It is an honor to contribute to Bim: Arts for the 21st Century, a journal deeply rooted in the Caribbean, where the legacies of enslavement continue to shape our collective consciousness. As a descendant of Barbadian ancestors, I feel privileged to share the story of the Transatlantic Trafficked Enslaved African Corrective Historical (TTEACH) Plaques Project—an initiative born out of a profound reckoning with history and a refusal to let the memories of our ancestors be erased.
Creating TTEACH plaques is an act of agency. It is a demand for justice and an assertion of truth in the face of institutions and systems that have benefited from centuries of denial. The most recent exhibition at Ashton Court Mansion in 2024, a site so indelibly linked to families enriched by the enslavement of others, was both a powerful confrontation and a deeply reflective moment.
To sit in that space, surrounded by plaques bearing the names of those who received compensation for enslaved lives, was to feel time collapse. The air itself seemed to hold the memories of the destroyed lives that had made such wealth possible. In that silence, the void of erasure began to fill. It became a sacred act to reclaim these histories, to use our names as tools of accountability, and to demand that justice be done—not just for the past, but for the present and the future.
By our names, we will know you. This has become the rallying cry of TTEACH plaques. Each plaque is both a memorial and a challenge, inscribed with the names of enslavers who profited under the grotesque terms of the 1833 Slavery Abolition Act. These names are reminders that the abolition of slavery in Britain was not a moral victory; it was a financial transaction. Compensation was paid not to the enslaved, who had endured unspeakable violence, but to the enslavers who had profited from their suffering.
The exhibition’s second installation at Goldsmiths University in March 2024 marked a significant step forward. Installed at Deptford Town Hall, this site was deeply symbolic. Owned by Goldsmiths, Deptford Town Hall has been a focal point for activism. In 2019, students held a significant sit-in demanding accountability for the building’s connections to the transatlantic trade in enslaved people and its enduring legacies. In 2024, the students held another sit-in, this time in solidarity with Gaza, demonstrating their continued commitment to challenging injustice.
The site of Goldsmiths at Deptford Town Hall was nominated by Dave Okumu, songwriter, producer, and honorary fellow of Goldsmiths, in a powerful act of support for the student body and their activism. His nomination was part of the 50 Plaques & Places project, in which artists, poets, academics, and descendants selected sites of significance and wrote powerful testimonies to support their choices.
This became the first site to permanently install a plaque from the project.
Among the contributors were Esther Phillips, poet laureate of Barbados; Alissandra Cummins, director of the Barbados Museum & Historical Society; and my cousin Katherine Kennedy, an artist and writer-practitioner in Barbados. These personal testimonies added depth to the exhibition, further amplifying the call for accountability and justice.
At Ashton Court Mansion, the third exhibition site in 12 months, we confronted Bristol with a five-metre illustrated wall listing the 96 Bristol recipients of compensation for enslaved people in 1834. This powerful display revealed the local beneficiaries of enslavement’s legacy and opened a space for necessary dialogue. Remarkably, 95 percent of visitors expressed their support for the work, welcoming the truth that has been denied to them as well.
One of the most powerful moments in this journey came with the installation of a six-foot memorial at Bristol Cathedral on October 9, 2024. After more than four years of campaigning, this memorial, dedicated to my great-great-grandfather John Isaac and 4,424 enslaved people whose lives were commodified by the Daniel family of Bristol and Britain (who imposed their name on our family—as did all the receivers of compensation and plantation owners), was finally erected.
It stands as a testament to our ancestors’ resilience. Unveiled by two of John Isaac’s great-grandsons, my father and uncle, both members of the Windrush-recruited generation, the memorial bridges the past and present, reminding us of the unbroken thread of history that ties us to our ancestors.
The successes of TTEACH stand as milestones in this ongoing struggle. From the first exhibition in London in 2023 at The Tabernacle in Notting Hill blessed with a reading by Esther Phillips of “My Ancestors Gifted Me Their Silence” to the unveiling of the plaque at Goldsmiths University, and from the transformative exhibition at Ashton Court Mansion to the accession of a TTEACH plaque at the Bank of England Museum in November 2024, the project continues to expand its impact.
These acts of remembrance are not merely symbolic. They are declarations of intent. The TTEACH project insists that the names we carry—imposed upon us by enslavers—are the key to holding the past to account. We honour the 780,993 enslaved individuals who were alive on August 1, 1834, when Britain enacted the Slavery Abolition Act. Their survival ensured our existence, and their stories demand that we continue to fight for the justice they were denied.
Yet the denial persists. While the United Nations and Caribbean Leaders emphasise the necessity of reparations, Britain’s government remains defiant. As recently as the October 25/26th Commonwealth Summit in 2024, calls were made for an official apology and reparations to be discussed. The UK’s Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, echoing his predecessors, stated he wanted to address "current future-facing challenges" rather than "spend a lot of time on the past".
This refusal is emblematic of a legacy of evasion. This hypocrisy is what TTEACH confronts, one plaque, one name, one space at a time.
By our names, we will know you. These words are not just a rallying cry; they are a call to action. The TTEACH Plaque project compels all to confront the institutions and systems that continue to benefit from the exploitation of our ancestors’ and their legacy. It demands that we use the power of our names to insist on accountability and reparative justice.
We, the descendants, will not be silenced. We are witnesses. We are storytellers. We are truth-tellers. Through TTEACH, we reclaim history and demand a future that acknowledges and rectifies the past.