麻豆社

Narrated by Yrsa Daley-Ward, the poet and writer introduces us to a network of lives, each one connected in one way or another through the legacy of Britain's role in slavery.

Chidi grew up in London, and learned at an early age that he was descended from a late 19th Century Nigerian slave trader called Nwaubani Ogogo. He describes how he came to terms with this and the impact racial stereotyping has had on his life, while his history takes us back in time to a moment in the aftermath of the abolition of slavery, when his ancestor still had a license to trade enslaved people. The rush for Africa was beginning; Britain had turned its attention from the slave trade to palm oil. Nwaubani traded both, and was licensed to a British Corporation.

British businesspeople were desperate to gain access to the palm oil which Nwaubani sold. One man in the North West of England had been trying to strike deals in Nigeria - he wanted to be able to control production and prices himself - and his company would eventually buy the corporation which was licensing Nwaubani. But in the meantime, he turned his attention to the Belgian Congo where King Leopold offered him everything he wanted. The man's name was William Lever - whose company, the Lever Brothers, would eventually become Unilever. Famous across the North of England for his philanthropic endeavours, students and alumni at the school re-founded by him - The Bolton School - are just coming to terms with his legacy. Not technically slavery, but not free labour either.

Producers: Polly Weston, Candace Wilson, Rema Mukena
Editor: Kirsten Lass
Academic consultants: Matthew Smith and Rachel Lang of the Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery at UCL
Additional genealogical research by Laura Berry