The following has sections which have been adapted from an article by Mark Rowe, which was found in the Independent On Sunday 26th April 1998:

TV slave drama makes port face its brutal past

   A MAJOR BBC drama series about slavery has revived unease within Bristol about its role in a trade which saw England transport at least 3.5 million Africans to the West indies.
  Starring Warren Clarke and Emma Fielding, A Respectable Trade is based upon Philippa Gregory's novel of the same name about a handful of slaves brought direct from Africa to be trained as house servants in Bristol.
The dramatisation of the book was adapted for television by Philippa Gregory herself. For anyone who doesn't know the story, Bristol in 1787 is booming, from its stinking docks to its elegant new houses, where Josiah Cole, a small dockside trader is prepared to gamble everything to join the big players of the city. But he needs ready cash and a well-connected wife and marriage to Frances Scott proves to be a mutually convenient solution. Trading her social contacts for Josiah's protection, Frances finds her life and fortune dependent upon the respectable trade of sugar, rum and slaves. But then, into her new world comes Mehuru and, from opposite ends of the earth and despite the enmity of slavery, Mehuru and Frances confront each other and their need for liberty.
   In reality the only slaves to come to Bristol were family servants brought home from the plantations as symbols of wealth. But between 1698 and 1807, when the trade was abolished, 2,114 slave ships were handled in Bristol. The pre-eminent slave port in Europe during the 1730s, Bristol accounted in all for 18 percent of the slave trade, compared with Liverpool [48 per cent] and London [21 per cent].
   The effect on the port, then a small market town, was enormous, with related industries such as boat building and sail manufacturing moving in. "There was a surge in house building and brick making, schools and banking. Bristol just rocketed," said local historian Annia Summers.
   "To invest in the trade would have been sorely tempting. It was a way to better yourself and your community."
   The 7,000-strong black community in Bristol, almost exclusively from Jamaica, has welcomed the series. "This country is ill-informed about slavery," said Ms Summers. "Slavery has been a symbol of degradation and humiliation when it's about victims who survived. This series is an affirmation for black people that they're not making it up: that they haven't got a chip on their shoulder."
   Local councillor Ray Sefia said slavery was always raised in conversations with his community constituents, of whom a high percentage are of ethnic origin. "Until recently the issue was brushed under the carpet. No one is saying there needs to be atonement or blame attributed. If it were discussed, the matter could be laid to rest."
   This is endorsed by Peter Courtier, director of British Racial Equality Council. "Young black people in Bristol have strong feelings of anger and bitterness. Elderly people in the community remember their grandparents who worked on the plantations. It's very difficult for a black person in Bristol to be unaware of where the wealth originated."
   The key to the city's slave heritage is sugar and slave trader William Colston. Hugely generous benefactor, he founded three schools and several almshouses. His statue in Colston Road was recently daubed with the words "slave trader".
   Judith Franklin, head teacher of Colston's Girls school, where Philippa Gregory studied, said Colston aroused strong feelings. "Many people benefited from him but some say he was a wicked old man. It's more complex than that. You have to accept what he did in the context of his time. Maybe all schools should look at bringing the issue into the curriculum."
   Mr Sefia, who feels A Respectable Trade does not go far enough in depicting the slaves' ordeal, said: "He was a great benefactor but we should remember how he made that money. Perhaps he gave so much to make his peace with God."
   Legacies of the slave trade abound in Bristol. In a Respectable Trade, Josiah Coles is desperate to move in to Queen Square's Georgian sandstone grandeur, built in 1727 near the height of the slave trade. The grave of servant slave Scipio Africanus lies in the northern suburb of Henbury. In central Corn Street, out side the old commercial rooms, Britannia is pictured counting her money due from the world: Park Street contains the site of a school run by anti-slavery campaigner Hannah More.
   The city's Slave Trade Action Group, made up of councillors and race community groups, launches a slave trade trail next month. "We're not trying to make people feel guilty. It's history we can learn from," said councillor Pat McLaren.
   The trail will be launched at the Georgian House where scenes of A Respectable Trade were filmed. It was home to John Pinney , owner of sugar plantations on the Caribbean island of Nevis. In the visitor's book a schoolgirl, Rachel Williams, aged 10, has written: "Why are we so ashamed of our past? We should recognise we did it and learn from our mistakes."