Statues matter - words on the fall of Colston
On Sunday 7th June I watched wide-eyed as the statue of Sir Edward Colston was pulled down in Bristol. My reaction was visceral and was a surprise. In the evening, as usual in recent weeks, I joined the audience for the virtual Sunday Ceilidh organised by Mairi Campbell. As the Zooming progressed I glanced down at my phone as Colston was rolled into Bristol Docks.
It was a transformative, joyous sequence, and I needed to understand what had gone on there, in Bristol, and within me. Ever since, the words I am searching for have been swirling and growing around my head. It’s started me on a voyage of discovery, and self-discovery, one that I should have started many years ago.
I suggested to Mairi that I would like to say something at a future Ceilidh, and she kindly accepted it for Sunday 21st June. So here we are. I will put the piece on here.
In the meanwhile here are some threads to follow up if you wish to.
ARTNews.com articles
https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/monuments-black-lives-matter-guide-1202690845/
https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/edward-colston-monument-hew-locke-john-akomfrah-1202690316/
Art at the centre of the debate
https://artreview.com/why-colston-had-to-fall/
All museums and galleries must reconsider their holdings
https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/british-museums-black-lives-matter-statements-
Britain is no country for old men blog on Anthony Bryan
My first protest after two months at University - October 1968; a friend of mine climbed on the stage and banged a kettle drum to stir things up. Powell one week, Vietnam the next
Spectator 13.6.20 Matthew Parris with a similar response to mine
English Heritage - Statue of Sir Edward Colston
https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1202137
Removal of Confederate monuments
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Removal_of_Confederate_monuments_and_memorials
Centre for the Study of Legacies of British Slave-Ownership - University College London
Slavery is still misunderstood - David Olusoga
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/feb/12/treasury-tweet-slavery-compensate-slave-owners
A crowdsourced map of UK statues and monuments that celebrate slavery and racism
https://www.toppletheracists.org/
Britain’s 46,000 slave owners revealed
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/12/british-history-slavery-buried-scale-revealed
List of slave owners
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_slave_owners
The Middle Passage
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_Passage
Slave Ships list
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slave_ship
The Abolition Project
http://abolition.e2bn.org/index.php
Statue of Edward Colston
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statue_of_Edward_Colston
Colston sculptor John Cassidy
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Cassidy_(artist)
https://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/person.php?id=msib1_1202142856
The Tate and Racial Equality
Marc Barham, Decline and Fall - The Statues of Empire
https://medium.com/@marcbarham/decline-and-fall-the-statues-of-empire-968a98bb3493
White European slavery in North Africa in the 16th Century
Slavery on the Barbary Coast
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_on_the_Barbary_Coast
Slavery in Africa
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_Africa
Marti Burgess - first black elected to Society of Merchant Venturers in Bristol , May 2020
https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/marti-burgess-appointed-first-black-4145717
Vanessa Kisuule - Bristol’s City Poet - poem on Colstons statue ‘Hollow’ June 2020
https://www.ideasfestival.co.uk/blog/bristol-city-poet/vanessa-kisuule-hollow/
Slavery in the 21st Century
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_the_21st_century
Slavery in Roman Times
https://www.romanobritain.org/2-arl_life/arl_slavery.php
History Press - Slavery in history
https://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/articles/slavery-in-history/
Set in Stone ? Statues and Slavery in London