Slavery Walks Through Colonial Britain

Join us for a fascinating talk from Professor Corinne Fowler, who will highlight the connections to slavery in rural Britain. In this talk, Corinne highlights the slavery connections of rural Britain. Until recently, the British countryside, so integral to our national identity, was rarely seen as having anything to do with transatlantic enslavement. This talk, which will be hybrid (available for you to join in online or in-person), brings together rural life and the history of enslavement instead of considering them as separate histories. It will explore how transatlantic enslavement transformed rural lives, whether on Welsh sheep farms, in Cornish copper mines or Norfolk commons, and explore its impacts on enclosure, land clearances and dispossession. Biography Professor Corinne Fowler (Professor of Colonialism and Heritage, University of Leicester) is a leading author on rural Britain and its historical links to empire. She co-authored the National Trust’s 2020 report on the historical links between its Country Houses and the British Empire, which received global media coverage and won the Museums and Heritage Special Judges' Award. She has now written the critically acclaimed Our Island Stories: Country Walks Through Colonial Britain (Penguin 2024). Venue We are delighted to be partnering once again with Hull Museums to offer attendees at our public lectures the chance to visit Wilberforce House Museum next door before joining us for the event. Lectures will begin at 4 pm and will take place at our home in Oriel Chambers, 27 High Street, Hull, HU1 1NE. We are very grateful to Hull Museums for their generous support of the Wilberforce Institute’s public lecture programme, and we hope many of you will take the opportunity to explore their fascinating exhibitions beforehand. Refreshments will be available from 3:45 pm, and we warmly invite you to stay afterwards for a glass of wine and the chance to chat with our speaker. A limited number of in-person tickets are available. If you are unable to join us in Hull, you can still enjoy the lecture online – please select the appropriate ticket type when booking.