Captured Africans-Transatlantic Slave Trade Monument (Lancaster, England)

Captured Africans-Transatlantic Slave Trade Monument in Lancaster, England. Six rectangular Perspex blocks (acrylic), suspended between a rectangular, stainless-steel column and an oblong, stone column, rests on a circular base embellished with a mosaic and small metal sculptures. The work is meant to recall the decks of the transatlantic slave ships that carried enslaved Africans to the Americas.
Detail of the Captured Africans-Transatlantic Slave Trade Monument in Lancaster, England. The Perspex blocks are inscribed with the names of the different commodity objects these ships transported to and from the Americas: wealth, cotton, rum, mahogany, sugar, and slaves.
Detail of the Perspex blocks inscribed with the names of the different commodity objects these ships transported to and from the Americas: wealth, cotton, rum, mahogany, sugar, and slaves. Captured Africans-Transatlantic Slave Trade Monument in Lancaster, England
Detail of the Perspex blocks with coins. inscribed with the names of the different commodity objects these ships transported to and from the Americas: wealth, cotton, rum, mahogany, sugar, and slaves. Captured Africans-Transatlantic Slave Trade Monument in Lancaster, England
The stainless-steel column lists many of the slave ships that departed from Lancaster and the number of enslaved Africans these vessels forcibly seized in Africa. Captured Africans-Transatlantic Slave Trade Monument in Lancaster, England
The mosaic of the Captured Africans-Transatlantic Slave Trade Monument in Lancaster, England depicts a map detailing the routes of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, while the iron figures personify the trauma and violence of the Middle Passage.
Stainless steel plaque identifying the Captured Africans-Transatlantic Slave Trade Monument in Lancaster, England.

Dublin Core

Title

Captured Africans-Transatlantic Slave Trade Monument (Lancaster, England)

Subject

Subject (Topic)
England--Lancaster
Enslaved persons
Public art
Public sculpture
Slavery--England
Transatlantic slave trade

Subject (Object Type)
Commemorative sculpture

Description

Six rectangular Perspex blocks (acrylic), suspended between a rectangular, stainless-steel column and an oblong, stone column, rests on a circular base embellished with a mosaic and small metal sculptures. The work is meant to recall the decks of the transatlantic slave ships that carried enslaved Africans to the Americas. The Perspex blocks are inscribed with the names of the different commodity objects these ships transported to and from the Americas: wealth, cotton, rum, mahogany, sugar, and slaves. The stainless-steel column lists many of the slave ships that departed from Lancaster and the number of enslaved Africans these vessels forcibly seized in Africa. Underscoring the history of these horrific nautical journeys, the mosaic depicts a map detailing the routes of the Transatlantic Slave Trade, while the iron figures personify the trauma and violence of the Middle Passage.

Creator

Dalton-Johnson, Kevin, 1965-

Source

Photographs: Waymarking.com

Date

October 10, 2005

Contributor

Slave Trade Art Memorial Project (STAMP); Ann McArdle, (mosaics); High school students from Lancaster and Richmond (iron figures); Millennium Fund ; Arts Council England; Lancaster City Council; Lancashire County Council; Cumbrian Industrials Ltd.

Rights

Lancaster City Council, Town Hall, Dalton Square, Lancaster, Lancashire, LA1 1PJ United Kingdom

Format

JPEG

Language

English

Type

Visual Arts-Sculpture

Coverage

19 Waterside, Lancaster, LA1 1AY, England

Has Part

Stainless-steel information plaque:
Captured Africans
Created by Kevin R. I. Dalton-Johnson

"Captured Africans" was developed as part of the Slave Trade Arts Memorial Project (STAMP), an extensive arts education outreach programme led by SuAndi O.B.E. and delivered by artists Sue Flowers, Max Alder, Anthony Watt, Evadney Clarke, Anita Franklin, Faith Bebbington, Steve Papaye Richards and Janet Griffiths.

Creative support from Ann McArdle, Alan Ward, Boydell Pipework and Fabrications Ltd., Northern Cast Acrylics, Merseyside Castings & Engineering Co., Thermoplastics Ltd., Trade Engravers Ltd.

Funded by
The Millillenium Fund, Arts Council England, Lancaster City Council, Lancanshire County Council, Cumbrian Industrial Ltd.

Medium

Perspex; Stainless steel; Iron; Ceramic tile

Bibliographic Citation

Collins, Paul. "Slave Memorial is Labour of Love." Lancaster Guardian. Accessed April 29, 2019. https://www.lancasterguardian.co.uk/news/slave-memorial-is-labour-of-love-1-1165642.

Rice, Alan. "Discovering Traces of Slavery in a City Fraught with Amnesia: Creating Memorials and Building New Identities in Lancaster." In Creating Memorials, Building Identities: The Politics of Memory in the Black Atlantic, 32-54. Liverpool University Press, 2010.

Facing the Past. "Enslaved Africans Memorial." Map, Facing the Past. Accessed February 8, 2026. https://www.facingthepast.org/map/records/slavery-memorial.

Rights Holder

Renée Ater

Still Image Item Type Metadata

Original Format

Sculpture

Citation

Dalton-Johnson, Kevin, 1965-, “Captured Africans-Transatlantic Slave Trade Monument (Lancaster, England),” Contemporary Monuments to the Slave Past, accessed October 1, 2026, https://mail.slaverymonuments.org/items/show/1154.

Geolocation