Campaigning
Changing the ongoing consequences of British slavery
Project T.R.U.T.H: Telling Restoring Understanding our Tapestry & History
‘Project TRUTH exists to encourage Afrikan heritage citizens of Bristol to share their thoughts and opinions about what Bristol should do in terms of recognising its role and legacy in the Transatlantic Trafficking of Enslaved Afrikans, (TTEA, formerly termed the ‘Transatlantic slave trade’).
Project TRUTH is an educative and engagement initiative that seeks to reach as many people of Afrikan heritage in the city as possible to get their views so that clear recommendations can be made. This is the first time Bristol has embarked on such an extensive and wide ranging opportunity for our community to express its voice on this essential issue, which has been long overdue.’
Trafficked Enslaved African Corrective Historical Plaques
Gloria Daniel’s TTEACH Plaques project is an effort to awaken the British public to how much of Britain’s colonial and domestic wealth was built on its slave economy. Gloria’s great-great-grandfather John Isaac Daniel was enslaved on a Barbados plantation. The Daniel family who owned it, and more plantations in British Guyana received one of the largest pay-outs as compensation when British Caribbean slavery was abolished in 1834.
TTEACH’s commemorative plaques will be placed on buildings associated with the slave trade, including Bristol Cathedral where several of the Daniel dynasty are buried with great pomp.
‘Our hope is for TTEACH plaques to empower the descendants of African and Caribbean people to research their ‘family name’ and the history of those who profited from the ownership of their ancestors. Descendants of those who profited from the Transatlantic slave economy can join us in exhuming this shared painful history and join us in our march to reparative justice.’
More information at TTEACH Plaques
Repurposing the Dick Bequest
The Dick Bequest is a charity which distributes grants to help teachers in Aberdeenshire and Moray develop their skills and also provides for the purchase of school equipment. It was established in 1832 in memory of James Dick who died in 1828 and left a significant percentage of his finances to fund parish schoolmasters in the Northeast of Scotland.
James Dick was born in Forres in 1743 and the research carried out by David Alston and Donald Morrison shows that Dick was involved in the slave trade in Jamaica for 20 years and built his fortune from the resulting profits. In December 2019 the fund was valued at £1.7M.
Alston and Morrison believe that the money be returned to Jamaica to benefit schools and education there.
Information from Flag Up Scotland Jamaica. Read more here
Please contact Alex Renton if you’d like a campaign or an inspiring idea featured here