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On both sides of the Atlantic, states have tended to react nervously to reparative claims for slavery, just as they have tended to be wary of making apologies of any kind. In the absence of more radical gestures, public history has taken on an added significance, not least as a way of providing some kind of recompense for past suffering. But to what extent can public history be used to repair historical wrongs? This essay sets out to explore this question, taking as its point of departure the bicentenary of the abolition of the British slave trade (2007). In particular, it focuses on three inter-related areas of activity: heritage funding, museums and, finally, monuments and memorials. The 2007 commemorations generated a wide range of public history initiatives, from small-scale exhibitions, plays, workshops and installations to larger capital projects that in different ways, and with different degrees of success, reshaped representations of British transatlantic slavery and, in doing so, invited Britons to look again at the paradoxes embedded in national histories that first enslaved and then liberated persons of African descent.

This article offers new perspectives on the commemorative events organized around the UK in 2007 to mark the bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act (1807). Drawing from the resources contained in Remembering 1807, a digital archive of information about nearly 350 events and exhibitions held in 2007, it offers a closer look at the variety, diversity and creativity of projects organized by heritage organizations and community groups from all parts of the UK. While agreeing that much of the national narrative focused on the celebratory aspects of Britain's role in abolition, we argue that many other projects gave voice to a wide range of concerns relating to transatlantic slavery, challenging participants to rethink the boundaries of slavery and abolition in Britain's public history. This included highlighting the role of transatlantic slavery in hitherto unexplored areas of British history, in local stories and in broader narratives of Britain's commercial, military, and imperial expansion. Other projects drew attention to the lasting legacies of slavery, emphasized stories of resistance or celebrated the Black presence in Britain. Recognizing these other perspectives within the commemorative impulse in 2007 can help us to (re)orientate future memory work around Britain's role in transatlantic slavery.

This article offers new perspectives on the commemorative events organized around the UK in 2007 to mark the bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act (1807). Drawing from the resources contained in Remembering 1807, a digital archive of information about nearly 350 events and exhibitions held in 2007, it offers a closer look at the variety, diversity and creativity of projects organized by heritage organizations and community groups from all parts of the UK. While agreeing that much of the national narrative focused on the celebratory aspects of Britain's role in abolition, we argue that many other projects gave voice to a wide range of concerns relating to transatlantic slavery, challenging participants to rethink the boundaries of slavery and abolition in Britain's public history. This included highlighting the role of transatlantic slavery in hitherto unexplored areas of British history, in local stories and in broader narratives of Britain's commercial, military, and imperial expansion. Other projects drew attention to the lasting legacies of slavery, emphasized stories of resistance or celebrated the Black presence in Britain. Recognizing these other perspectives within the commemorative impulse in 2007 can help us to (re)orientate future memory work around Britain's role in transatlantic slavery.

"This exciting interdisciplinary volume, featuring contributions from a group of leading international scholars, reflects on the long history of representations of transatlantic slaves and slavery, encompassing a broad chronological range, from the eighteenth century to the present day"--Provided by publisher

Europe and its entangled colonial pasts : Europeanizing the 'imperial turn' / by Elizabeth Buttner -- Brexit and imperial nostalgia : a longing for the future / by Christoffer Kølvraa -- Spectres of Cecil Rhodes at the University of Cape Town / by Nick Shepherd -- Decolonizing the narrative of Portuguese empire : life stories of African presence, heritage and memory / by Crisano Gianolla, Giuseppina Raggi and Lorena Sancho Querol -- Decolonizing Warsaw : the multiple afterlives of 'Ali' / by Lukasz Bukowiecki -- Curating colonial heritage in Amsterdam, Warsaw and Shanghai's museums : no single road to decolonization / by Csilla E. Ariese, Laura Pozzi and Joanna Wawrzyniak -- The influence of Western colonial culture on Shanghai : a case study of the 'Modern Shanghai' exhibition at the Shanghai History Museum / by Lu Jiansong -- Decolonizing contemporary art exhibitions : Okwui Enwezor (1963-2019), the turning point of curatorship / by Elvan Zabunyan -- Sensitive memories at a world heritage site : silencing and resistance at the Valongo Wharf / by Márcia Chuva, Laila Bianchi Aguiar and Brenda Coelho Fonseca -- Traces of contempt and traces of self-esteem : deconstructing our toxic colonial legacy / by Dalila Mahdjoub -- Reframing the colonial in postcolonial Lisbon : placemaking and the aesthecization of interculturality / by Paulo Peixoto and Claudino Ferreira -- Aesthetics and colonial heritage : an interview with artists based in Marseille / by Badr El Hammami, Mohammed Laouli and Marine Schütz -- Enslaved bodies, entangled sites and the memory of slavery in Cape Town : the meeting of the dead and the living / by Meghna Singh -- Decolonial countervisuality / by Britta Timm Knudsen with Sorana Munsya, Benjamine Laini Lusalusa and Stephanie Collingwoode Williams -- New diplomacy and decolonial heritage practices / by Crisna E. Clopot, Casper Andersen and John Oldfield -- Decolonial voices, colonialism and the limits of European liberalism : the European question revisited / by Jan Ifversen.

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- A Reader's Guide -- Introduction -- Part I. Empire in the Americas: Historical Reflections -- 1. U.S. Imperialism/Hegemony and Latin American Resistance -- 2. "We Are Heirs-apparent to the Romans": Imperial Myths and Indigenous Status -- 3. Slavery, Abolition, and Empire -- 4. The Finances of Hegemony in Latin America: Debt Negotiations and the Role of the U.S. Government, 1945-2005 -- Part II. Empire and Resistance in the Twenty-first Century -- 5. Beyond Hegemony: Zapatismo, Empire, and Dissent -- 6. Colonialism and Ethnic Resistance in Bolivia: A View from the Coca Markets -- 7. High Stakes in Brazil: Can Democracy Take on Empire? -- 8. From Menem to Kirchner: National Autonomy and Social Movements in Argentina -- 9. The Hugo Chávez Phenomenon: Anti-imperialism from Above or Radical Democracy from Below? -- Bibliography -- Contributors -- Index