[Church of England] More than 150 people from across the world attended a gathering on the Anglican Church’s involvement in transatlantic chattel slavery and its contemporary legacies, addressed by a series of speakers from the United Kingdom, the United States, Europe, Africa and the Caribbean.
The “Truth Telling” event, which took place June 23-25, was held jointly by the Church of England’s Racial Justice Unit and Senior Research Fellow Leona Vaughn for the University of Liverpool, with support from the Diocese of Liverpool. Taking place in the city of Liverpool, it included addresses as well as a tour and talks on the city’s historical links with the transatlantic trade in enslaved people and the work to progress racial justice.
The Church of England’s lead bishops for racial justice, Croydon Bishop Rosemarie Mallett and Kirkstall Bishop Arun Arora, attended the event. Mallett gave the sermon at a service for the gathering held at Liverpool Cathedral.
Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell, who spoke at the conference, said the church was “humbled” by the truth of its “shameful” historical involvement in the “evil” commodification and enslavement of human beings.
Speaking at the start of the conference, he quoted the Ghanian proverb – “Until the lion has told his story, the hunter will always be a hero” – as a means of encouraging the church to acknowledge how individuals and church institutions have benefited from profits from the transatlantic slave trade.
He first heard the proverb in Ghana last November when visiting dungeons in the Cape Coast Castle, used to imprison enslaved Africans before they were loaded onto ships to cross the Atlantic.
He said it was “humbling that it was the church of Jesus Christ that was so invested in the horrific hunting down, enslavement and commodification of human beings that took place over many centuries through transatlantic chattel enslavement. So first of all, at this truth telling conference, let us in the Church of England acknowledge that we have been humbled by this truth.”
The conference heard from speakers including Lancaster University history professor William Pettigrew, who has led research into the 11,000 investors – including Church of England clergy – who financed Britain’s contribution to the transatlantic traffic in enslaved people.
There were addresses from the Rev. Kelly Brown Douglas (via video link), visiting professor at Harvard Divinity School in the U.S., and the Rev. Stephanie Sellers from The Episcopal Church, as well as from representatives of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
U.S. Roman Catholic Monique Maddox, president and CEO of the Descendants Truth & Reconciliation Foundation, whose enslaved family was sold by the Jesuit order in the 19th century, and the Rev. Tim Kesicki S.J., from the Jesuit order, also spoke via video link to the conference.
During the 18th century, Liverpool was Britain’s main slaving port, with ships from Liverpool carrying around 1.5 million Africans across the Atlantic in conditions of great cruelty.
People attending the conference took part in a tour of buildings near the Port of Liverpool, including Liverpool parish church, burial place of some of the city’s richest slave merchants.
The church has a memorial to Abell, an enslaved man who was brought to Liverpool and is recorded as having been buried in the churchyard in 1717. Liverpool’s Black community had campaigned for the memorial, to acknowledge his importance as Liverpool’s first recorded Black resident.
The Rev. Sharon Prentis, the Church of England’s deputy lead director for racial justice, said: “For years, the church has been far too comfortable in a state of amnesia regarding the horrors of the transatlantic trade in enslaved people.
“This gathering’s aim was to affirm that Christ as our compass guides us as we confront the past concerning chattel slavery. Truth-telling enables the entire church to address its history with honesty, so that it can in humility and with confidence seek justice, healing and unity for all of God’s children.”