Reclaim The Enlightenment: Slavery and Racism
Schedule
Sat Mar 28 2026 at 01:30 pm to 05:00 pm
UTC+00:00Location
First Presbyterian Church | Belfast, NI
About this Event
Reclaim The Enlightenment invites you to an afternoon of four insightful talks at Rosemary Street Presbyterian Church, exploring the complex intersections of local and global history.
13:30 - The Atlantic Slave Trade: Historian Cecelia Hartsell will provide an overview of the economic and legal frameworks that underpinned slavery in the United States, from the colonial era through westward expansion.
14:40 - Belfast and Slavery: Historian John Gray will challenge Belfast’s "immaculate" record by examining how the city’s early industrial success relied on slave-grown cotton and the plantation interests of local figures.
15:05 - Reporting the Infernal (1792–97): Writer Alan Millar will explore how the radical Northern Star newspaper used news of Caribbean revolts and abolitionist poetry to oppose the "trade in human flesh."
16:00 - Healing Beyond The Experience: Tura Arutura will conclude by discussing creative pathways toward reconciliation, using culture and tradition as "medicine" to address the shared traumas of colonial imperialism.
You may also be interested in another event by Reclaim the Enlightenment on Saturday evening 19:00 - .
Bios:
Cecelia Hartsell is a U.S. historian, specialising in African American history and American social history. Since moving to Ireland in 2015, she has been a contributor to the RTE History Show on topics in U.S. history and frequently gives U.S. history talks for the Dublin Festival of History and in the Dublin public libraries. Her work includes: ‘The Great American Protest: African Americans and the Great Migration’ in ‘1916 in Global Context: An Anti-Imperial Moment’.
John Gray is Chair of Reclaim the Enlightenment. Born in Belfast he is the former Librarian of the Linen Hall Library. He is a widely published historian of our radical and cultural past, and an inveterate advocate of reform.
Alan Millar is an acclaimed journalist and poet writing in Ulster-Scots and English. His literary achievements include winning the Hugh MacDiarmid Tassie for Scots poetry and securing multiple titles from the Linen Hall Library for both short stories and poetry. Following his 2023 collection, Echas frae tha Big Swilly Swally, he was nominated for Scots Writer of the Year. Currently, Alan is developing his second ACNI-supported collection, Frae Erris tae Wrath, and serves as joint editor for the Abhainn Burn River collection. His academic work further explores radical literary history through a Doctorate on the Northern Star.
Tura Arutura is a cultural innovator, educator, and technologist working at the intersection of arts, heritage, social justice, and emerging technology. As a Gaelic scholar, Sean-Nós dance teacher, and founder of iStéip—an AI and mixed reality platform for Irish dance learning—he bridges ancestral knowledge with cutting-edge innovation, creating pathways for cultural preservation and sovereignty.
Through his work in arts and heritage, he explores interconnected colonial histories across African and Irish experiences, using culture as "medicine" to help communities reclaim their narratives and heal from historical trauma.
Where is it happening?
First Presbyterian Church, 41 Rosemary Street, Belfast, United KingdomEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
GBP 0.00
