setting out the issues of this debate in the context of the past but also the future. I firmly believe it is necessary to understand the past as well as the future, because we cannot establish a national consensus around the issues of Britishness and the multicultural society without understanding the history, culture and tradition of large numbers of our citizens. The essence of this debate is not just about the past; it is about the future, which should be informed by the past—the future of a multicultural Britain, of social cohesion in our communities and of a shared culture and mutual respect.

Perhaps at this point I should declare an interest. Perhaps I am the descendant of a slave. I say “perhaps” because slaves were non-beings to their owners, and any record of their births was obliterated; they would be given the name of slave owners, not their family name. So many thousands share my plight, not knowing their origin, who they are or from where they might have come. Within the Afro-Caribbean community, we face the unanswered question weekly when we see our grandchildren and our neighbours’ children. The unanswered question is simply, “Grandpa, who am I?” A silence, or a change of subject, is the only response. Why? It is because our line of history has been severed. Slave owners practised total enslavement—enslavement of the mind; enslavement of the culture; enslavement of dignity; enslavement of humanity; enslavement of the body and soul; above all, enslavement of the human spirit. They owned their slaves and they even took away their names.

It was the late Bob Marley who said in one of his songs that if you don’t know your history, you don’t know where you are coming from. That is perhaps the real inheritance of the slave trade. We do not know our history, we do not know who we are, and we do not know whence we came. However, we know that around the world, wherever the slave trade existed, it has left behind a legacy of poverty, destitution and confused identity in Africa, the Americas and the Caribbean.

What should be the role of the United Kingdom in tackling the legacy of the slave trade? How can we move on? The nation must start by fully acknowledging that some of its institutions and companies were involved in this heinous crime against humanity. We must start by saying sorry. If we cannot find it in our own humanity to say sorry to the slaves, let us at least say sorry for the trade in which we were engaged.

We must also give the victims of slavery a voice, a real voice. We have had a national celebration—and I mean celebration—of the bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade, a law which was passed in this building. But is that really enough? Has there been sufficient focus on the victims of the slave trade and their descendants? I think not. We need an annual focus to remember the victims of the slave trade, an annual focus which will help the nation move on from the legacy of bitterness and ensure that it is transformed into a legacy of hope and forgiveness.

UNESCO has urged countries to make 23 August international day for the remembrance of the slave trade and its abolition. The night of 22 and 23 August 1791 in Santo Domingo saw the beginning of the uprising by slaves that was to play a crucial role in the abolition campaign. To choose this date for our act of remembrance would provide an annual focus on the courage of the slaves and not just the law which abolished the trade. While abolition was a milestone in ending the trade, we must never forget the suffering of the slaves themselves. An annual remembrance, while not bringing total closure to that dark side of our history, would nevertheless provide a reference point for our displaced generation up and down our communities.

A case has been made for reparation. As a nation we have a massive propensity to devalue the victim but comfort the perpetrator. The church and other slave-owners received compensation for losing their slave labour. Surely, it is morally right that the descendants of slaves deserve some consideration. However, we all recognise that the difficulties involved would be insurmountable, so we must find other imaginative and creative ways to atone for these crimes against humanity.

We have already stated that the teaching of slavery should be included in our curriculum, but the relevance of slavery must be taught throughout that curriculum and not just in key stage 3 and 4. It should be taught in our language, as part of our history of the Industrial Revolution, in our literature and arts, and much more. It has been suggested that a legacy fund should be created, and those institutions including the churches, the companies and the banks which benefited from the slave trade should contribute. The use of the legacy fund should be geared to educational and economic opportunities, and be driven by the needs of the countries involved in the slave trade; they were victims too.

Recently, the Guardian published a set of important speeches of the 20th century. I believe it missed one of the most important—certainly, an important one in the year in which we focus our minds on slavery and racism. The speech was made by Emperor Haile Selassie. When he addressed the United Nations in 1963, he said that,

“until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned ... until there are no longer first-class and second-class citizens of any nation ... until the colour of a man’s skin is of no more significance than the colour of his eyes ... until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regard to race ... until that day, the dream of lasting peace and world citizenship and the rule of international morality will remain but a fleeting illusion, to be pursued but never attained.”

Let those words, echoed in this House, be our legacy from the slave trade.

Lord Morris of Handsworth
Lords Hansard
10 May 2007