Slavery & Resistance Archives - Bristol Radical History Group

Abolitionist, Quaker, Sailor, Dwarf and Revolutionary – Becoming Benjamin Lay

Benjamin Lay (1682-1759) was a Quaker abolitionist (and dwarf) and one of the first people to demand the immediate emancipation of enslaved people worldwide. Scorned in his own day and since for his radicalism, he was until recently almost completely unknown among historians and the general public. Becoming Benjamin Lay, directed by Tony Buba, asks, what can Lay’s life tell us about living with courage and conviction in dark times? We are delighted to have historian and writer Marcus Rediker […]

Book Launch: Freedom Ship – The Uncharted History of Escaping Slavery by Sea

Freedom Ship is a gripping history of the enslaved African Americans who stowed away on vessels that carried them to liberty. Up to 100,000 fugitives successfully fled the horrors of bondage in the American South. Many moved northwards through a network of secret routes and safe houses known as the Underground Railroad. Thousands of others, most of them completely unknown, escaped by sea. Their dramatic accounts of whispered conspiracy and billowing sails make Freedom Ship essential and […]

Copper, Coal and Colonizers: The Welsh in the West Country and their impact on Bristol’s past

Exploring the Welsh people and places that helped shape the city’s history, from colonists to Chartists, enslavers to abolitionists – with the odd pirate and colonial governor thrown in for good measure. A two hour walk from M Shed to the Colston stump via Welsh Back and the Llandoger Trow. Meet outside the front of M Shed.

The one road

From Bristol to Dublin

A walk though time and space with Mark Steeds, covering no less than 1,500 years of Bristols historic connections with Dublin and featuring Saints and Sinners, Roundheads and Royalists, Colonists and Criminals, Transportees and Treachery, Merchants and Murders… From the efforts of Wulfstan in 1090 to ban the trade in Anglo Saxon slaves with the invading Vikings in Dublin, via the Easter Monday massacre of 1209 in Killin Woods, outside of Dublin, when 500 new settlers from Bristol were attacked […]

History at the Hub, Newport, Wales: Voyage of Despair

missing thumb

Our guest speaker on Tuesday, October 29th at 6.30pm at the Newport Rising Hub will be Rosemary Caldicott, a social history researcher and author. During the event, Rosemary will provide insights from her book Voyage of Despair, focusing on lesser-known aspects of history. Rosemary Caldicott is recognized for her commitment to revealing untold narratives from history. Through her research, she offers a new insight into the history of Captain Thomas Phillips and the slave ship Hannibal, delving […]

Breaking the Dead Silence

Engaging with the Legacies of Empire and Slave-Ownership in Bath and Bristol’s Memoryscapes

Breaking the Dead Silence:Engaging with the Legacies of Empire and Slave-Ownership in Bath and Bristol’s Memoryscapes was published by Liverpool University Press in July, four years after the events that brought the authors together. Nineteen diverse and distinctive voices offer timely commentaries and reflections, as well as strategies towards re-telling obscured stories and getting unheard voices heard. These free events are opportunities to hear from some of the creatives, academics and […]

5th Dorset Radical Bookfair

Dorset’s Fifth Radical Bookfair will take place on Saturday 5th October 2024 at Bad Hand Coffee Roasters: The Roastery, 7 Norwich Road, Bournemouth, Dorset, BH2 5QZ. Doors open 11:00, close at 17:00. Our e-mail for enquiries dorsetbookfair@riseup.net Our website (here) farcebook event BRHG members will be running a bookstall and are providing two talks: Talks and panels 11:30 – 12:30 Working with refugees in Portland. Hosted by Global Friendship Group. Activists of the Global Friendship Group […]

Talk: Introduction to “Voyage of Despair. The Hannibal, its captain and all who sailed in her, 1693-1695”

Rosemary Caldicott will be giving a short introductory talk on Zoom about her new book "Voyage of Despair" on Friday July 19th at 14:30 to Black History Conversations link here The brutality of the slave trade. In 1693, Captain Thomas Phillips embarked on a voyage from London to Guinea, where he purchased enslaved Africans on behalf of the Royal African Company. The subsequent journey across the Atlantic witnessed a tragic toll, with hundreds of the enslaved captives, and many of the crew, […]

‘We build them up and we pull them down’: Sarah Lundberg Summer School – Dublin

Sarah Lundberg Summer School - Seán O'Casey Theatre, St Mary's Road, East Wall, Dublin 3, Ireland The 10th annual Sarah Lundberg Summer School is an exploration of the concept of commemoration, remembrance and celebration. Who decides what is remembered and how do we remember it ? Are all commemorations of equal importance, can remembrance be 'neutral' or is there always an agenda ? Does history dictate how we commemorate the past, or do commemorations shape how we view the past ? Presentations […]

King Billy, Suriname and slavery

By Cleo Lake, Silu Pascoe, Mark Steeds

Co-chair of the memorialisation task group for the Bristol Legacy Foundation, Cleo Lake has been exploring potential sites for a new memorial dedicated to African ancestors and their contribution to Bristol. Queen Square presented itself as a tranquil and historical option that is near but away from the bustle of the harbourside in the city centre. Dominated however by the statue of William III at its centre, Cleo decided to research further into who he was and discovered an intriguing reference […]