Revealing Histories: Remembering Slavery

The evidence suggests that Greater Manchester wouldn't be the way it is today without the slave trade.

• What people think so far

• l`m in total agreement with the statement, britain perpetuate slavery in human this had detrimental effects that are being felt today,so they should apologise for having started the whole thing.
  

  gail mandaza

• Apologise for what? when they are still practising slavery mentally and still ripping oil and minerals in Africa and asia, so I see no need of them being hypocrite as there generations where, so they are, and will remain; in living in the sweats of africans and asians.
  
  

  Isata

• I think the slave trade had an impact on all parts of Britain - in ways that haven't even been fully explored yet. Just the fact that our diet and fashions changed so much at that time - epsecially the use of sugar in everything we eat!
  But the wealth generated was phenomenal and had a huge benefit on Industrial Britain. The campaigns to abolish slavery also fed into the development of wider social reform and led to the improvement of conditions for factory workers and movements like the co-op.

  Kathy

• The best way to apologise is to act to eradicate 21st century slavery... all goods should be Fair Trade.
  
  

  Anonymous

• I think it is important to study and understand the past but it is a nonsense to try and impose 21st century values on morals and events that happened centuries ago. All the slaves and slave owners are long dead and buried and so cannot take part in any discussion or apology. We should celebrate the fact that slavery was abolished, not get bogged down in apologising for events that no living person had any control over nor took part in. Otherwise we would end up with the Danes aplogising for the Viking raids, the French apologising for the Norman invasion, the Germaic trbes apologising for the sack of Rome, etc, etc, etc.
  
  

• I trying to understand the past we should not judge their behaviour by our standards today. By the way most of the black slaves were sold by their own people to Arab traders and then on the white man. Most slavery today still takes place in Africa. Think of the poor woman and girls brought in as cheap household slaves by rich blacks and Arabs. While slavery is abhorent in all it's forms Britain was one of the first countries to go against the norm of the time and ban it. I've looked at some of the other arguements below and find the lack of intelligent content in some a sad refelection on the owners intelligence.

  farmermum

• This statement is true. I hate slavery. It is discusting.may it never be again.

  Uncle Tom's rememberer

• Slavery is awful and many have suffered from it.
  i wish nobody had ever DARED to THINK about it. But the statement above i think is true.

  goblestan

• Your intended propaganda is falling a bit flat isn't it? We live in a democracy and we are not stupid.

  Ann Rutherford

• Britain did NOT start slavery. It was NEVER legal here. nor were any slaves here.
  A few unscrupulous city trader mainly in Bristol did briefley benifit from this ancient Arab on African "act" but the British Government soon sent the Royal Navy to spend the next 100 years hunting down and eradicating the trade. Why doesn't the liberal biased education system provide tha facts for our young people? Why do they let this myth be perpetuated with damage to our future comunity cohesion? They are adding to a future powder keg I believe.

  Lee Corbusier

• Give it a rest. The Museum Comunity has been hijacked by the extreme middle, for whom this subject is a well worn old hobby horse.
  Stick to providing places for granddads to take their grandchildren when it is raining.
  If you really want to know what useful ways that you can make a positive contribution to our shared comunity call me and I will enlighten you.
  Anyway your question is rather obscure with its loaded bias and double negatives.
  And do you intend to imply that Manchester benifits from: A. Slavery in particular?
  B, The Empire in general? or C. resultant multiculturalism from either/both?
  
  

  Lee Corbusier

• i think history is very cool and i think that mr mansfeild is ultra special[:

  amelia&lucy

• Your question isn't really appropriate-G.Manchester is pretty much a mess today-the city didn't exactly benefit from the Slave Trade in the way that places like Venice benefitted from overseas trade. The only people who benefitted from slavery were a few rip off merchants who took their ill-gotten gains elsewhere when the game was up-simple people- the cotton workers of the time who were also in a lesser from of slavery-put their lives on the line to stop slavery. The city got nothing from it.

  Julia

• i think that slavery is still in this world not in the obvious name of before but rather in low wages or none.

  abraham moss

• I think there is still slavery in Manchester today

• I wonder if this si the question we should be asking - or whether it is more important to look forward to the future and ask how can we stop forms of slavery continuing???

  Doc H

• I agree that the slave trade is embedded into our history. I'm not sure how helpful a "what if" scenario is - you can't unpick it and imagine what life would have been like without it.

  C Factual

• I see no need to apologise. I don't see the mill and mine pwners apologising to my family for working my parents and gradparents for working them to a standstill at the tender age of 12 and thirteen for just a few pennies a week.
  All of the people concerned are long gone. We have moved on and all lead a better life, including the families of the enslaved, black, white, brown and yellow.
  It happened, we can't change history,
  MOVE ON/
  
  

  philip garrity