Background and aims

Welcome to the University of Cambridge’s Legacies of Enslavement Special Initiative. We are a  collaborative community exploring the University’s historical links to slavery, supporting and promoting research into histories of enslavement, colonialism and its afterlives, and bringing together researchers, students, and practitioners to share knowledge, foster dialogue and inspire action. 

"The legacies of enslavement form a part of who we are today, and inform what we wish to achieve. We can never rewrite history, or do away with our heritage, but we can try to address prevailing inequalities. This process begins through greater self-knowledge and self-reflection.”

— Professor Stephen J Toope, Vice-Chancellor, 2017–2022 

In the last few years many different parts of the University, including colleges, museums and departments have further engaged with these histories, through research, public debate and programmes aimed at supporting a greater representation of people and voices of African descent in all aspects of the University. 

The Legacies of Enslavement Special Initiative was set up in 2025 to further support, connect and develop these initiatives through high quality research, a programme of public engagement, and building collaborative partnerships with scholars and institutions in Britain and across the world. Our aim is contribute to knowledge and public debate on histories of enslavement; of the University’s and Britain’s role in those histories; of the lives it shaped and exploring how nations and people continue to be affected by the afterlives of enslavement, coerced labour and exploitation in its multiple forms. 

Through our work we aim to collaborate with colleagues and publics worldwide in building reparative histories that can contribute to a great recognition and understanding of past harms. At the same time, and of equal importance, the Special Initiative aims to be a conduit through which communities and nations who continue to endure the negative legacies of the system of slavery can access and benefit from the knowledge produced by the University of Cambridge as a centre for research, education and transformation.

Understanding Cambridge’s past

In 2019 the University of Cambridge embarked on a programme of research and reflection on its historical connections to the practice of enslavement. The aim of this work was to bring to light and understand how the University, its colleges and individual members were linked to, benefited from and, in some cases, challenged a system that was responsible for the enslavement and transportation of millions of people across three centuries. 

In 2022 the Legacies of Enslavement Working Group published a research-based report that outlined and made public some of that history, acknowledging the multiple ways in which historically the institution directly and indirectly benefited from enslavement, but also how, as a key centre for the production of knowledge, was involved in legitimising and supporting the creation of the system of slavery system across the world. 

Read more about the report and Professor Stephen Toope’s (Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, 2017-2022) response. 

The Special Initiative

The Legacies of Enslavement Special Initiative was created by the Vice-Chancellor’s Office to implement the recommendations of the Legacies of Enslavement report. It brings together a wide range of projects, events and activities across three core areas:

1. Research and institution building: facilitating and promoting research into Cambridge's legacies of enslavement, both by University members and international colleagues and partners, with a particular focus on those from the African diaspora;  
2. Engaging with Black British communities and those from the wider African diaspora and supporting their participation in all aspects of the University's mission and;  
3. Fostering equitable, collaborative and sustained partnerships with institutions and students from those countries most affected by the institution of slavery and which continue to bear its legacies.  

A further recommendation of the 2022 Report was the memorialisation of the victims of slavery and a celebration of Black lives connected with the University. The University’s Fitzwilliam Museum is leading on this project in collaboration with other parts of the University and a range of artists. Further details will be unveiled in 2026. 

Looking ahead

This new phase builds on the foundations laid since 2019. As we continue to reflect on Cambridge’s historical entanglements with slavery and colonialism, we are also expanding our focus — deepening research, strengthening partnerships, and supporting meaningful engagement across the University and beyond. 

Visit the Legacies of Enslavement Inquiry page to learn more about the origins of this work.