Over 5,000 sign up for free online course about the legacy of slavery

"The structures of racial inequality and anti-Black racism have never dissipated" said one academic who contributed to the course

Proclamation of the Abolition of Slavery
PICTURED: A painting by Francois Auguste Biard depicting the Proclamation of the abolition of slavery (Photo by: Christophel Fine Art/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

THE FREE, online course is called ‘History of Slavery in the British Caribbean’.

More than 5,000 people have already signed up for it on FutureLearn, a social learning platform.

At the start, students will learn about life in West Africa. Then, they will explore how forced migration led people to the Caribbean.

The multi-disciplinary course will also explore how present-day Black Lives Matter protests have caused many to reconsider Britain’s racist history.

The past is not over

Dr Peggy Brunache, from the University of Glasgow, who contributed to the course said: “The past is not over. The past is still the present.

“The structures of racial inequality and anti-Black racism have never dissipated.”

The University of Glasgow is running the course with the University of the West Indies (UWI).

Contributions from artists, descendants of enslaved Africans and academics from both the UK and the Caribbean were used to create the course.

Dr Zachary Beier from UWI, who also contributed to the course said: “Collaboration between the United Kingdom and the Caribbean is an important step in rectifying the history of exploitative and unbalanced relationships between these regions.”

He added that it was an opportunity to share information about collections stored at UWI and important archaeological research from the Caribbean islands.

The legacy of slavery

Students on the course will be encouraged to consider their own personal relationships to its content. This may be through their family history or the continued legacy of slavery in their community.

Dr Christine Whyte, from the University of Glasgow, who also contributed to the course said: “The important thing about this course is its focus on the words of the enslaved to describe their own experiences.”

The initiative is part of a Memorandum of Understanding.

Formalised last year, The Memorandum of Understanding was a key recommendation from Glasgow University’s report into its links with historical slavery.

The course can be accessed here.

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