A group of us decided to look into slavery in Bristol because along with London and Liverpool it was a major slaving port. We then decided to look at modern day slavery, or ‘trafficking’ it is also called to make it more relevant to our own lives and times.
We researched online records in Bristol Records Office and the M Shed Museum and lots of other online resources – we also watch ‘12 Years a Slave’! A group of us got all the main facts and figures whilst the others looked online for photographs and audio clips to put into the video. Obviously there weren’t many pictures from the historical times because cameras weren’t around as much as they are today. We started to write down the main things we wanted in the video and found a good starting point in a Bristol man Silas Told who had been a sailor on slave ships and had written a book about his life. He was later converted by the founder of the Methodists John Wesley and became a Methodist himself. They both campaigned to end slavery and were known as ‘abolitionists.’ We also took the Bristol Slavery walk around the docks and places nearby which made it all feel very real.