The Triangular Enslavement Trade: The Case of Liverpool, England March 25, 2014

Dr. Mark Christian

Professor & Chair Department of African & African American Studies

Lehman College City University of New York

Triangular Slave Trade

1600s-1800s Peak Era

Liverpool Black Presence18th Century Transatlantic Slavery Colonial era slave sea routes African Seamen African Students African Caribbeans African American GIs

Liverpool & Slave Trade Profits

Banking system & Politics Building & repair of slave ships Slave trading Slave produced goods cotton, sugar etc Production of exportable goods - pottery etc Insuring & Financing the above operations and industries.

City Architecture Reveals African Connections:

Liverpool Mayors and the Slave Trade

Thomas Golightly (Mayor 1772/3) At least 26 of Liverpools mayors, holding office for 35 years of the years from 1700-1820, were or had been slave-merchants or close relative
Source: Peter Fryer Staying Power, (2010: 41)

Liverpool ships transported half of the 3 million Africans carried across the Atlantic by British slavers Nearly all the principal merchants and citizens of Liverpool, including many of the mayors, were involved. Thomas Golightly (1732-1821), who was first elected to the Town Council in 1770 and became Mayor in 1772
Source:
http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/ism/slavery/europe/liverpool.aspx

Age of Slave Apologies: Contemporary UK & US Context

Slavery Apology examples:

Liverpool 1999 London 2007 Church of England 2006/7 Rev. Simon Blessant stated: We [the Church of England] were at the heart of it (Source:

BBCNEWS- Feb. 8, 2006)

USA Apology/Regret States: Alabama, Maryland, North Carolina, Virginia (2007)

An Apology has 3 Components

1) I/We am/are sorry 2) I/We admit to doing wrong 3) What can I/We do to make it right?
Right: Church of England apology

It is the 3rd component that appears to be the sticky point in contemporary sense.

City of Liverpool: A Slave Trade Apology Case Study

December 9, 1999- official apology at Town Hall (read) Hidden History: Mirna Juarez Liberal Councillor (ex-Charles Wootton student) Parkfield Road Conversations September/October 1999 LCC Minutes (Nov. 4, 1999) note would produce a report with appropriate members, the Lord Mayor and Dr. Mark Christian Liverpool Black Organizations meet at L 8 Law Centre to discuss the issue Some Protested the Apology as: too little too late

Wealth of a City Cemented in African Blood

The slave ship captain, John Newton (1725-1807) makes reference (right) to the destruction of African peoples, and creation of African wars, that the European Slave Trade was responsible for in the sale of guns: Newton wrote the hymn Amazing Grace

"I verily believe that the far greater part of wars, in Africa, would cease, if the Europeans would cease to tempt them, by offering goods for sale."
John Newton, Former slave ship captain turned evangelist/abolitionist

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/liverpool/content/articles/200 7/02/16/abolition_liverpool_slavery_story_feature.s html

Mirna Juarez Liverpool City Councilor- 1999

The City of Liverpool Slave TradeOfficial Apology December 1999

The Beatles Hit- 1967 [James] Penny Lane

Many of Liverpools Streets are named after those Slave Merchants Even the famous Penny Lane has an infamous origin, named after a staunch anti-abolitionist: James Penny (? 1799)

James Penny Testimony to Parliamentary Committee February 1788

James Penny, advocating for the slave trade, told the parliamentary committee that he had invested in eleven voyages of ships carrying slaves from Africa to the West Indies. His ships were between 200-300 tons and usually carried between 500 to 600 slaves in a single voyage. Of these approximately two thirds of the slaves were male and one third female. Penny argued that abolition would ruin Liverpools economy. (Right: Liverpool Town Hall built 1749-1754; extended 1785 during height of the Slave Trade affluence)

1807: The De Jure End of the International Trafficking of Africans for Sale

Although International slave trading was abolished in 1807, it still continued underground. Slavery was not stamped out in the British Caribbean colonies until 1834-38. Liverpool and its once legal slave merchants would continue to make money from the plantation economies in the Caribbean and Americas. Liverpool prospered up to the mid-1800s as a city. In the 20th Century the city declined after WWII

Liverpool & Contemporary Racism

From Charles Wootton in 1919 to Anthony Walker in 2005, Liverpools Black Experience has been one of a constant battle against both structural and individual acts of racism Selected Race/Class Disturbances 1919 Anti-Black Riots 1948 Anti-Black Riots 1981 & 1985 Anti-Police & Poverty Riots

Longevity of Institutional Racism

Swann Report (1985) Education for All Special reference to Liverpool Born Blacks as Social Outcasts Loosen the Shackles (1989) Regards Liverpools racism as Uniquely Horrific Lawrence Report (1999) Acknowledges Institutional Racism as endemic in British Police Force and other key institutions A Challenge to Change Equality for All in Liverpool (2000)

Anthony Walker Victim of Racist Murder 2005

2000s Equality Evades Liverpool Born Blacks and others

A Challenge to Change Equality for All in Liverpool (2000) Between May 1999 and January 2000 seven councillors and seven residents met as an equal opportunities review panel to gauge. Key findings: Liverpool City Councils (LCC) practices are discriminatory LCC continues to exclude many people in its workforce Individuals and communities do not receive a fair/equal service. LCC has appalling record on equal opps., with its image, its ethos and its culture LCCs day-to-day practices do not match its equal opps. policies

Charles Wootton College 1974-2000 (R.I.P.)

(below photo taken September 2007)

Charles Wootton College Site: A Symbol of Regeneration and Reneging on Promise

Selected Toxteth Statistics

High Unemployment Low Education High Deprivation Low Housing Expectation High on Drug Abuse Low on Book Use High with Gentrification Low on Egalitarianism High Percentage of Liverpool Born Blacks without work Low Percentage of anyone who cares

In Conclusion

As we consider the City of Liverpool and its legacy in the Slave Trade, and its Slave Apology from 1999 as a sincere statement We must also consider the 3rd component of an apology: What can I/We do to make things right? Without statistical measurement of Black communities making tangible progress the Slave Trade Apology from 1999 is nothing more than a symbolic gesture It is no more than a hollow statement presently More needed to be done to eradicate structural inequality and racism in Liverpool that goes beyond rhetoric What is required to end the past inequities is reparations to British Black communities that suffer social exclusion

Possible Reparation Action Plan Ten-Point Slavery Legacy Plan for Liverpool Born Blacks: Supported by the Liverpool City Council

Education scholarships from the three major universities Housing council tax deduction Employment internships in local politics, media, and banks/business sector (Barclays Bank) Christian scholarships in memory of enslaved Africans Police/Law training scholarships Apprenticeships in construction trades Affordable housing in prime city centre region Child care voucher system Retirement home Liverpool Institute for African Heritage: Social, Economic & Cultural Research (funded by the Liverpool City Council) Eligibility: Having been born and raised in Liverpool up to the age of 18 years, and to have had at least one parent/grandparent from any of the African heritage cultural groups.

Jesse Jackson in Liverpool

August 27- 2007

In My Liverpool Home
Photos: Some of my family from Liverpool, I am bottom left, with 3 of my brothers. Thank you Bermuda!