Exhibition shows Bristol Cathedral's links to slave trade

The cathedral hopes to inspire conversation to enable it to move forward for a better future

An exhibition is opening at Bristol Cathedral to explore the church's links to the transatlantic slave trade.

All God's Children invites us to reflect on how 200 of those commemorated in the cathedral were connected to Africans' enslavement.

Signs depicting the church's connections with slavery will be placed beside memorials and grave-markers.

Outside on College Green will be portraits of those affected by the legacy of slavery and racism.

The exhibition asks what Christianity can do to counter racism.

'Truth telling'

The Very Revd Dr Mandy Ford, Dean of Bristol said: "For too long, the church has ignored, hidden or denied the experience of God's captured, trafficked and enslaved children.

"Before we can work together for a better future, we need to tell the truth about the past, and this exhibition is the beginning of that truth telling at Bristol Cathedral."

Dr Ford expressed how painful it was for "those who suffer the intergenerational trauma of slavery and racism".

The exhibition is on display from 23 August to 21 October, and the external one on College Green runs from 24 August until 29 September.

It joins a separate tribute to the history of John Isaac Daniel - one of 4,424 people enslaved in a plantation in 1834.