The University of Liverpool hosted the Church of England Racial Justice Unit gathering 'Truth-Telling: Unveiling the Anglican Church's Involvement in Transatlantic African Chattel Enslavement' last week (23 - 25 June).
The event saw more than 140 delegates from across the world come together to learn about and from the Anglican Church's involvement in transatlantic chattel slavery and its contemporary legacies for racial justice. Speakers from the UK, US, Europe, Africa and the Caribbean shared their research and expertise.
The 'Truth Telling' event was jointly held by the Church of England's Racial Justice Unit and the University's Senior Research Fellow Dr Leona Vaughn and supported by the Diocese of Liverpool. Dr Vaughn is the Derby Fellow for Slavery and Unfree Labour Research, Centre for the Study of International Slavery (CSIS) lead for decolonising research, HSS EDI Lead and co-founder of Barriers to Black Academia, which addresses under-representation of Black academics as an issue for reparative justice in the UK.
Speakers included the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell who said the Church was 'humbled' by the truth of its 'shameful' historical involvement in the 'evil' commodification and enslavement of human beings; Professor William Pettigrew, who has led research into the 11,000 investors - including Church of England clergy - who financed Britain's contribution to the transatlantic traffic in enslaved people; Professor Kelly Brown Douglas, Visiting Professor at Harvard Divinity School; Rev Canon Dr Stephanie Sellars from the US Episcopal Church and UNESCO representatives working on reparative justice.
Delegates were given in a tour of Liverpool locations linked to University of Liverpool research. It started at the Liverpool Parish Church, burial place of some of the city's richest slave merchants and the location of the memorial to Abell, an enslaved man who was brought to Liverpool and recorded as having been buried in the churchyard in 1717. It also visited Bluecoat Arts Centre, the Athenaeum and 19 Abercromby Square. Number 19 is a building whose past is intricately liked with the event's themes. Built by the South Carolina-born Confederate supporter Charles Kuhn Prioleau with proceeds from the enslavement of Africans, the house was later purchased by Liverpool City Council and gifted to the Bishop of Liverpool for their main residence (Bishop's Palace) at the end of the 19th century.
Dr Vaughn advocated for the event to be held in Liverpool not only because of the city's historic links to and role in the trade of enslaved people, but also because of the University's ongoing commitment to confronting and exploring this legacy.
Dr Leona Vaughn said: "To hold this in the city of Liverpool, once known as 'second city of the Empire' because of its prolific role in enslaving Africans and in imperialism, was significant. It has been a privilege to use my knowledge and expertise on human rights, racial and reparative justice in research and in practice, to create and curate this work. It started with a series of online webinars hosted by CSIS where I gathered international experts, including those in and from Liverpool, to increase public awareness of why the Anglican church has taken steps to address the harms of their extensive involvement in the traffic and enslavement of Africans. This was deeply essential as many are unaware of this history and how it relates to current day racial injustice.
"I worked with University and our National Museums Liverpool partners - Dr Fei Chen, Dr Stephen Kenny, Michelle Charters OBE, Dr Richard Benjamin, Alex Scott, Janaya Pickett and PhD students Lucy Moynihan and Michelle Girvan - to deliver the event this week, giving CoE participants insights into the research happening in the city that can help them understand the depth of church involvement in slavery and most significantly the construction of race and racism still reverberating around the world today.
"I also brought UNESCO colleagues into this programme who are working globally on developing a network of slavery remembrance sites and collective healing. As a result of participating in this programme, they now want to progress a formal relationship with the city of Liverpool for slavery remembrance and reparative justice."
Mirroring the work undertaken by the Church of England, the University of Liverpool has over recent years been on its own journey of reckoning with the connections to slavery and colonialism. The University has also begun to consider how it approaches reparative justice, for example through scholarships for Black postgraduate students, as well as recognising its unique role, network and access to expertise internationally and within the city on slavery and its legacies.
