A Gun Manufacturer
Image: A Trade Card of John Sharpe (date unknown).
In the eighteenth and nineteenth century, many Birmingham gun manufacturers relied upon foreign export markets. Often, this could mean the sale of ...
A Petition to Continue the Slave Trade
Did Birmingham Profit from Slavery?
As an industrial town, Birmingham undoubtedly relied heavily on its connections to the slave trade. It was a producer of guns, chains, brassware, and a whole range ...
A Tobacco Dealer.
Image: A Tobacco, Cigar and Snuff Dealer. Trade Card (date unknown)
Illustrated industrial artifacts such as the above advert for a Birmingham tobacco dealer can often reveal underlying attitudes toward ...
Antislavery Lecture by Rev Thomas Swan (extract).
Lectures, speeches, public addresses and sermons were a vitally important way of spreading the word about slavery to the Birmingham public. The extract above shows a dramatic example of how Rev. Thomas ...
Black Abolitionists in Birmingham
The following pages give an introduction to some of the black abolitionists who came into contact with Birmingham. They not only campaigned against slavery and for the rights of their own race, but for ...
Hiatt's and Slavery (part 1)
This is a late nineteenth century interview with the Birmingham Hiatt's handcuffs firm. Read both parts of the interview to see Hiatt's connection to slavery. The company is still in operation today, ...
Hiatt's and Slavery (part 2)
(cont)This is a late nineteenth century interview with the Birmingham Hiatt's handcuffs firm. Read both parts of the interview to see Hiatt's connection to slavery. The company is still in operation today, ...
The Montserrat Company
Image: an advertisement of the Montserrat Lime Juice Company.
Joseph Sturge was a nineteenth century antislavery campaigner living in Birmingham. Near the end of his life, he created a free labour ...