Museum of Science and Industry

Hundreds of terracotta figurines will be created at the Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI) this weekend to commemorate the people who were shipped as slaves when Manchester textile goods formed part of a triangular trade with West Africa and the Americas and West Indies. The clay figures (around 20cm tall) will be made by visitors to MOSI as part of a day of family activities, including poetry performances led by top Manchester poet Lemn Sissay and a talk exploring Manchester’s links to slavery, to commemorate the 200^th anniversary of the abolition of slave trade.

Hundreds of people were transported in each of the slave ships which carried slaves from Africa to the Americas or West Indies and brought back raw cotton to Liverpool and Manchester. The terracotta figurines will be created at a public workshop with local artist Annette Cobley and placed in a specially crafted wooden boat, which will be displayed in MOSI’s Textiles Gallery to commemorate 200 years since the abolition of the slave trade.

The free event on 1 March: ‘Did Slaves Build Manchester? Manchester, cotton and the slave trade’ is in association with the People’s History Museum, and includes performances of the short historic drama piece ‘No Bed of Roses’ and a creative workshop for younger children.

Artist Annette Cobley said: “The terracotta figures are all different sizes, shapes, genders and races and will be made as individuals to symbolise how these were all people with their own personalities, although they were treated as commodities to be bought and sold. The boat which will hold these figures will be displayed in the Museum as a reminder of how Manchester’s wealth was inextricably linked with slavery. Although it is a serious theme, the activities are designed to be fun and thought provoking; there will be something for everyone and it is all free, so please do come and join us!”

Lemn Sissay will perform with young poets from the Powerhouse Young Identity group from Moss Side  amongst the old cotton machinery in MOSI’s Textiles Gallery, while Dr Alan Rice, reader in American Cultural Studies at University of Lancaster, will lead an interactive roleplay session to explore and discuss the role of slavery and the slave trade in the development of Manchester.

Dr Alan Rice, said: “The traditional image of slaves is that they were passive victims. Yet people fought very hard against the institution of slavery and sought freedom again and again. One individual, who came to be known as Henry ‘Box’ Brown, escaped by being posted in a box from Virginia to Pennsylvania with just a bladder of water for sustenance. The journey lasted 27 hours and the box was upturned twice, yet he survived. Later Brown re-enacted his experiences when he toured Manchester and other parts of Britain to campaign against slavery and promote his autobiography, which was published in Salford in 1850. He settled in Manchester.”

The event is part of a year of activities throughout Greater Manchester, which began in 2007 to commemorate 200 years since the Abolition of the Transatlantic Slave Trade Act, which was passed in Britain on 25 March 1807. Eight galleries and museums throughout Manchester joined together as ‘Revealing Histories’ to explore the issues surrounding slavery, particularly focusing on their collections and buildings. This year’s programme is called ‘In Conversation With…’ and brings the region’s leading academics and historians, creative artists, curators and cultural activists together with the public to discuss and respond to the legacy of slavery and the slave trade and its current relevance to the Greater Manchester we live in today.

The Lancashire cotton industry was dependent on slave-grown cotton.  In turn, huge quantities of Manchester textiles were traded for enslaved people in West and Central Africa. From 1690 to 1807 British ships transported an estimated 2.8 million Africans. About 12 million Africans in total were displaced. Despite the abolition of the trade in 1807, slavery continued in the British Empire until 1838 and in America until 1865.

For more information about Revealing Histories, please visit:

http://www.revealinghistories.org.uk

Back to news