This talk was a collaborative effort from Dr Beatriz Marín-Aguilera, University of Cambridge and Dr Reg Murphy, UNESCO Antigua and Barbuda.

This presentation was given on 22 October 2020 as part of the Garrod Research seminar series of the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge.

Dr Beatriz Marín-Aguilera is a Renfrew Fellow at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Churchill College

Dr Reg Murphy is the Secretary-General for the National Commission UNESCO Antigua and Barbuda, an Affiliated Professor of the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center and President of the Historical and Archaeological Society of Antigua and Barbuda.

Abstract: The Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda began the quest for reparations for the African slave trade in 2011 during the UN General Assembly’s annual general debate. Years earlier, Antiguan slave past was unearthed, for the first time, by archaeologists. The material lives of African and Afro-descendant slaves, silenced by the colonial records, were brought to life, as well as the need to build a different history of the country. Settled by the British in 1632, Antigua became a leading colony in the production and trade of sugar cane. By 1736, 85% of the population were African and Afro-descendant slaves working on the very lucrative plantations. Sugar, and particularly African and Afro-Caribbean slaves’ labour, fuelled the British economy and the wealth of the nation’s landed aristocracy who, in turn, became the benefactors of the most important universities in Britain and in New England. Drawing on the material culture of both slaves and planters in Antigua and in England, this seminar addresses the significance of archaeology in exhibiting slaves’ lives, as well as the need for a combined heritage narrative between the West Indies and the UK that officially confronts past injustices and acknowledges the long-standing legacies of slavery.

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