‘Should We Retain and Explain Monuments to Slavery?’
Professor Martin Daunton
Date & Time – Wednesday 22nd November – 3.30 – 4.30 pm (40-minute lecture followed by Q&A)
Venue – Barnard’s Inn Hall, 30 Holborn, London EC1N 2HH
Memorials to slave owners should, we are told by the government, be retained and explained; and that to remove them would be a denial of history. This lecture shows that we need to understand how decisions to erect a statue or memorial – such as to Edward Colston in Bristol – were themselves contested and historically contingent rather than expressions of a shared common heritage. If retention is the default option, who does the explaining and on what terms? One person’s objectivity can be read as both condemnation and apology. This lecture considers some leading examples where these issues have been contested.
Martin is Visiting Gresham Professor of Economic History. He is a British academic and historian. He was Master of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, between 2004 and 2014. He is Emeritus Professor of Economic History at the University of Cambridge.
If you are interested in bringing a group of students to the lecture – please email Jason Clapperton (Schools’ Outreach Officer) at j.clapperton@gresham.ac.uk. Numbers are limited – so this will be on a first come first served basis. You can also sign up to the live-stream of the talk. Please also email me for details on how to set this up with you. Both options – in-person or online are free. The talk is aimed at 6th form students.