History of slavery & colonialism: Some useful resources

We've made so much progress on this conversation in just a week!! 

Last summer I was telling a friend: "I want to come back to the UK because most of our global problems started here, and I feel the is where we can start solving them." 

Well now is an interesting time.

As readers of this blog know, I've spent years in Africa as a reporter, and a year as a researcher on colonial history for a documentary film company, created by Haitian filmmaker Raoul Peck. The 4 films we worked on are far from ready to be produced but it may be time to share some of the content; I'll dig in my archives...

In the meantime, here are great resources if you want to learn more about colonial history and the mass deportation of forced "human labour" from Africa to the Americas, by the International Museum of Slavery in Liverpool:

https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/history-of-slavery/transatlantic-slave-trade

Useful resources

Suggestions for further reading and research about the history of slavery and its legacies.

Learning and research

• Understanding Slavery - a free online teaching resource
• Centre for the Study of International Slavery - a slavery research centre founded by the University of Liverpool and National Museums Liverpool
• Black Atlantic web resource - launched during the Liverpool and the Black Atlantic exhibitions and events in 2010
• Enslaved Africans: our truth - follow four Africans on their harrowing journeys into slavery with our interactive feature
• Parliament and the British Slave Trade 1600 - 1807 - this complex relationship is explored, with online access to all of the key documents in the archives including the 1807 Act and slave trade petitions. The learning section includes lesson plans and tools for creating interactive resources
• The Wilberforce Institute for the study of Slavery and Emancipation (WISE)
• H-Slavery Discussion Network - studies in the world history of slavery, abolition and emancipation
• Schomberg Center for Research in Black Culture - part of the New York Public Library
• New York Historical Society - features on slavery and its impact on the people, landscape, institutions and economy of New York City
• The Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition
• The Equiano Project - celebrating the life and times of the 18th century writer and abolitionist Olaudah Equiano, with the Equiano Society and Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery
• Mémoire St Barth - dedicated to the history of St Bartholomew, focusing on the slave trade, slavery, abolition and their impact on this island of the Lesser Antilles.
• STeR: Colonialism, Slavery, Trade, Reparations - a Universit of Essex project

Events

• Africa Oyé - the UK's largest free celebration of African music and culture, held in Liverpool each June.
• Slavery Remembrance Day - a commemoration and celebration of the end of slavery, held in Liverpool on 23 August each year
• Black History Month - events and activities across the UK for Black History Month

Museums and places of interest

• London, Sugar and Slavery - a permanent gallery at the Museum in Docklands in London
• Wilberforce House Museum , Hull - the birthplace of slavery abolitionist William Wilberforce
• The Africa Centre - the heart of Africa in the heart of London
• National Maritime Museum Greenwich
• Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
• The Anacostia Community Museum  - the Smithsonian Institution's museum of African American history and culture 
• Barbados Museum and Historical Society
• The African American Museum in Philadelphia
• The Mariner's Museum - the largest maritime museum in North America
• A slave ship speaks - the wreck of the Henrietta Marie - a 17th century slave ship at the Historical Museum of Southern Florida
• Ninsee - the National Institute of Dutch slavery history and heritage
• Steve Biko Foundation
• The King Centre
• Muhammad Ali Center
• National Underground Railroad Freedom Center

Human rights organisations

• Anti-Slavery International - founded in 1839, Anti-Slavery International is the oldest international human rights organisation in the world and works to eradicate all forms of slavery internationally
• Not For Sale Campaign - combines technology, intellectual capital, abolitionist groups and a growing network of individuals, joined together, with the aim of ending slavery in their lifetime
• Stop the Traffik - a growing global coalition working together to fight against people trafficking.
• Amnesty International - is an organization that campaigns to protect human rights worldwide. Their work involves protecting victims of trafficking in the UK, as part of the campaign to stop violence against women.
• Federation of International Human Rights Museums (FIHRM)
• Equality and Human Rights Commission
• Plan UK
• Rights and Humanity
• Anthony Walker Foundation
• Youth for Human Rights
• Human Rights Watch
• ECPAT UK - End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and the Trafficking of Children
• Helen Bamber Foundation
• UNICEF UK
• Kalayaan - Justice for migrant domestic workers