EPIGRAM
29/10/2022 Issue no. 365 Est. 1989
Page 5
The University of Bristol's Award Winning Independent Student Newspaper
BETWEEN THE SHEETS FEATURES
Bristol nighttime safety; what's changed in a year? Page 6-7
SIGN OF THE TIMES Epigram investigates the University of Bristol's problematic crest
OPINION The 'Bristol Look': appropriation or appreciation? Page 14
FILM&TV Ev Says: Representation Matters Page 17
ART Bristol's Black History Arts Events Page 22
MUSIC Unmissable live music in Bristol this November Page 25
Freya Shaw
Creative Director
SCI-TECH Bristol scientists characterise rare new blood group Page 28
SPORT Bristol's very own 'Drive to Survive' Page 30
CONTENTS Editorial News Features Opinion Film&TV Art Music Sci-Tech Sport Creative
P2 P3 P6 P12 P16 P20 P23 P27 P29 P32
W
hen I accepted my place to study History in Bristol in the aftermath of the 2020 BLM movement, I was well aware that the city’s colonial history was resting heavily on its shoulders. Over time, I have become increasingly aware of the University’s complicity in supporting families who had active roles in the slave trade. According to the University’s estimates, 89 per cent of the wealth used to found its existence was reliant on the labour of enslaved people. This funding, seen as charitable donations, enshrined colonial families in the institution's history, with many prominent and symbolic buildings being named in their honour; notable examples include the Fry Building and Wills Memorial Building. These families were also bestowed the honour of visibility on the University Crest, which became the
University logo as late as 2003. A sun for the Wills family, a dolphin for the Colston family, and a horse for the Fry family. Each family with their own colonial legacy through their direct participation in the slave trade. The Colston family’s links to the slave trade are particularly infamous locally and internationally owing to the toppling of Edward Colston’s statue in 2020. As deputy governor of the Royal African Company, he was directly responsible for the enslavement of 84,000 people, 19,000 people of whom died in the Atlantic crossing. In August 2021, ‘Colston Street Halls’ was renamed to ‘Accommodation at Thirty-Three’, in an effort from the university to become an anti-racist organisation. The second family to feature on the logo is the Fry family, who invented the world's first chocolate bar. The Frys were responsible for 39 per cent of all cocoa imports from the Caribbean and its slave plantations.
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The family continued to exploit people even after the abolition of slavery in 1833, through enslaving people in countries where slavery was not yet illegal, like Sao Tomé. Epigram spoke to Dr. Richard Stone who, having spent 19 years at the University, is passionate about researching the economic legacies of slavery, particularly in relation to the University. He explained the hypocrisy of the charitable donations of the Fry family who, despite being responsible for forced labour, was a key figure in the Bristol abolitionist movement. ‘You can't deny that he would have known what the conditions were like because he's read Equiano’s narrative. He's an abolitionist. He would have known buying all of these ingredients is propping up slavery, and yet he's still being actively, knowingly complicit in it, which is really, really complicated.’ Finally, the Wills family were
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tobacco manufacturers who owned slave plantations in the US despite Slavery being abolished in the UK. The Wills family is perhaps the most visibly commemorated family in the structure of the University today with the iconic Wills Memorial Building named after the University’s first chancellor, Henry Overton Wills III, whose donations are claimed to have made the institution possible. This begs the question, do the actions of these families truly represent the current institution as we see it today? What role should the University play in educating its population on the dark side of its past? And more crucially, what should be done about the University logo? Demands for Bristol University to address its colonial history are not new. In 2017, ‘Past Matters’, a project lead by Dr. Stone, organised a petition to change the name of Continued on page 2
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