Events

Our Cambridge-based programme includes lectures, workshops, exhibitions, and community activities that explore the University’s historical links to slavery and colonialism and encourage dialogue on their ongoing impact.

Upcoming events

Panel: In conversation with Playwright Casey Bailey - 18 February 2026
Organiser: University of Cambridge Museums
Description: Inspired by the themes in his latest play Please Do Not Touch, former Birmingham Poet Laureate, activist and playwright Casey Bailey leads an engaging discussion around colonial legacy, contested heritage and institutional change.   
 

Science, Technology and the Politics of Knowledge: Critical insights from the Global South - 18 February 2026
Organiser: The Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH) 
Description: A research symposium examining how postcolonial heritage and epistemic dominance shape Global South knowledge production.

African Legacies in Cambridge Museums Tour - 22 February 2026
Organiser: Uncomfortable Cambridge
Description: Learn about the history and acquisition of African collections at the University of Cambridge and what it means for museums to hold and curate such heritage.

Maroon ecologies and the São Tomé plantation world: histories of black insurgency - 24 February 2026
Organiser: The Joint Centre for History and Economics (JCHE)
Description: This talk examines nineteenth‑century fugitive practices in São Tomé,showing how runaway communities shaped human and environmental ecologies. It highlights the agency and resistance of mobile fugitives and the Angolares, expanding the archive of Black insurgency.

Bridges and Battlefields in Education – 26 February 2026
Organiser: Wolfson College’s REACH Hub
Description: Part of the Hierarchies of Racism? series, this session shares two case studies on embedding anti‑racist practice in schools and teaching migration and empire in the curriculum. It highlights efforts toward more inclusive historical narratives.

Roundtable on 'Legacies of Coerced Labour' - 24 February 2026 
Organiser:  Legacies of Enslavement Network and the Labour History Cluster
Description: Diamind Ashiagbor (Birmingham), Samita Sen (Cambridge), Adrian Grama (Cambridge) will be in conversation with Pedro Ramos Pinto (Cambridge) about the effects of coercive labour regimes on the history of work and legislations.

Members of the Legacies of Enslavement Network also organise events that align with our shared aims in locations beyond Cambridge. These activities provide opportunities to engage with research and dialogue on slavery, colonialism, and their legacies across the UK and internationally. Please check this page regularly as we add new events throughout the year.

Please note that responsibility for organisation and content rests with the hosting institution or group.

Upcoming events

Frederick Douglass on Women & Rights  -13 February 2026
Organiser: Centre for the Study of International Slavery (Liverpool)
Description: Dr Mark Christian explores Douglass’s advocacy for women’s rights and abolitionism.

The Crown’s Silence: The Hidden History of Slavery and the British Monarchy - 4 March 2026
Organiser: Wilberforce Institute (University of Hull).
Description: Dr Brooke Newman discusses her book on the monarchy’s entanglement in the transatlantic slave trade and colonial slavery. 

Heiresses: Marriage, Inheritance, and Slavery in the Caribbean - 5 March 2026
Organiser: Centre for the Study of International Slavery (Liverpool)
Description: Miranda Kaufmann discusses her new book with Nasra Elliot for International Women’s Day.

Lessons from the Past: UN Sustainability Goals - 23–24 March 2026
Description: A two-day event exploring historical perspectives on the UN Sustainability Goals and their relevance today.
 
Standing In This Place: A sculpture and heritage project - 16 April  2026
Organiser: Wilberforce Institute (University of Hull).
Description: Explores Standing In This Place, a sculpture and heritage project honouring women’s labour both as enslaved workers in the Americas and Caribbean and as factory workers in industrial Britain. 

Breaking Dead Silence: Engaging with the Legacies of Empire and Slave-Ownership in Bath and Bristol’s Memoryscapes - 21 April 2026
Organisers: Centre for the Study of International Slavery (Liverpool) and Liverpool University Press.
Description: Presentation and discussion of this important new book.

Cohesion and Conflict: Enslaved Society on Turner's Hall Plantation - 21 May 2026
Organiser: Wilberforce Institute (University of Hull).
Description: Examines life and social dynamics on a Barbadian sugar plantation, 1755–1834. 

This section provides details of previous events, along with resources such as recordings, blogs, papers and further information where available. 

Launch event: Celebrating Black Minds – 29 January 2026
The Fitzwilliam Museum hosted the launch of Celebrating Black Minds, a year-long programme recognising and supporting the contributions of Black scholars at Cambridge University.

Book launch & discussion: The University of Cambridge in the Age of Atlantic Slavery - 18 November 2025
The Legacies of Enslavement Initiative and Cambridge University Press hosted the launch of The University of Cambridge in the Age of Atlantic Slavery by Dr Nicolas Bell-Romero. Dr Bell-Romero's book was the result of several years of research, initially undertaken in the context of the 2019-2022 University Legacies of Enslavement working group.
 

Simón Bolívar Seminar: Manoel Joaquim Ricardo, A successful Hausa freedman in Bahia - 13 October 2025
The Centre of Latin American Studies (CLAS), in collaboration with the Legacies of Enslavement Special Initiative, opened its Michaelmas Term seminar series with a public lecture by Professor João José Reis, Simón Bolívar Professor at CLAS 2025–26. The event was chaired by Dr Adrián Lerner Patrón and brought together students, academics and members of the wider community. 
 

Searching for My Slave Roots: A conversation with author Malik Al Nasir - 9 October 2025
As part of Black History Month 2025, St Catharine’s College History Society and the Faculty of Education hosted an evening event to mark the publication of Malik Al Nasir’s new book, Searching for My Slave Roots: From Guyana’s Sugar Plantations to Cambridge (William Collins, 2025). The event was sponsored by the University’s Legacies of Enslavement project and ThinkLab.