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Opening at the John Rylands Research Institute and Library on 20 September 2023, the 青瓜视频�青瓜视频� exhibition explores how profits from slave trading, ownership of enslaved people, and manufacturing with slave-grown cotton funded the cultural and educational development of Manchester.

New research from students at The University of Manchester has traced the wealth of five of the most significant founders and funders of the institution to transatlantic enslavement and underpins this new exhibition.  Artefacts and objects from the University青瓜视频檚 collections tell the story of these connections.

The exhibition invites visitors to examine these rediscovered histories and help us answer the emerging question for the city of Manchester and the University: 青瓜视频淲hat should we do next?青瓜视频�

Founding a University

Today青瓜视频檚 University of Manchester was founded as two separate educational establishments - Owens College and the Manchester Mechanics青瓜视频� Institution. Manchester Mechanics青瓜视频� Institution was founded in 1824 by a group of businessmen and manufacturers, including Sir Benjamin Heywood, James McConnel and John Kennedy.

Heywood青瓜视频檚 position as Manchester青瓜视频檚 leading banker was built on generations of his family青瓜视频檚 profits from slave trading, while McConnel & Kennedy青瓜视频檚 mills, the largest in Manchester, spun slave-grown cotton imported from the Sea Islands of South Carolina and Georgia.

Owens College was founded in 1851 with a gift of nearly 青瓜视频100,000 (over 青瓜视频10 million today) from the estate of Manchester businessman John Owens, who invested heavily in importing slave-grown goods from North and South America, as well as cotton manufacturing.

During their research, students discovered that the land on which the University sits was bought by Murray Gladstone, inheritor of considerable wealth from plantation ownership and enslavement of thousands of people of African heritage.

The exhibition showcases the history of the University青瓜视频檚 cultural institutions, including the John Rylands Research Institute and Library itself, which was built using a fortune derived from the manufacturer of textiles made from cotton cultivated by enslaved people, and became part of the University in 1972.

Experiences of enslavement and treasures of the collections

Alongside letters and archival material that detail The University of Manchester青瓜视频檚 financial and foundational connections are books and documents exploring the experiences of enslaved people linked to those locations and activities.

This includes Olaudah Equiano and Solomon Northup who published accounts of their first-hand experiences of enslavement and Jack Gladstone, an enslaved man who led a revolt of approximately 10,000 enslaved men and women known as the Demerara Uprising.

Also included are items that show how wealth derived from transatlantic enslavement continues to hold high financial and cultural value in objects owned by the John Rylands Research Institute and Library and Manchester Museum.

This includes a richly-decorated 16th century copy of Sh膩hn膩mah (Book of Kings) by Firdawsi虅 donated to Owens College by Samuel Robinson. Robinson inherited his wealth from his father, who manufactured textiles specifically to be traded for captives on the West African coast.

Emerging researchers uncovering hidden connections

The exhibition has been curated by a team of University of Manchester postgraduate students, academics and curators, with the support of external researchers. Core to the exhibition is research conducted by a diverse team of emerging scholars who undertook the Race, Migration & Humanitarianism: Legacies of Slavery and Colonialism in the Modern World module as part of their MA History. The Emerging Scholars programme provided students with paid opportunities to develop their historical research and curatorial skills with the aim of strengthening pipelines for underrepresented and Global Majority students to participate in academic and heritage work. Blog posts written by the team are available on the exhibition website.

Dr Kerry Pimblott, Lecturer in International History said: 青瓜视频�Founders and Funders represents the culmination of two years of research conducted by a team of postgraduate students from The University of Manchester青瓜视频檚 History MA programme. The project began in one of our core modules 青瓜视频� HIST64101: Race, Migration & Humanitarianism 青瓜视频� in which students receive a grounding in the global history of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and colonisation before examining the multiple and complex legacies of these world historic phenomena in the present.

青瓜视频淪ince 2021, all students in this module have participated in a series of special workshops to critically examine the legacies of slavery and colonialism in the places they live, study, and work 青瓜视频� Manchester and The University of Manchester. In 2022, we launched the Emerging Scholars Programme and recruited six talented postgraduate researchers, including a plurality of Black and other Global Majority students, to lead on the next stage of the research and exhibition curation.

青瓜视频淎t the heart of the project is an acknowledgment of the longstanding structural inequalities in the discipline of History which have created barriers to access and participation for Black and other Global Majority students (see, Royal Historical Society

青瓜视频淭he Emerging Scholars Programme aims to address this 青瓜视频榖roken青瓜视频� pipeline (, 2019) by providing paid research positions as well as structured mentorship and support from curators and historians based at The University of Manchester as well as the University of Liverpool青瓜视频檚 Centre for the Study of International Slavery and UCL青瓜视频檚 Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery.

青瓜视频淩ecent graduates from the Emerging Scholars programme have gone on to work in the education and heritage sectors and we are looking forward to recruiting more postgraduate researchers to advance this research in the years to come.青瓜视频�

Jeevan Kaur Sanghera, MA History graduate and student curator, said: 青瓜视频淲orking on the exhibition, Founders and Funders, as a student curator was a process of getting to grips with just how embedded enslavement, empire and colonisation were essential to the building of Manchester, 'Cottonopolis'. The social life, politics, intellectual culture, finances and kinship networks of Manchester's 19th century residents were intertwined with exploitative colonial practices. This included direct investment in slave voyages or through industry, such as cotton production which was directly linked to Transatlantic enslavement and the labour of enslaved people.

"The exhibition does not simply seek to present this research as facts about arbitrary Manchester residents who funded the foundation of The University of Manchester. It prompts its visitors to begin to understand and acknowledge how embedded enslavement was to these people's lives and their social and financial patronage of Manchester's culture and institutions.青瓜视频�

Professor Nalin Thakkar, Vice-President for Social Responsibility at The University of Manchester, said: 青瓜视频淭his is an important step on a journey we started with the initial research into our links to slavery, which we published last year, in conjunction with seeking the views of staff, students and alumni.

青瓜视频淥ur University is entering its 200^th year in 2024 and it is incredibly important that our staff and students have undertaken this research, through our MA in History, and that we continue to be transparent in sharing new findings and perspectives.

青瓜视频淭his exhibition, together with other insights, will help inform a broader response being considered by our expert group of staff and students, who are meeting over the coming year to consider how we address our past in positive ways as we enter our third century.