In Greater Manchester
- How money from slavery made Greater Manchester
- The importance of cotton in north west England
- The Lancashire cotton famine
- Smoking, drinking and the British sweet tooth
- Black presence in Britain and north west England
- Resistance and campaigns for abolition
- The bicentenary of British abolition
Global
Legacies: Commemorating the bicentenary of British abolition
Oldham Debate: reparations?
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The Lancashire cotton famine, Abraham Lincoln and the financial support sent to cotton workers in Lancashire are highlighted as a wonderful example of solidarity around the world.
The difficulty of saying thank you to those who contributed to the development of European empires is discussed.
John Bright and the contradictions he represented are introduced. He paid his cotton workers in the cotton famine even when they were out of work. He was a Quaker and his moral stance cost him his fortune.
The point that the British government made reparations of £20m to the plantation owners in 1834, but not to those who were enslaved, is noted. Educational reparations are seen as one way forward.
The ongoing inequalities in world trade remain an issue.
A participant contributes the fact that Malcolm X requested the state of Carolina as reparation for slavery in the USA.
Filmed at Gallery Oldham on 29 March 2008.