Building block by building block. First Isobel researched and created a Slavery & the City tour. That became the foundation for her virtual tour on the same subject. This podcast is an excerpt from the virtual tour. Three “manifestations”, all of them eye-opening. And shocking.
I’d just add, 1) it’s classic London Walks this. I’ve read one book on the subject. Most people probably haven’t read even one. Isobel’s read them all – she’s the London Walks expert on this subject. And it shows. And 2) as with all the virtual tours, she’s been able to range further afield. To good effect. This excerpt is a case in point. As per the title, the tour is about slavery and the City of London. But on the virtual tour she was able to make a quick detour to Westminster – that episode gets this excerpt underway. That range, that flexibility is not possible – because of the distance involved – on the shoe leather on pavement tour.
Good tour.
“being a slave on a plantation owned by the Church of England did not mean that you got better treatment”
“you never really know what’s hiding behind a facade”
“the abolitionists had to relinquish the most cherished tenet of their argument”
“one of the people who put in a claim was a member of parliament who was an abolitionist”
“I can’t say that I haven’t benefitted in some way”
“it’s like a measles rash”
“in today’s money it was estimated that it was about £17 billion pounds”
“which was why the industrial revolution took off so spectacularly in this country”
“in many ways they’ve made us all complicit in the slave trade”