Published on the occasion of the exhibition Black Atlantic: Power, People, Resistance held at The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, 8 September 2023 - 7 January 2024.
Summary:
An illustrated history of the relationship between Cambridge and the Black Atlantic. Between 1400 and 1900, European powers, not least Britain, colonised the Americas and transported over 12.5 million people from sub-Saharan Africa as slaves. The contested space, formed by the interactions of multiple people and cultures, both Black and white, we now call the Black Atlantic. Cambridge and Cambridgeshire played a key role in this international narrative - a story of commerce, profit and colonialism, of opinion-forming, and of struggle. Through the lens of historic artworks, artefacts and natural history specimens, this book and the exhibition it accompanies analyse the rise and growth of enslavement, the profits made by Dutch and British traders and plantation-owners, the power of images, the knowledge produced by enslaved people, histories of resistance movements and the consequences of these events today. Works by contemporary makers challenge long-held assumptions, address erasures, and create alternative narratives of repair, freedom and justice.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.