The Scott Trust today (Tuesday 21 April) announced the next pivotal stage of its 10-year Legacies of Enslavement programme, detailing new actions to address and atone for the Guardian’s historical links to transatlantic enslavement.
Launched in 2023, the programme acknowledges that the founder of the Manchester Guardian, John Edward Taylor, and his backers profited from transatlantic enslavement through their business interests in cotton and sugar. Among them was Sir George Philips, co-owner of the Success plantation in Hanover, Jamaica. Links were also identified between Taylor’s family business and plantations in the Gullah Geechee region of the US Sea Islands.
Three years on, the 2026-2030 plan (pdf) builds on the programme’s initial commitments and sets out how the programme will continue to pursue restorative justice and meaningful repair.
Investing in descendent communities
Over the next four years, the Scott Trust will invest in supporting the priorities identified by descendant communities in Jamaica and the US Sea Islands. In both regions the programme has developed a comprehensive set of priorities that contribute to realising repair, including:
Improving access to quality education and skills training
Supporting community land and property rights
Helping to preserve cultural heritage preservation and honouring the memories of those who were enslaved
Funding economic and climate justice initiatives
Convening community conversations centred on repair and healing.
Some work is already ongoing, for example, in Jamaica, the programme is assisting the community in Hanover parish with reconstruction efforts post Hurricane Melissa.
A commitment to reparatory justice in the UK and worldwide
This next phase of plans have been designed to reinforce the programme’s commitment to restorative justice and truth-telling in the UK and globally. This includes sharing new academic research, raising awareness of the UK’s role in transatlantic enslavement and its enduring impact, and increasing accountability through the Guardian’s journalism and Cotton Capital series.
In Manchester, where the Guardian was founded, work is already underway on a landmark exhibition on Manchester, Cotton and Enslavement to be launched in early 2027 in partnership with the Science and Industry Museum.
Read the full 2026-2030 Legacies of Enslavement programme plan here (pdf), you can also read the executive summary here (pdf).
Find out more
Join the Guardian for a special free online event on Thursday 2 July, at 7:30pm (BST). The event will explore the programme’s progress and challenges, featuring insights from reparatory justice experts and practitioners on how a media organisation can atone for a history linked to transatlantic enslavement. Click here for more information and to register.
The Guardian is also relaunching the monthly Cotton Capital newsletter, exploring legacies of enslavement and reparative justice around the world. Readers can sign-up to receive the newsletter directly in their inboxes here.
Ole Jacob Sunde, chair of the Scott Trust, said:
“The Scott Trust is deeply committed to this programme of restorative justice. I would like to thank everyone who has contributed to the journey so far. We are grateful to the descendant communities in Jamaica, the US and UK who have taken the time to share with us how we can make a meaningful impact in this next phase of the programme. I look forward to the work ahead.”
Katharine Viner, editor-in-chief, Guardian News & Media, says:
“I am delighted to see the progress the Legacies of Enslavement team has made in confronting and atoning for the Guardian’s historic links to transatlantic enslavement , and I want to thank everyone who has helped shape the programme and bring it to life. This work has widened the lens of the Guardian’s journalism, diversified our team around the world and amplified stories from underrepresented communities and regions. As we enter this next phase of the plan, our focus is on making changes that are meaningful, significant and long-lasting to the lives of those affected.”
Ebony Riddell Bamber, programme director, the Scott Trust Legacies of Enslavement programme, says:
“This is an exciting phase of the programme, where we deliver on visions of repair for transatlantic enslavement through partnership-building and providing resources and support. We have been received with such grace, openness and insight while we engaged in defining this work. If we have connected with you over these past few years, we hope you see your priorities in this plan. We look forward to collaborating with you to realise them.”
Ongoing engagement and relationship-building with descendant communities is central to the Legacies of Enslavement programme’s approach, with programme managers embedded within those communities leading the work. Ahmed Reid and Angel Parson have been appointed as programme managers to further the Guardian’s work in Jamaica and the US Sea Islands respectively. Reid and Parson join Keisha Thompson, programme manager for Manchester, who was appointed in September 2024.
The programme has made significant progress in its initial plans to atone over the last three years, this includes:
Hiring new correspondents covering East and West Africa, the Caribbean, South America and expanding the Guardian’s race, health and community affairs teams in the UK and US
Launching the Long Wave, a weekly newsletter delivering a dose of Black life and culture around the world
Expanding bursary and traineeship schemes in the UK, US and Australia to help improve media diversity.
For more information on the project, please visit the programme webpage or contact legacies@theguardian.com.
If you wish to speak with programme director Ebony Riddell-Bamber or the local programme managers in Jamaica, the US or Manchester for an interview, please contact media.enquiries@theguardian.com.
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About the Scott Trust
The ultimate owner of the Guardian is the Scott Trust, which was originally created as a trust in 1936 to safeguard the title’s journalistic freedom. In 2008 it was replaced by a limited company with the same core purpose as the original trust: to secure the financial and editorial independence of the Guardian in perpetuity, while its subsidiary aims are to champion its principles and to promote freedom of the press in the UK and elsewhere. Other than to cover expenses, the Scott Trust takes no dividend from the Group’s businesses, whose profits are instead reinvested to sustain journalism that is free from commercial or political interference.
About the Legacies of Enslavement programme
In March 2023, the Scott Trust published a comprehensive report on the Guardian’s historical connections with transatlantic enslavement, sharing an apology and its restorative justice response. The research identified links between John Edward Taylor and the associates who funded the Manchester Guardian’s creation, and enslavement. It was conducted in three stages – first by Dr Sheryllynne Haggerty and Dr Cassandra Gooptar of the University of Nottingham’s Institute for the Study of Slavery, and later by Dr Gooptar and Professor Trevor Burnard of the University of Hull’s Wilberforce Institute for the Study of Slavery and Emancipation. The Scott Trust also commissioned author and expert Professor Olivette Otele as an external advisor, who reviewed the academic findings.
The academic research and restorative justice proposals were overseen by a committee of Scott Trust members: historian, writer and broadcaster David Olusoga, barrister and former deputy mayor of London, Matthew Ryder KC, Guardian editor-in-chief Katharine Viner, and Scott Trust chair Ole Jacob Sunde; and by a team of Guardian editorial and commercial staff, led by senior editor for diversity and development Joseph Harker and chief communications and marketing officer Brendan O’Grady. Maya Wolfe-Robinson is editor of Cotton Capital.
Since June 2023, Ebony Riddell Bamber has been in post as programme director, building our global team, providing project management and leadership, advancing descendant community engagement, and initiating the development of a strategic plan.
About the Guardian
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