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Slavery

My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Howells of St Davids, for initiating this debate and giving us the opportunity to examine this important subject. I thank her and my noble friend Lord Sandwich for their consistently thoughtful contributions as members of the advisory group on the Houses of Parliament exhibition, ““The British Slave Trade: Abolition, Parliament and People””. I declare an interest as chair of that advisory group. The exhibition opens to the public on 24 May and runs until September this year. The private view is on 23 May. I urge your Lordships to visit the exhibition and read the excellent accompanying publication already shown to us by the noble Earl. The special supplement to the Journal, Parliamentary History, also serves as the exhibition catalogue. I am aware that there is already a kind of commemoration fatigue in some quarters, but after 200 years of historical amnesia about the subject it is important to recognise fully the political and social implications of the struggle to abolish the slave trade and transatlantic slavery. As the noble Lord, Lord Lester, said, Parliament noted in 1806 that the brutal trade in human beings was, "““contrary to the principles of justice, humanity and sound policy””." Historians have developed a variety of complex theories to account for the eventual passing of the Act and the subsequent ending of slavery—the rebellions of the enslaved, economic viability, public opinion and so on—but the fact remains that John Hawkins, the first Englishman known to have traded in enslaved Africans, made three expeditions to the continent in 1562. Thus, it took almost 250 years before the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act was passed. Some people complain that slavery has been a feature of many eras and countries, including Islamic and African societies, and ask what all the fuss is about. I would argue that no system that preceded it was founded on such sustained cruelty. The noble Lord, Lord Soley, is right to point out that science and technology, such as new systems of navigation, were brought to bear on this terrible trade; everything from craniology to geometry played its part in industrialising human misery. To me, that is part of what marks it out as different from other forms and systems of enslavement. The brutality, scale and longevity of the trade were unprecedented. Several noble Lords have referred to the speech earlier this week by Kofi Annan, who pointed out that the transatlantic slave trade was an abominable practice taken to its most abominable extremes. Britain worked vigorously to police the trade embargo, but let us not forget that trading was in many places rendered unnecessary by enforced breeding of enslaved Africans. The DfES has now made the study of slavery a compulsory component of the national curriculum, after many years of campaigns. However, giving more prominence to the history of slavery, enslavement and the slave trade is not solely about recognising a wider movement and the work of individuals other than William Wilberforce, including Olaudah Equiano, Ottobah Cuguano and others. As has been argued elsewhere, it is about locating transatlantic slavery in the context of other world movements and events, such as the French Revolution, the American War of Independence, the Haitian Revolution, the publication of Tom Paine’s Rights of Man and Mary Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Woman and so on. Questions about the nature of humanity and who was really entitled to liberty, fraternity and equality—the political, legal and constitutional issues raised by slavery and abolition—were a formative part of debates on emancipation and enfranchisement. I hope that the guidelines for teaching the subject will adopt an approach that takes account of the contradictions and complexities involved in a rigorous examination of the tragedy of African enslavement. I would like to know what kind of in-service professional development and training will be available to support teachers who are somewhat apprehensive about tackling this difficult subject. What provision is being made to train teacher trainers? Other areas that form part of the wider historical narrative include the move from enslavement to a form of apprenticeship that hardly constituted freedom, and the introduction of indentured labour to the Caribbean, a system that deprived working people of autonomy and dignity. Important, too, is the history of the presence of peoples of African and Asian descent in Britain over several centuries, including those formerly enslaved, but also writers, artists, shopkeepers, servants, teachers, actors, dandies, beggars and political activists. Resources such as the recently published Oxford Companion to Black British History—-I declare my interest as an adviser and contributor to that volume—mean that a wealth of material is available to encourage further study of this still largely hidden history. Other issues raised by the focus on the enslavement of Africans also need to be addressed. For example, it is a cause for concern that, by placing the spotlight on this disastrous encounter between European slavers and the enslaved, we give the impression that Africans enter the historical world stage as victims. That is a harmful notion for all our communities. I am not seeking to reframe history for the purpose of some type of ethnic gratification. However, it is erroneous to suggest, as Professor Hugh Trevor-Roper once did, that Africa had no history until Europeans colonised the continent. Apart from the familiar media images of war, famine and corruption, we know very little of what happens in contemporary Africa, let alone the characteristics and achievements of its centuries-old civilisations. Before slavery radically destabilised the continent and kidnapped generations of potential scientists, doctors, artists, political leaders and so on, several European travellers recognised that, in architecture, trading and systems of government, African societies were at least as advanced as their own. The west African empire of Mali, for example, was reputed to be one of the largest, richest and most powerful states in the world during the 14th century. The struggle over meaning, interpretation and representation in our major cultural institutions and media is vital because, without it, we will fail to grasp the importance of recognising the multi-textured, intertwined nature of our various histories. So what will be the legacy of this year? I work extensively in the cultural sector, particularly with museums, archives and other cultural heritage institutions, all of which have made significant contributions to the commemorations. Many are keen to build on the momentum and have plans in place. I very much hope that this work will be supported with resources from the Government. How a nation tells its stories through its cultural institutions gives us clues about its sense of itself, its self-confidence and how well equipped it is to deal with the more difficult and painful aspects of its history. One legacy of this bicentenary could be a much more vigorous approach to workforce diversity in the museum and archive sectors. Why are the effective actions that will move us from the state we are in now to the place where we say we want to be still so elusive? Many noble Lords have spoken about contemporary forms of enslavement. I agree that there is a continuum between the old, transatlantic system of chattel slavery and the newer, equally pernicious, forms of enslavement. Kofi Annan said earlier this week that we should look back at history not only with horror but with hope. That is one lesson that we can take from the abolitionist movement in its broadest sense to try to make the change. If we are not actively involved in fighting racism and discrimination, in developing actions and policies that will mitigate the slave trade legacy, and in fighting human trafficking and enforced labour—whether that be through the ways in which we consume and shop or through using our powers of persuasion to persuade others to be more picky about what they do and how they spend their money—we are complicit in today’s human trafficking, just as others were complicit in trafficking and the slave trade all those centuries ago. I echo the view of the noble Lord, Lord Soley, that if we do not take the opportunities that are afforded to us by this year’s commemorations to do something positive to change things, successive generations will not look kindly on us.