The business of slavery

Transatlantic slavery remains one of the most widely taught topics in secondary schools' history curricula and poses challenges of principle and practice that require considerable reflection and critical rigour. The 2019 Teacher Fellowship Programme on Britain and Transatlantic Slavery has explored the teaching of Britain's complex entanglement in transatlantic slavery and abolition, and of the legacies of that entanglement.

Britain and transatlantic slavery is a potentially challenging and sensitive aspect of history, involving major issues of social justice and ethical dimensions of the past. A set of 14 Working Principles, available to download below, has been prepared to guide this programme of study and to form the basis of future work nationally.  

The following podcasts were recorded at the residential that took place in April 2019 and look at the following:

• The challenges of teaching the business of slavery: Economic history in the classroom.
• Terror and violence in the systems of transatlantic slavery.