Kmflett's Blog

Socialist History Seminar Mon 23^rd Jan 5.30pm. The Drax Family Dynasty & the Business of Slavery

Monday January 23rd 5.30pm Steve Cushion. The Drax Family Dynasty and the Business of Slavery: Reparations for Enslavement as a Trade Union Issue.

Free on Zoom

Book https://www.history.ac.uk/events/drax-family-dynasty-business-slavery-reparations-enslavement-a-trade-union-issue

Steve Cushion is a Senior Research Fellow at University College London – Institute of the Americas.

The Drax family pioneered the plantation system in the 17th century and played a major role in the development of sugar and slavery across the Caribbean and the US. They were able to generate extraordinary wealth through the cultivation of sugar by enslaved Africans.

Richard Drax, Member of Parliament for South Dorset, has recently been in the news as the Government of the Republic of Barbados is considering legal action against him to recover the Drax Hall Plantation and seek further reparations for enslavement.

David Comissiong, Barbados’s ambassador to CARICOM, said of the Drax family:

“You can’t simply walk away from the scene of the crime. They have a responsibility now to make some effort to help repair the damage”.