Legacy Makers

Together the Legacy Makers have influenced Newstead Abbey, the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site and the Canal and Rivers Trust Nottinghamshire to tell the stories of their links to the transatlantic slavery economy and how the wealth of Britain was created.

Their film Blood Sugar is on permanent exhibition at Newstead Abbey.

The Visitor Centre at DVMWHS has a mural depicting enslaved Africans, indentured Indian labourers and cotton workers from the industrial midlands.

It fully acknowledges Legacy Makers role in co-creating this, as well as interpretation boards and audio materials.

Nottingham Rivers and Canals are currently fundraising for a Legacy Makers interpretation board to be installed by the canal in the city centre.

Their work has included projects with other collaborators including Josh Osoro Pickering at Nottingham Castle to evaluate Black history exhibition artefacts.

Some of the Legacy Makers were featured in Nottingham’s In Your Face projection project where 100 Nottingham people’s images were projected onto the walls of the castle.

Other institutions include Wilberforce Museum to trial and evaluate their handling collection, Boughton House to retrieve evaluate their Black history archives and, more recently, the Paul Mellon Centre where we presented our research on Colonel Thomas Wildman and introduced the work of the Legacy Makers "Blood Sugar": Screening & Panel Discussion.

The volunteers’ have been recognised by Heritage Lottery, the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the University of Nottingham and the Heritage Lottery for their outstanding contribution to heritage work in the East Midlands/UK.

They were shortlisted for the AHRC’s Research in Film awards, won the university’s award for long-term volunteering and shortlisted twice for their research impact awards.

In the past Legacy Makers volunteers have been featured on BBC’s Songs of Praise BBC One - Songs of Praise, Newstead Abbey and ITV’s A Place in the Country. - A Place In The Country: Part 2 - Slave trade legacies.

Today, we are proud to be fully acknowledged as instigators of the Standing in this Place statue.

Over 100 volunteers from the Black community were involved in the activities in the first year.

Now 25 volunteers lead on Legacy Makers’ work. Most have been involved in the work from the beginning. Other volunteers join us on aspects of the initiative according to their interests.

The volunteers help shape the work and lead on the challenging conversations they have with UK visitor sites. They are the key decision-makers and influencers in the directions the work takes them.

Due to the passion and commitment, nine years after launching they persist with their endeavours and continue to work in meaningful partnership with others.

Part of the Legacy Markers experimental work involved joining the University of Nottingham’s Global Cotton Connections Global Cotton Connections: East meets West in the Derbyshire Peak District | An AHRC Connected Communities project - a project led by historical geographer, Dr Sussane Seymour (Dr Susanne to us).

Their own lead researcher is historian, Dr Helen Bates (Dr Helen), and together with the volunteers they ensure that this work acknowledges and amplifies the links between cotton workers which included enslaved Africans, white mill workers and indentured Indian labourers. Our work is not Black history. It is about global, shared histories.

Legacy Makers is a hive of creativity and they have worked with creatives such as Lisa Jackson (mon0lisa Productions), Cara Thompson, Kim Thompson, Michelle Hubbard, Dr Shawn Sobers and international artist Hetain Patel.

Together they have co-created exhibitions, interpretation boards, films, Films, poetry and textile work, run community and public events, and developed their own zine (in collaboration with Nottingham Poetry Festival) and learning resources for schools.

They even have their own gospel choir and co-created a commissioned song, ‘Wishing Fields’, with musician, Freddie Kofi.

With the invaluable guidance of Dr Helen and Dr Sussane, Legacy Makers embarked on a lifelong adventure of research, learning about their ancestors and their rich histories.

They have visited sites such as the Liverpool Slavery Museum, Porchester Castle and Bristol for a trail teaching about that city’s links to the transatlantic trade.

Researcher, Dr James Dawkins has been part of their research family. Dr James previously worked with University College London’s Legacies of British Slave Ownership and with the University of Nottingham and Nottingham City Council on local connections to the transatlantic trade they are grateful that he continues to share his knowledge and understanding with them.