Black history New textbook takes a broader look at slave trade
The undignified fate of the much argued-over statue of Edward Colston and demands from pupils, ex-pupils and the public prompted a group of local teachers to get together (virtually) to produce a school textbook specifically about Bristol’s slavetrading p
‘WHEREVER you’re from, whatever your background, this is an important part of all of our story and it has a really long impact that has a legacy still today.
“We need to accept and understand that it’s a really complex piece of history, it’s not clear-cut. That’s what makes it interesting and we need to embrace that.”
So says Bristol history teacher and assistant head teacher Richard Kennett of a new school textbook about Bristol’s part in the transatlantic slave trade.
But why do we need a new textbook? Surely there’s no shortage of material? For decades now, we’ve seen a wealth of books and pamphlets and articles in newspapers (not least in the Post!) and online, and a long and lively debate about the Colston statue (long before it fell), the name of the Colston Hall and so on.
Yes, but it’s not covered well in schools, he says. “It’s the same with loads of topics. There’s a lot that happens in (academic) scholarship and books aimed at adult level that’s never translated to kids.”
Hence this new book, aimed at Year 8s, telling the story of Bristol and the trade. In fact, it’s been available since a few days before the end of the summer term, but one imagines that most teachers and pupils were too demob-happy to notice it at the time.
That said, sales of Bristol and Transatlantic Slavery: Origins, impact and legacy to teachers and the general public alike via the M Shed shop and online have been brisk all summer.
The book was researched and written by Richard Kennett along with seven other Bristol history teachers, and was produced in partnership with the city’s museums. Everyone worked for free; any
profits will go towards future updated editions.
The book is a direct result of the fall of the Colston statue in the summer of 2020, which made national and international headlines.
“For years we’ve been talking about how slavery’s quite poorly dealt with in British school textbooks, but the fall of the statue prompted us to go, ‘we need to do something about this.’”
“After the fall of the statue everybody started talking about the way that slavery was taught, particularly in Bristol. I think every secondary school in the city was sent a petition by ex-students saying that kids wanted a better tool on transatlantic slavery.
“They had a fair point, so about a week after the statue fell some of us met up online and said let’s write a book.”
The book is also very much a product of the pandemic. There are still some of the other Bristol history teachers involved in the project that Richard has not yet met in person. Most of the project was carried out over Zoom meetings.
The initial plan had been to produce it just in electronic (PDF) form, but the pandemic put most of Bristol’s museums’ normal educational activities on hold, meaning that unspent money was available for a printer’s bill.
Jane Hack, who organizes and promotes educational activities at Bristol’s Museums (her job title is senior engagement officer, formal learning), was also getting a lot of
inquiries after the statue went into the docks.
“We were being contacted by teachers asking ‘How do I talk to my class about this? What resources do you have for teaching about Black history and Bristol’s Black history?’
“When Richard said they were talking about this … I spoke to my managers to get permission to use my budget to create a book for every school in the city. Initially I was just thinking in terms of Bristol, but actually we’ve learned that there’s a great demand for this beyond Bristol.”
If sales are any measure, the demand goes beyond the classroom, too.
“We call it a textbook,” says Jane. “But it can be read by anyone.
“Members of the public have been buying it, not just teachers, because they want to be informed. There are lots of books on the subject and some are very good, and some aren’t, but this works for people asking, how do you start with the subject; how do you begin with a trusted source? It works on different levels.”
If you’re looking for a primer on the basic facts of Bristol’s part in transatlantic slavery, the full-colour A4 format book will do the job very well. It looks at the West African societies from where most enslaved people were exported as well as the trade itself, and the sugar plantations in the West Indies.
It also examines resistance, both while being transported and on the
plantations as well as the abolition campaigns and the modern-day legacies in Britain, the Caribbean and West Africa, and how slavery shaped later ideas about race, ending by asking readers and students how we should remember Bristol’s slaving heritage.
The decision to open the story up beyond looking merely at horror and injustice was one the authors took early on.
“The old way we teach slavery is a really narrow and really macabre version of the story,” says Richard. “Most British schools pretty much only teach the Middle Passage and isn’t-it-grim-on-the-plantations? And that’s where the story ends.
“I think our book reflects a need for something that’s massively wider geographically and chronologically. We needed to put Africa back into the story, and West Africa in particular – we’ve focused on the Akan people of modern-day Ghana. But we also needed to bring Britain back into the story, and the impact back at home. Chronologically we needed to stretch the story rather than just focus on the 18th century, bring it back and forward.”
The focus throughout, though, would also be on Bristol and how the city was plugged into a global phenomenon. As far as possible, it’s been illustrated with objects, documents and images from Bristol’s museums collections.
Jane Hack: “We felt it was really important to tell the Bristol story with the collections available in the city. It was to make it not totally about Bristol, but make it as relevant as possible.
“Research shows that young people are much more engaged with something they can see the relevance of, and the connections with where they live.”
They’re very proud of how this is “a most Bristol project”, written by Bristol authors, using Bristol material and produced and published by Bristol Books, a community interest company who will not be making a profit from it.
“We wanted to ‘keep it Bristol,’ says Jane. “They did an amazing job.”
Bristol and Transatlantic Slavery: Origins, impact and legacyby Richard Kennett, Sally Thorne, Tom Allen, Jane Bolam, Ed Durbin, Tracy O’Brien, Kate Smee and Maia Stevenson is on sale at M Shed and available online from the Bristol Museums’ shop at tinyurl.com/5ewm2duf