Thousands of people have taken part in the University of Bristol’s ‘listening exercise’ as Uni chiefs decide whether or not to rename seven of its buildings that are linked with the transatlantic slave trade.
The consultation was announced last November, and should have finished by now, but Bristol University has decided to extend its consultation until the end of January, and even hold a couple of physical events to give more people the chance to have their say on the controversial issue.
The events are being arranged next week and are open to any local residents, staff or students to learn more about what the university is considering, ask questions and give their opinions.
Read next: Bristol University could rename buildings like Wills, Fry and Goldney due to links with slave trade
The seven buildings or facilities currently run by the University of Bristol whose names have links with the slave trade or slavery involve people or organisations from the city’s history that made their money either from the slave trade, or from the businesses using products harvested by enslaved people.
They are forming the basis of the consultation, while the university is also reviewing its own logo and crest, which feature symbols from the historic Bristol families and names that are connected with the university’s foundations.
The seven buildings are the Wills Memorial Building, the Fry Building, the Merchant Venturers Building, HH Wills Physics Laboratories, Goldney Hall, Wills Hall and Dame Monica Wills Chapel.
Goldney Hall is named after Thomas Goldney, who invested in the slave trade voyages from Bristol and made a fortune from owning the ironworks at Coalbrookdale which made the goods manufactured in England which were then used to buy the enslaved people in West Africa before they were transported across the Atlantic.
The Fry family made their fortunes from chocolate, making the world’s first mass-produced chocolate bar in the 19th century. The family firm used cocoa beans grown on slave plantations in the US and Caribbean.
Four of the seven buildings are associated with the Wills family, who played a major part in the foundation of the University of Bristol in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Wills family made their fortunes from tobacco which, until the American Civil War in the 1860s, was largely grown on slave plantations in the Deep South of the US.
“The consultation follows feedback from some staff and students who feel that building names and the University logo should be changed to better reflect a modern-day institution in a diverse and forward-thinking city, as well as those who believe that the complexity of our past could best be recognised through greater in-depth understanding and explanations,” said a spokesperson for the University of Bristol.
“One of the key arguments put forward was that, for example, money donated by Henry Overton Wills III to help found the University in 1909 had its early origins in importing and selling tobacco produced on plantations of the US South, where enslaved labour made up the majority of the workforce until 1865.
“In their view, a building named for Wills failed to respect the lives of those harmed by slavery. As a result, the University made a commitment to fully interrogate its history to help it better understand its past and use that knowledge to shape its future.
“In January 2020, Professor Olivette Otele was appointed as the University’s first Professor of the History of Slavery, undertaking a two-year research project on the University of Bristol’s, and the wider city’s involvement, in the transatlantic slave trade,” he added. “The report, which includes detail from documents, financial papers and accounts dating back to the 1860s confirms that the University’s founding was financially supported and made possible by individuals whose families had directly or indirectly profited from the products of the slave trade,” he said.
Some 3,500 people have already taken part in the online consultation, and now physical in-person events are also forming part of the discussion.
The events will take place on Monday, January 23 from 1pm at St Pauls Learning Centre in Grosvenor Road, and on Wednesday, January 25 from 9am to 11.30am on the uni’s campus at the Beckford Bar on the ground floor of Senate House.
Then on Wednesday afternoon, there’s a panel event at the Arts Hub in Woodland Road, at which people are invited to join in-person or online, between 3pm and 4pm.
“Once the consultation has concluded, a report will summarise the findings which will be carefully considered before any recommendations are made,” the spokesperson confirmed.
Read next:
- Bristol accused of denying its history of slavery
- Forget Colston, here's five Bristol landmarks named after other slave trade businessmen
- 'Morally reprehensible' - Calls to rename two more Bristol buildings
- Colston statue ripple effect continues in Bristol as £290K slavery project announced
- Hidden Bristol garden with crystal-encrusted cave is opening to the public
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