Remembering transatlantic cotton workers: the enslaved and female workers behind the East Midlands cotton textile industry

What’s on offer?

The event will show two films created by community-led projects which reflect on the histories and legacies of transatlantic slavery and female work in the East Midlands cotton textile industry. The Legacy Makers group will present a film of their recent NLHF project focused on the Evans cotton textile company, Derbyshire. Sculptor, Rachel Carter, will present a film of her recent Arts Council project, Standing in this Place, which reflects creatively on the histories and legacies of the East Midlands cotton textile industry. The film shows will be followed by a panel discussion involving Rachel Carter, Legacy Makers organisers and community volunteers and historical researcher Susanne Seymour.
 

What’s it about?

The event will focus on diverse heritage community-led reflections on the transatlantic slavery and female worker histories of the East Midlands cotton textile industry and their legacies. Scholars, artists and a range of community participants from Nottingham’s diverse heritage population will reflect on how they have approached slavery and female worker history and its representation today, what they have achieved through their projects and the changes they have experienced through their involvement. Attendees can expect to learn about the social and economic history of the cotton industry’s slavery connections and female workers lives and the experiences of diverse heritage community groups engaging with these histories and challenging and changing public representations of the past.

Who’s leading the event?

Susanne Seymour, Associate Professor in the School of Geography and Deputy Director of the Institute for the Study of Slavery, University of Nottingham. Historical advisor to Standing in this Place and Legacy Makers projects. 

Rachel Carter, sculptor, leader of the Standing in this Place project.
Helen Bates and Lisa Robinson, Bright Ideas Nottingham, coordinators of the Legacy Makers group.
Volunteers from the Legacy Makers and Standing in this Place projects. The Legacy Makers volunteers are mainly from African Caribbean heritage backgrounds.

Open to

Anyone is welcome

Of particular interest to

Of particular interest to the c.150 volunteers involved with the Legacy Makers and Standing in this Place projects coordinated by Bright Ideas Nottingham, and Rachel Carter, plus their families and friends.

Event booking deadline

Bookings close 24 hours before the start of the event