Research Materials & Resources

Since Colston’s Girls’ School announced its decision on 12th June 2020 to conduct a consultation about whether to keep or change its name, we have been contacted by many people who wish to share their views and we recognise that there are strong feelings on both sides of the debate.

To help present a balance of information, a working party of CGS students has developed a bank of resources to support their fellow students as they engage with this important topic over the summer break. We also invite the school’s stakeholders and members of the public to engage with this resource as background reading, especially those individuals who plan to share their views through the consultation questionnaire.

We invite you to explore the following collection of informative news articles and editorial, interviews and videos, collated by CGS students whose aim is to encourage us to absorb and consider facts and opinions from different perspectives. The working party of students will add to this collection throughout the summer and, supported by CGS teachers, are using this research material to plan and develop a series of workshops and lessons for their fellow students in September to help inform and stimulate debate and discussion in advance of the vote.

 

How CGS students designed and developed the name consultation process

CGS students Hemlata, Sophia and Heidi have arranged 12 interviews to develop the proposal:

Interviewees: Interview conducted by View Interview video clip
Ngaio Anyia (Old Girl) Heidi Click here
Bryony Williams (Old Girl) Hemlata  
Philipa Gregory (Old Girl) Heidi
Cleo Lake (Old Girl) Sophia  
Dave Watson (CEO of Venturers Trust) Sophia  
Chris Patterson (CGS Chair of Governors) Hemlata  
Gillian Camm (Member of Venturers Trust Board) Heidi  
Alex Thompson (University of Bristol) Hemlata  
Caroline Duckworth (The Society of Merchant Venturers) Sophia  
Thangam Debbonaire (MP for Bristol West) Hemlata

 

1. Interview summaries by Hemlata - CGS student in Year 10

2. Interview summaries by Sophia - CGS student in Year 10

3. Interview summaries by Heidi - CGS student in Year 10

 

Resources relating to Edward Colston and the transatlantic slave trade

  • 8 June 2020 - BBC article giving background information and context about Edward Colston asking the question: ‘Who was Edward Colston and why is Bristol divided by his legacy?' View article

 

  • 5 June 2017 - Gold, Silver & Slaves. Britain's Slave Trade documentary with a strong focus on Bristol’s role, from Timeline, a Youtube channel of one-off documentaries and series from the world's top broadcasters, including the BBC, Channel 4, Discovery and PBS. View article

 

  • 27 April 2017 - ‘Bristol: the city that lauds the slave trader’, British historian David Olusoga’s 2017 opinion piece for the Guardian newspaper. View article

 

  • 2 Dec 2006 - Guardian article by Andy Beckett from 2006 containing interviews with individuals descended from slave traders, with a Bristol focus. View article

 

  • Summer 2006 - The Bristol Art and Patronage article - pages 9 and 10 offer some interesting information about Edward Colston, his charitable work and how the city felt about him in his lifetime. View article

 

  • Autumn 2017 - ‘Contested representations: debating Britain’s Imperial Legacy’ a public history project by undergraduate students at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, California, Fall 2017. View article

 

Resources relating to the Black Lives Matter movement and the toppling of the Edward Colston statue in Bristol City centre, June 2020

  1. 8 June 2020 - Who was the slave trader Edward Colston and why was his statue pulled down? Short video summary from the Independent newspaper 2020. View article

 

  1. #BlackLivesMatter’s official website, founded in 2013 in response to the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s murderer. Black Lives Matter Foundation, Inc is a global organisation in the US, UK, and Canada, whose mission is to eradicate white supremacy and build local power to intervene in violence inflicted on Black communities by the state and vigilantes. View article

 

  1. 9 June 2020 - An article that summarises reactions to the toppling of Edward Colston’s statute: ‘Bristol statue toppling: Who was Edward Colston and why did anti-racism protesters target him?’ View article

 

  1. 19 June 2020 - Thangam Debbonaire interview, giving her thoughts about the toppling of the statute and the city’s relationship with Edward Colston and racism. View article

 

  1. 15 June 2020 - University of Bristol’s blog about the statue’s removal. View article
  1. 12 June 2020 - Society of Merchant Venturers response following the toppling of the Edward Colston Statue in June 2020. View article

 

Local and national debates about statutes and name changes

  1. 19 Dec 2017 - Dr M. Dresser from the University of Bristol TED talk, debating whether statues should be removed and context around this. View article

 

  1. 26 Sept 2018 - Guardian article considering if statues should be removed - debates both sides. View article

 

  1. 28 Jan 2016 - New York Times article considering if statues should be removed - debates both sides. View article

 

  1. 27 June 2017 - An article about the decision of Colston Primary School to change its name to Cotham Gardens Primary School. View article

 

  1. 1 August 2017 - An interview with a student from Fairfield High School entitled ‘Student explains why Edward Colston’s name should be removed from Bristol’s institutions’. View article

 

  1. Articles considering changing controversial school names in America. June 2020 Article

 April 2019 Article