In 1762, Olaudah Equiano, A Nigerian who had been sold into slavery, believed that he was a freeman. His expectation was to be shortlived. His owner, a British naval officer called Michael Pascal, refused to keep to his promise that he would release him from slavery and sold him on to a captain of a ship bound for the West Indies.
It was not until 1766 that Equiano managed to buy his own freedom with £40 that he had saved. His story is not unique but for the fact that he became an active abolitionist, and it is partly this fact that has given him historical status.
On 25 March 1807 the UK Parliament passed a law making it a crime to trade in slaves. Museums and galleries have one year left to finalise their commemoration plans for the bicentenary.
It is widely known, but not yet formally acknowledged, that Britain played a significant role in the trading of African people. In a 2004 parliamentary debate, Gary Streeter, who is a Conservative MP, set the figures at 10.2 million people traded by Britain alone. As many have been estimated to have perished on the seas.
The historian Eric Williams, in his book Capitalism and Slavery, records that when in 1833 parliament made the institution of slavery illegal, £20m was paid out to slave owners in compensation.
There appears to some agreement among museums and galleries on why the commemoration is important. Mitch Upfold, the lead officer on 2007 at Hull City Council, says that Hull sees the year as a balance between the historical - the story of abolition and its legacy - and the impact on people today in Britain. There is also the issue of modern forms of slavery around the world.
Hull has what some may see as a ready-made figure in the 18th-century abolitionist and MP William Wilberforce. Hull's Wilberforce 2007 programme is built around the redevelopment of the Wilberforce House Museum, which will reopen in March 2007. It will include new displays and an expansion of the slavery story.
And the University of Hull's Wilberforce Institute for the Study of Slavery and Emancipation is to open in July this year. A conference exploring slavery today, community projects to challenge racism, and efforts to build on links with its twin city Freetown in Sierra Leone are some of Hull's plans for its commemoration, which will take place from March until October.
Hull appears to be ahead of many of the national museums based in cities where slave trade ships set sail. Hull's publicity says it had no part in the trade (though that's perhaps because it was on the wrong side of the island).
But there has been mild criticism of Hull among museums and other organisations that it is concentrating too heavily on Wilberforce as the only abolitionist. Hull insists that the redevelopment of the Wilberforce House Museum will include the stories of Equiano and other African anti-slavery campaigners.
The pressure group Anti-Slavery International initiated a museum networking group in 2004 for heritage organisations to discuss their ideas to mark the bicentenary. It has been meeting every couple of months since. Representatives of museums from London, Bristol, Birmingham, Liverpool, Hull and Lancaster have been attending.
But many museums still have no concrete plans. There have been vague murmurings from some quarters of 'intending to play a part in unmasking London as a slave city' and 'developing community partnerships'. And a National Trust spokeswoman also spoke in broad terms - 'it is one of our big themes for 2007' - although no accompanying detail was available.
The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council was to hold a meeting last month to discuss what it would do and what money, if any, would be available. The Museums Association is to hold an event in June 2007 at the British Museum to explore with museum professionals why they should be representing slavery in their museums. But isn't that a little bit late in the day?
There is a cross-government group of the Home Office and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) that is chaired by John Prescott, the deputy prime minister. This has been formed 'to bring together key players across the sector to maximise impact' of the bicentenary.
The major city representatives and their museums have been invited and the group has so far met twice. But some of those who have attended have said it is more of an information gathering exercise for the government than an attempt to plan or coordinate activity.
The DCMS is unapologetic about the absence of funds for 2007 projects. It points to the £16m the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has so far granted; DCMS support for the new International Slavery Museum in Liverpool (to open 2010) with £250,000 revenue per year; and the DCMS and the Department for Education and Skills provision of
£75,000 for the Understanding Slavery Initiative, the education resource for schools and museums.
Norma Muico, the education officer of the London-based human rights organisation Anti-Slavery International, believes the government should do more: 'There is so little government information out there so I guess the answer is no, they are not doing enough.'
But many museums representatives feel that the government doesn't need to do more and may not welcome interference. Martine Miel is a joint coordinator of the anti-slavery campaigns group Rendezvous of Victory (ROV), which campaigns for the compulsory study of the transatlantic slave trade in all schools.
She would like to see how far museums make use of their collections in next year's projects. The St Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art in Glasgow will be working with African and African-Caribbean communities to reinterpret the permanent collections on display.
Janice Lane, the education and access manager at Glasgow Museums, says the starting point with any project is always the collections. Glasgow's People's Palace and Winter Gardens holds the Glassford Family portrait, believed to include an African man who has been painted out of the picture. The picture will be x-rayed and this will be followed by an exhibition exploring themes of the African presence in Glasgow in the 18th century. But the redeveloped Kelvingrove Museum, which reopens this year, will not be commemorating 2007.
Although there is much citywide and cross-arts collaboration, museums have tended to work separately. The British Empire and Commonwealth Museum (BECM) is working with Bristol City Council. But the museum's failed HLF bid in December stalled its plans.
In response, academics and local MPs wrote in support of the BECM's £750,000 application, refuting the HLF's argument that there was no evidence of working with the city, an absence of legacy and it was not value for money. This led to an urgent meeting with the regional and national HLF, which resulted in a compromise.
The research and design for the exhibition (see right) is now going ahead and funds for its installation will need to be raised. But Gareth Griffiths, the director of the BECM, says he will reapply to the HLF in May. The exhibition will be the only one in Bristol on slavery in 2007 as the Bristol City Museum will be closed for refurbishment.
As museums make plans for 2007 they will hopefully be listening to the community along the way. ROV holds discussion groups for the community in key cities and towns across the UK. Miel says some people are unhappy with the year being commemorated at all, especially if the focus is on abolition when an official acknowledgement by Britain of its role in the trade is still needed.
Lola Young, a member of the House of Lords and an arts organiser, has sympathy with this viewpoint: 'The transatlantic slave trade was brutal and violent and the suffering and pain that continues to be experienced as a result of that needs to be acknowledged.' But she says that the year is turning into more than simply remembering William Wilberforce and his fellow abolitionist Granville Sharpe.
MP Gary Streeter agrees. In the 2004 parliamentary debate he said: 'I have never been one for these dramatic apologies for everything in our past, but I do think that in this case there must be an acknowledgement for this appalling atrocity.'
For Rachel Hasted, a senior project manager at the National Archives, building on the year is vital. 'It is important that it is not seen as a one-year thing. We should use it to reflect on these issues and ensure they are being represented in wider history.'
Miel from the ROV believes education is the key to understanding the legacy of the slave trade: 'It needs to be the beginning of a whole new chapter of how we understand our history.'
But the Department for Education and Skills shows no movement towards making the study of Equiano or the transatlantic slave trade a compulsory part of the national curriculum.
Other crimes against humanity, such as the Holocaust, are a mandatory part of the curriculum and £1.5m has recently been invested to enable up to two children from every school to visit Auschwitz.
Equiano never lived to see the passing of the Abolition Act, but his life and campaigns are recorded in his 18th-century bestseller, The Interesting Narrative.
If 2007 is to be a success, the stories of Equiano and other African activists, as well as those of Wilberforce and Sharpe, will have to become part of the national psyche - and museums can help make this happen.
It was not until 1766 that Equiano managed to buy his own freedom with £40 that he had saved. His story is not unique but for the fact that he became an active abolitionist, and it is partly this fact that has given him historical status.
On 25 March 1807 the UK Parliament passed a law making it a crime to trade in slaves. Museums and galleries have one year left to finalise their commemoration plans for the bicentenary.
It is widely known, but not yet formally acknowledged, that Britain played a significant role in the trading of African people. In a 2004 parliamentary debate, Gary Streeter, who is a Conservative MP, set the figures at 10.2 million people traded by Britain alone. As many have been estimated to have perished on the seas.
The historian Eric Williams, in his book Capitalism and Slavery, records that when in 1833 parliament made the institution of slavery illegal, £20m was paid out to slave owners in compensation.
There appears to some agreement among museums and galleries on why the commemoration is important. Mitch Upfold, the lead officer on 2007 at Hull City Council, says that Hull sees the year as a balance between the historical - the story of abolition and its legacy - and the impact on people today in Britain. There is also the issue of modern forms of slavery around the world.
Hull has what some may see as a ready-made figure in the 18th-century abolitionist and MP William Wilberforce. Hull's Wilberforce 2007 programme is built around the redevelopment of the Wilberforce House Museum, which will reopen in March 2007. It will include new displays and an expansion of the slavery story.
And the University of Hull's Wilberforce Institute for the Study of Slavery and Emancipation is to open in July this year. A conference exploring slavery today, community projects to challenge racism, and efforts to build on links with its twin city Freetown in Sierra Leone are some of Hull's plans for its commemoration, which will take place from March until October.
Hull appears to be ahead of many of the national museums based in cities where slave trade ships set sail. Hull's publicity says it had no part in the trade (though that's perhaps because it was on the wrong side of the island).
But there has been mild criticism of Hull among museums and other organisations that it is concentrating too heavily on Wilberforce as the only abolitionist. Hull insists that the redevelopment of the Wilberforce House Museum will include the stories of Equiano and other African anti-slavery campaigners.
The pressure group Anti-Slavery International initiated a museum networking group in 2004 for heritage organisations to discuss their ideas to mark the bicentenary. It has been meeting every couple of months since. Representatives of museums from London, Bristol, Birmingham, Liverpool, Hull and Lancaster have been attending.
But many museums still have no concrete plans. There have been vague murmurings from some quarters of 'intending to play a part in unmasking London as a slave city' and 'developing community partnerships'. And a National Trust spokeswoman also spoke in broad terms - 'it is one of our big themes for 2007' - although no accompanying detail was available.
The Museums, Libraries and Archives Council was to hold a meeting last month to discuss what it would do and what money, if any, would be available. The Museums Association is to hold an event in June 2007 at the British Museum to explore with museum professionals why they should be representing slavery in their museums. But isn't that a little bit late in the day?
There is a cross-government group of the Home Office and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) that is chaired by John Prescott, the deputy prime minister. This has been formed 'to bring together key players across the sector to maximise impact' of the bicentenary.
The major city representatives and their museums have been invited and the group has so far met twice. But some of those who have attended have said it is more of an information gathering exercise for the government than an attempt to plan or coordinate activity.
The DCMS is unapologetic about the absence of funds for 2007 projects. It points to the £16m the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has so far granted; DCMS support for the new International Slavery Museum in Liverpool (to open 2010) with £250,000 revenue per year; and the DCMS and the Department for Education and Skills provision of
£75,000 for the Understanding Slavery Initiative, the education resource for schools and museums.
Norma Muico, the education officer of the London-based human rights organisation Anti-Slavery International, believes the government should do more: 'There is so little government information out there so I guess the answer is no, they are not doing enough.'
But many museums representatives feel that the government doesn't need to do more and may not welcome interference. Martine Miel is a joint coordinator of the anti-slavery campaigns group Rendezvous of Victory (ROV), which campaigns for the compulsory study of the transatlantic slave trade in all schools.
She would like to see how far museums make use of their collections in next year's projects. The St Mungo Museum of Religious Life and Art in Glasgow will be working with African and African-Caribbean communities to reinterpret the permanent collections on display.
Janice Lane, the education and access manager at Glasgow Museums, says the starting point with any project is always the collections. Glasgow's People's Palace and Winter Gardens holds the Glassford Family portrait, believed to include an African man who has been painted out of the picture. The picture will be x-rayed and this will be followed by an exhibition exploring themes of the African presence in Glasgow in the 18th century. But the redeveloped Kelvingrove Museum, which reopens this year, will not be commemorating 2007.
Although there is much citywide and cross-arts collaboration, museums have tended to work separately. The British Empire and Commonwealth Museum (BECM) is working with Bristol City Council. But the museum's failed HLF bid in December stalled its plans.
In response, academics and local MPs wrote in support of the BECM's £750,000 application, refuting the HLF's argument that there was no evidence of working with the city, an absence of legacy and it was not value for money. This led to an urgent meeting with the regional and national HLF, which resulted in a compromise.
The research and design for the exhibition (see right) is now going ahead and funds for its installation will need to be raised. But Gareth Griffiths, the director of the BECM, says he will reapply to the HLF in May. The exhibition will be the only one in Bristol on slavery in 2007 as the Bristol City Museum will be closed for refurbishment.
As museums make plans for 2007 they will hopefully be listening to the community along the way. ROV holds discussion groups for the community in key cities and towns across the UK. Miel says some people are unhappy with the year being commemorated at all, especially if the focus is on abolition when an official acknowledgement by Britain of its role in the trade is still needed.
Lola Young, a member of the House of Lords and an arts organiser, has sympathy with this viewpoint: 'The transatlantic slave trade was brutal and violent and the suffering and pain that continues to be experienced as a result of that needs to be acknowledged.' But she says that the year is turning into more than simply remembering William Wilberforce and his fellow abolitionist Granville Sharpe.
MP Gary Streeter agrees. In the 2004 parliamentary debate he said: 'I have never been one for these dramatic apologies for everything in our past, but I do think that in this case there must be an acknowledgement for this appalling atrocity.'
For Rachel Hasted, a senior project manager at the National Archives, building on the year is vital. 'It is important that it is not seen as a one-year thing. We should use it to reflect on these issues and ensure they are being represented in wider history.'
Miel from the ROV believes education is the key to understanding the legacy of the slave trade: 'It needs to be the beginning of a whole new chapter of how we understand our history.'
But the Department for Education and Skills shows no movement towards making the study of Equiano or the transatlantic slave trade a compulsory part of the national curriculum.
Other crimes against humanity, such as the Holocaust, are a mandatory part of the curriculum and £1.5m has recently been invested to enable up to two children from every school to visit Auschwitz.
Equiano never lived to see the passing of the Abolition Act, but his life and campaigns are recorded in his 18th-century bestseller, The Interesting Narrative.
If 2007 is to be a success, the stories of Equiano and other African activists, as well as those of Wilberforce and Sharpe, will have to become part of the national psyche - and museums can help make this happen.
