Slave Trade Documentary

 Gold, Silver, and Slaves

    The West African Slave trade doesn't have as simple of a history as many might think. African nations participated in trading slaves to the new world and England. Often it is believed that the British invaded Africa and enslaved it's constituents on their own when in fact, West African leaders played a large part in enslaving their own people. More than anything this speaks to the corruption within African nations and the large wealth disparity between royalty and the common people. A major port where slavery occurred was Bristol England where slavery is heavily ingrained in the history of the city. Bristol was able to manufacture high-quality metal goods at low rates which attracted a fair amount of slave labor. The people of Bristol are making efforts at coming to terms with their unfortunate past and dedicated a bridge in the honor of a slave named Pero. Pero ends up dying a slave largely from failing health due to a drinking problem. This shows the psychological effects that slavery had on the slaves. People were taken away from their natural element and thrown into various foreign environments under terrible conditions. Even for ones with better lives there was an effect on from being isolated from their families and their culture. It must've been terrible being forced to spend the majority of your life away from everything you've cared to know. Learning of Pero's tale and eventual fate definitely put into perspective the atrocity that is slavery.

During a time of global division, it's encouraging to see cities like Bristol attempt to amend their past even though it doesn't reconcile past mistakes. In society now it seems like nations are making an effort to become more ingrained in their history and understand the events around it. Slavery itself can't be undone but working on breaking down barriers and coming to terms with the past is a great effort towards progress. Romaine Thorn writes a poem in 1794 leaving out the slavery that is ever-present in Bristol. This alludes to either a denial of the slave trade occurring in Bristol or the citizens of Bristol failing to understand the significance of what was occurring. A big part of the battle in getting people to understand and make efforts at amending history is for people to understand it in the first place. Nations like England are better at being knowledgeable of their history than the United States but understanding and accepting history is a large part of the battle. 

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