Skip to content

Show explores role of forgotten Black abolitionists

Katy Prickett
BBC News, Cambridgeshire
Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge Joy Labinjo, An Eighteenth-Century Family, 2022. It shows Olaudah Equiano, his wife Susannah Cullen and their children. Olaudah is sitting on the left, wearing a scarlet jacket and waistcoat over brown breeches. Susannah is in the middle wearing a blue dress over a white petticoat with a kerchief scarf over her shoulders. One daughter is in lighter blue and beside her mother, the other is in yellow and is standing at the far right. Courtesy of the Artist and Tiwani Contemporary.Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge
The story of abolitionist Olaudah Equiano, portrayed here with his family by Joy Labinjo, is among those highlighted in Rise Up: Resistance, Revolution, Abolition

The often-forgotten contributions of Black Georgian and Victorian people will be told in an exhibition about the fight to end transatlantic slavery and its aftermath.

It will explore "how African enslavement impacted everything", said the University of Cambridge organisers.

The stories of abolitionists such as Olaudah Equiano and Phillis Wheatley will be included, as well as looking at what happened to newly-emancipated Caribbean slaves, forced to live as apprentices in slavery-like conditions.

Curator Luke Syson said Rise Up would focus "on the testimony of individuals as a powerful tool of resistance - and as a way of helping others to recognise injustice".

"The exhibition will celebrate and commemorate the roles of both familiar and lesser-known figures in the struggle for abolition," the Fitzwilliam Museum's director and Marlay curator added.

Stuart Whipps Joy Labinjo's portrait of Phillis Wheatley. She is wearing late 18th Century dress, a white cap on her head and a white kerchief scarf around her shoulders over a pink dress. She is sitting at a table with a quill in her right hand poised above paper. Her left hand is at her chin as she looks into the distance.Stuart Whipps
Phillis Wheatley was sold into slavery from the Gambia and became the first Black American woman and only the third American woman to publish a book of poetry

Rise Up covers the years between 1750 and 1850 and will include 100 historic and contemporary artworks, objects, printed books and manuscripts.

These are on loan from Canada, Puerto Rico, France and the USA, as well as the university's collections and those from across the UK.

Bridgeman Images James Northcote, Ira Aldridge as Othello, the Moor of Venice, 1826. Manchester Art Gallery. Photograph Bridgeman Images.jpegBridgeman Images
New York-born actor Ira Aldridge (1807 to 1867) was unable to thrive in his home city so moved to England and found success in Europe

It will begin by focusing on Olaudah Equiano, one of the most famous Black abolitionists of the 18th Century, whose powerful testimony was vital to the British anti-slavery campaign.

He was kidnapped into slavery as a boy and later managed to purchase his freedom.

After publishing his autobiography in 1789, he toured Britain to sell it and promote abolition and Black rights - meeting Susannah Cullen and marrying her in Soham, Cambridgeshire.

National Gallery of Canada Thomas Gainsborough, Ignatius Sancho, 1768. It is a close-up of his head and shoulders. He is looking towards his right and has his hair pulled back in a short ponytail. He is wearing a dark jacket over a yellow waistcoat with a white neck cloth tucked into it.National Gallery of Canada
Writer and composer Ignatius Sancho (1729-1780) was born on a slave ship and became the first person of African descent to vote in British elections

The exhibition will examine life on Caribbean plantations and the ways African people and their descendants resisted oppression, as well as the role of Black campaigners from the London-based grassroots group, The Sons of Africa.

They worked in tandem with white Quakers and Anglican abolitionists.

It will also cover the failed schemes to resettle former slaves, from the harsh treatment of Black Loyalists who were resettled in Nova Scotia, Canada after the American Revolution, to the creation of Sierra Leone.

Earl of Mansfield, Scone Palace David Martin, Dido Elizabeth Belle and Lady Elizabeth Murray at Kenwood House, c.1776. This is a close-up of the portrait and shows Dido Belle on the left wearing a white dress, a choker of large pearls and a turban and in movement. Lady Elizabeth is seated, wearing pink and white, a double choker of pearls with flowers in her hair.Earl of Mansfield, Scone Palace
Dido Elizabeth Belle (1761–1804) was brought up with her cousin Lady Elizabeth Murray at Kenwood House - a fictionalised version of her story is told in a 2013 film

The 1807 Abolition of the Slave Trade Act made it illegal for British people and ships to trade enslaved people anywhere in the Empire.

This resulted in major uprisings of enslaved people - including in British colonies - and helped drive forward the 1833 Slavery Abolition Act.

The National Archives A sketch of a martial flag seized from enslaved insurgents during Bussa’s Rebellion, Barbados, 1816. It shows a red-coated army white officer on the right, a Black man and woman, wearing Regency clothing and standing together and a Black man above in a blue tail coat and black top hat. There is also a drawing of a ship on the right. It says God always saves endeavourThe National Archives
In 1816, a major rebellion broke out in Barbados, planned and organised by the enslaved men and women, and was one of many which took place in the Caribbean

But while the enslavers were "compensated" for loss of property, their former slaves were forced to become apprentices, unable to live and work freely.

"Rise Up will explore the complex fight to end transatlantic slavery and its ongoing impact," said Mr Syson.

Follow Cambridgeshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.

More on this story
Related internet links