The truth in chains

Two centuries after Britain began to dismantle the slave trade, the whole issue is still beset by myths, half-truths and ignorance, says Lola Young

An African-Caribbean family walks into an English country house that is open to the public. As they pass the ticket desk, a member of staff calls after them, "There is an entry fee, you know." Without breaking stride, one of the adults says, "We've already paid." And they carry on with their tour. This story may be apocryphal, but the point is clear: the great house was built with the profits made from the blood, sweat and tears of that family's African forebears, and it is time for some reckoning.

It is a busy year for anniversaries connected to national identity and liberation. Three hundred years ago, the Act of Union that brought together the kingdoms of Scotland and England was passed; 50 years ago, Ghana won independence from British colonial rule; and, of course, 2007 is the 200th anniversary of . . . well, something to do with slavery, judging by all the activity. The Royal Mail is issuing a set of postage stamps featuring abolitionists such as Olaudah Equiano, Hannah Moore and William Wilberforce. There will be a commemorative £2 coin, exhibitions in the National Portrait Gallery, the Victoria and Albert Museum and the National Gallery, and a number of memorial services. The Mayor of London is proposing an Africa Day in Trafalgar Square in May. Along with Dr Nima Poovaya Smith (director of the Leeds-based arts organisation Alchemy), I have developed a project to commemorate the bicentenary, Freedom and Culture. This is a year-long programme of performing, literary and visual arts commissions and related educational materials, with national reach.

But what, precisely, is it that we are all marking? Ministers and other public figures, along with newspapers (including the Guardian, sadly), have referred to 2007 as the bicentenary of the abolition of slavery. That is not so. Even to say that the slave trade (that is the trafficking in human beings as distinct from "slavery", which is the condition of being enslaved) was ended in 1807 is not strictly true: the act did not come into effect until 1808 and "the abominable traffick" was continued by Europeans and North Americans for decades afterwards. So, to be precise: 200 years ago the British parliament passed a bill to end trading in enslaved Africans using British ships. Before slavery was finally stamped out, somewhere between 10 million and 30 million Africans had been traded, transported or killed by Europeans in the Caribbean and the Americas.

Racist theories that "explained" Africans' supposed inferiority were used as a justification for enslavement. The chilling logic of this attitude is demonstrated by what happened on the slave ship Zong in 1781. Many of the malnourished occupants were thrown overboard by order of the captain; the ship's owners subsequently claimed compensation for the loss of "their" slaves. Sending kidnapped African people to certain death was not considered a crime because they were "goods", to do with as the owner saw fit. The most direct comparison with the systematic dehumanisation of Africans is that of the murder of millions of Jewish people under the rule of Nazi Germany.

What is the point of this year's commemorations? "I hope it will help British people of all kinds to be able to look each other in the eye and talk without hostility or embarrassment about the events of the past," says the writer, curator and academic Mike Phillips, who is involved in several of this year's events. But that is a lot to ask of a series of uncoordinated events and activities - and the signs are that there is entrenched hostility, as well as significant pockets of guilt. It is hardly surprising that such sentiments exist, given the way in which debate about the subject has been stifled over the years: the story of Britain's role in transatlantic slavery is, to use Professor Stuart Hall's term, a case of "historical amnesia".

Some white people are hooked on guilt, and others are seeking to appropriate the bicentenary to promote the image of a benevolent Britain ridding the world of slavery. Some black people, meanwhile, are locked into seeing themselves in a state of victimhood. I am sure few people really enjoy these feelings, although they can masquerade as a source of comfort. For me, as a black Briton of Nigerian descent, it is essential to recognise that millions of our predecessors were victimised. However, we can achieve this recognition without seeing ourselves as wholly determined by a history of enslavement. As the author Andrea Levy put it, "I'm not a victim of the slave trade - I just live with its legacy."

And although our ancestors can be correctly identified as victims of the slave trade, we should not infer meekness on their part. A damaging side effect of the focus on white people's role in abolition is that Africans are represented as being passive in the face of oppression. In popular public consciousness, Wilberforce ended slavery. This perception makes projects such as Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery's exhibition about Equiano so important: how many Britons, black or white, have even heard of this prominent African abolitionist? The British Museum's Day of Resistance and Remembrance will also help to set the record straight: trustee Bonnie Greer describes it as a time to honour the forms of resistance deployed by Africans - through armed struggle, culture and spirituality - under enslavement. So while it is right that Wilberforce is recognised for taking up the abolitionist cause as an MP, 2007 gives us the opportunity to highlight other personalities and factors that led eventually to the end of the slave trade.

One downside of the commemorations is that the emphasis on enslavement reinforces the belief that there was no African history before European domination. In many ways Africa is still a "blank space" in most European peoples' consciousness. The media carry images of conflict and famine, but there is very little coverage of the continent's history. Before slavery devastated vast areas of the continent, however, several European travellers recognised that, in terms of architecture, trading and systems of government, African societies were as advanced as their own. The west African empire of Mali, for example, was reputed to be one of the largest, richest and most powerful states in the world during the 14th century.

A consequence of the ignorance about pre-slavery Africa is that it is hard for Africans and African-Caribbeans to have an open, honest debate about the role of African traders in enslavement. Some questions are rarely discussed publicly, partly for fear of the use to which such debates may be put by those anxious to direct attention away from the brutality of Britain's slave-trading history.

That last point is not unconnected with the complex issue of reparations. Governments exhibit squeamishness whenever the linked questions of apologies and compensation are raised, but as Arthur Torrington, the secretary of the Equiano Society, points out: "The British government apologised to the slave owners in the 1830s, giving them £20m in reparations." Paid after slavery in the British Empire was finally outlawed in 1833, this amount is equivalent to around £1.5bn today.

Of course, no one alive today is personally responsible for Africa's loss, but those in positions of power do have a responsibility to deal properly with the legacy of that history. Expressions of sorrow or regret should only be viewed as a precursor to concerted action that will address the problems that are preventing us from achieving equality of opportunity. None the less, for some even an expression of regret represents progress.

I have heard several people argue that this year's commemorations should focus exclusively on transatlantic enslavement, but others see the need to link past histories of brutal exploitation to those that surround us today. Lord Herman Ouseley, former head of the Commission for Racial Equality, sees a link to the "modern slave trade in the form of human cargo trading, domestic servants from abroad enslaved by the rich in their affluent homes, and the victims of economic migration".

Making such connections may well allow those in denial of the realities of the slave trade to switch their attention to deeds in which they do not feel implicated. This effect is regrettable, but I don't see it as a reason not to make the links to modern forms of slavery and trafficking. It is important for us all to recognise how easy it is to come to the view that some lives are more important than others and for us to be complicit in perpetuating new varieties of discrimination.

Making connections across time and place also enables us to understand better how people from a wide range of backgrounds can come together to articulate opposition to the status quo. This year presents an opportunity to, as Phillips puts it, "reanimate the historical context". Giving more prominence to the history of slavery and the slave trade is a case of locating transatlantic slavery, Phillips argues, in the context of the French revolution, the American War of Independence, the Haitian revolution, Tom Paine's Rights of Man, Mary Wollstonecraft's Vindication of the Rights of Woman and so on. Questions regarding the nature of humanity, who was really entitled to liberty, fraternity and equality - the political, legal and constitutional issues raised by slavery and abolition were a formative part of these debates.

What might white people gain from a more open and honest dialogue about these events? As a white child brought up in a predominantly white area not far from Liverpool, the writer and musician Ian Brownbill found that racist comments were both rife and routine. He has since developed an interest in black history, and says this learning process has been "liberating". He is now working with the television dramatist Jimmy McGovern and the black historian and activist Lawrence Westgaph to bring his research to life for a wider public.

If new aspects of our intertwined histories are revealed as a result of the commemorations, then the year may yet make a useful contribution to the development of shared understanding of overlapping histories. There are great tears in the fabric of history caused by the failure to treat all humans with respect and dignity. These can be repaired - but only through carefully negotiated, collective effort.

· The International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition is on August 23. The exhibition The British Slave Trade: Abolition, Parliament and People is at Westminster Hall, London SW1, from May 23 to September 23. Details: www.parliament.uk/slavetrade/. Breaking the Chains is at the British Empire & Commonwealth Museum, Bristol, from April 23 until 2009 (www.empiremuseum.co.uk) Freedom and Culture, a nationwide programme of events, starts on April 25 and culminates in a weekend event at the Southbank Centre, London SE1, November 9-11

· Lola Young is a cross-bench peer

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