New Stuff:

• 23rd August UNESCO International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition. On 16th June at the Dept for Communities and Local Government, Communities Minister, Parmjit Dhanda and Culture Minister, Margaret Hodge, will be co-chairing a meeting with the port cities and national organisations on arrangements for the national commemoration of 23rd August and to co-ordinate information on key events to encourage wide participation from all groups across the country. On 13th December 2007 the Government confirmed that 23rd August - UNESCO International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition - will be adopted as the focal date for national commemorations in the years to come. For further details please email: matthew.west@communities.gsi.gov.uk. (WTYL 02/06/08)

• Give information about any related local events, particularly in South Yorkshire and north Derbyshire, but also in the wider SINTO community area which extends into West & North Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.
• Give information about national coverage of the Bi-centenary such as in National Museums or on television and radio programmes.
• List useful resources for learning about this topic such as websites, publications etc.
• Chat about the politics of commemorating the 'end' of the Slave Trade
• List organisations and resources to help those whose lives are still affected by slavery today.

• Sheffield Hallam University Owen Building 9th Floor, Room 942, 24th March 2007, 1.00pm-4.00pm: The Abolition of the Slave Trade, 1807-2007: a bicenenary commemoration. This event by Sheffield Archives & Local Studies and Sheffield Hallam University is free and open to all, book your place by emailing archives@sheffield.gov.uk . The guest speaker will be Prof Clare Midgley on "The Consumer Boycott of Slave-grown Sugar". This event saw the launch of a booklet and CD listing historical sources held by Sheffield Archives & Local Studies relevant to slavery and abolition [see resources below]
• Lincoln Central Library Friday 23rd March 12.30-1.15pm: a talk by Grace Timmins ''Victorian Attitudes to Race As Seen in the Libraries of the Tennysons'.
• Christ Hospital School, Lincoln Saturday 31st March from 12.30pm 'Creative Music, Dance, Movement and Chants from Africa'.
• Radio Lincolnshire's Book of the Month 'A Respectable Trade' by Philippa Gregory will be reviewed by Boston Library Readers Group on air at 11.30am on Friday 30th March. [Contact for all events in Lincolnshire is ligia.ferreira@lincolnshire.gov.uk ]
• Barnsley Museums Service and Archives & Local Studies Department have been working with Y4-Y6 pupils on a project called 'Hidden Stories' to create a multimedia package for schools to explore anti-slavery, diversity and local connections. The resource will be launched in April 2007 and will include material from Barnsley Archive and Cannon Hall. Contact LouiseWhitworth@barnsley.gov.uk
• Barnsley Museum Service are launching an exhibition 'Exploring Cannon Hall and the Slave Trade' in March 2007. There will also be associated events at the Barnsley Cultural Diversity Festival Sept 07- Oct 07. Contact LynnDunning@barnsley.gov.uk or cannonhall@barnsley.gov.uk
• Around 25th March, school librarian, Lesley Hurworth will be running a creative writing/ drama event on the British Slave Trade with her reading group. The event will be hosted by Armthorpe Library (Doncaster Libraries). Contact: hurworthles@armthorpe.doncaster.sch.uk
• York Castle Museum is running an exhibition on slavery and Empire which reinterprets the permanent displays looking at where objects, and their material, originate and the human conditions under which they were produced. Particular areas which will be looked at are furniture and decorative arts, food, costume and 19th century imperialism. The global nature of trade from the 1600s to the present day will be explored and the complicity of all sections of society in supporting the slave trade through the consumption of slave-produced goods. Contact: michelle.petyt@ymt.org.uk Assistant Curator or Social History

• National Maritime Museum's Bicentenary weekend 'And still I rise' 24th-25th March. See website: http://www.nmm.ac.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.21415
• International Slavery Museum (Liverpool): Events for UNESCOS's International Day for the Remembrance of Slavery and its Abolition 23rd August 2007: : http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/ism/srd/
• Hull Libraries and Hull History Services are planning a series of events and activities to celebrate the Wilberforce 2007 bicentenary. Contact: David Smith, Senior Local Studies Librarian, Tel : 01482 210077
• Wilberforce House Museum is 100 years old this year (2006) and is currently undergoing a major redevelopment project to coincide with the bicentenary for the abolition of the British slave trade in March 2007. The project will radically re-develop the displays, creating exciting learning spaces, providing full access intellectually and physically - allocating a larger and more appropriate space to this important subject in line with the significance of the Designated Collections and importance of the subject matter. Contact: Wilberforce Project Manager: john.hughes@hullcc.gov.uk or Wilberforce Keeper of Social History: vanessa.salter@hullcc.gov.uk
• Wilberforce House's Ferrens Art Gallery in Hull will be holding three related exhibitions during the year [Contact Kirsten.simister@hullcc.gov.uk ]:

• V&A touring show ‘Uncomfortable Truths’ (contemporary art)
• BM installation on tour; Romuald Hazoume, ‘La Bouche du Roi’
• Hayward/BM touring; William Blake (and slavery)

• The Development Education Centre (S Yorks) have produced a new pack called 'Olaudah Equiano in Sheffield: Sheffield, South Yorkshire, The Slave Trade and Its Abolition'. The activity pack for Key stages 2&3 covers, Citizenship, History and English and includes materials from Sheffield Archives & Local Studies' collections. The pack is available for £5.00: http://www.decsy.org.uk/publications.asp (Sheffield History Reporter, Issue 115, Dec07-Jan08)
• Sheffield Archives & Local Studies have produced a booklet 'Towards Liberty - Slavery, The Slave Trade, Abolition and Emancipation: Study Sources available at Sheffield Local Studies Library and Sheffield Archives'. The information is also on a CD. Ring 0114 203 9395 for details.
• 'The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA), Awards for All and 24 Hour Museum have joined in partnership to announce their support of the bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade with the launch of the website www.abolition200.org.uk. This will act as the cultural sector’s premier website for news of national bicentenary events and activities.' [MLA Press Release 19th March 2007]
• There's lots on the BBC website:
  • www.bbc.co.uk/abolition
  • www.bbc.co.uk/history
• Set All Free is a faith-based initiative with a website of bicentenary resources, which aims to put an end to modern forms of slavery. It also offers a comprehensive file of related events: www.setallfree.net
• The Library of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) has a lot of anti-slavery material in its collections and you can view their online catalogue at www.quaker.org.uk/cat
• National Maritime Museum's website: http://www.nmm.ac.uk/server/show/ConWebDoc.21415
• http://www.antislavery.org/index.htm
• Heritage Lottery Fund's website has a 2007 site providing suggestions for local studies (and sources of information) including finding out if any local monuments, buildings, houses, or streets relate in anyway to the Slave Trade: www.hlf.org.uk/rememberingslavery
• Merseyside Maritime Museum in Liverpool:www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/maritime/slavery/index.asp
• The Spartacus Encyclopaedia of Black History has personal stories from the slave trade: www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/slavery.htm

• Should there be an apology from companies who financed the trade: www.guardian.co.uk/race/story/0,,1879560,00.html
• 'Heirs to Slavers' article by Andy Beckett in The Guardian Weekend 2nd December 2006 pg38-47 looks at the issue of apologies by the descendants of slavers.
• 'Slavery: The long road to our historic 'sorrow' and article by historian Tristram Hunt on 'acknowledging our wrongs' in The Observer 26th Nov 2006 pg16-17
• Debate on countries apologising at World Conference Against Racism 2001 in South Africa: www.un.org/ecosocdev/geninfo/afrec/vol15no3/153racis.htm

• Set All Free is a faith-based initiative with a website of bicentenary resources, which aims to put an end to modern forms of slavery. It also offers a comprehensive file of related events: www.setallfree.net
• www.antislavery.org/homepage/antislavery/modern.htm
• www.gvnet.com/humantrafficking
• www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/specials/1357_slavery_today