The past and present - Invisible presence

Teaching idea/enquiry: How can we commemorate the past?

War memorials commemorate those who die in battle; plaques on buildings indicate where famous people lived or worked. Grand memorials to slave traders and abolitionists date from the18th century. Many millions of African people most affected by the transatlantic slave trade remain unnamed and unknown. See: Acknowledging the past Background Information.

Prior knowledge

Pupils should understand the word commemoration and have some familiarity with memorials, plaques and monuments that acknowledge people from the past.

Suggested teacher led activities (starter):

Introduce abolitionists of African descent such as Olaudah Equiano, Ottobah Cugoano, Mary Prince and Ignatius Sancho as well as the perhaps better known William Wilberforce and Thomas Clarkson.
Build up a short pen portrait of each – who were they, what did they do and what did they achieve?
See http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAslavery.htm for information. Plaque commemorating George Africanus

Suggested pupil activities (main):

Are there any commemorative plaques or monuments in your local area?
What do they commemorate?
A memorial on St Georges Quay, Lancaster is the only one of its kind in England to the unknown millions of enslaved Africans who suffered as a result of the transatlantic slave trade http://www.uclan.ac.uk/facs/class/cfe/ceth/abolition/stamp.htm. 
A national memorial is underway in Hyde Park London http://www.memorial2007.org.uk.
What types of memorials are most appropriate to commemorate the slave trade?

Ask pupils in small groups to list people linked to the slave trade who should be commemorated.
Where should the memorials, monuments or plaques be located?
Link people to places and the built environment, see also Sites of Memory.
Support pupils by giving them a list of key people and places to match. 
(There is a plaque to Olaudah Equiano where he lived in Westminster, but a memorial could be in Soham, Cambridgeshire where he married and died; there are plaques on Ignatius Sancho in a park on Broadway, Westminster and on the site of Montagu House in Greenwich Park.)
Stretch pupils by asking them to write to their MP, local council or an organisation such as English Heritage requesting permission for a commemoration of the slave trade and explaining why it is important.
Information of English Heritage's blue plaque scheme is at: http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.1494 Edward Colston statue

Suggested discussion (plenary):

Why do memorials sometimes generate controversy?
Evaluate the significance of the statue of Colston in Bristol using the activity at Heritage Explorer.

Ask pupils to write in one large 'speech bubble' why it is important to commemorate the 'invisible' not just the famous, and in another to say how they personally would like to be remembered. Scipio’s tomb, Bristol

Discuss how information on ordinary people can be pieced together from parish registers or gravestones. Heritage Explorer has an activity using the gravestone of Scipio Africanus in Bristol.

Suggested homework:

Develop a piece of artwork or a series of postage stamps that capture the essence of a memorial to unknown enslaved Africans.

Expectations

All pupils must: recognise different physical ways of acknowledging people and events publicly; have ideas about appropriate ways of acknowledging people; know that there were African abolitionists.

Most pupils should: understand that enslaved people are not adequately acknowledged in public in England; link key people involved in the transatlantic slave trade to places.

Some pupils could: understand the controversies that memorials can generate depending on different points of view; appreciate some of the criteria used in deciding who to commemorate and where.