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Book launch: Telling the Mayflower Story. Thanksgiving or Genocide and Slavery?
30 November 2018, 5:30 pm–7:30 pm
The launch of the Socialist History Society publication: "Telling the Mayflower Story, Thanksgiving or Land Grabbing, Massacres & Slavery?" by Danny Reilly and Steve Cushion.
This event is free.
Event Information
Open to
- All
Availability
- Yes
Cost
- Free
Organiser
-
Dr Kate Quinn – UCL Institute of the Americas020 7679 2000
Location
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Lecture room 103UCL Institute of the Americas51 Gordon SquareLondonWC1H 0PNUnited Kingdom
The launch of the Socialist History Society publication: "Telling the Mayflower Story, Thanksgiving or Land Grabbing, Massacres & Slavery?" by Danny Reilly and Steve Cushion.
In the autumn of 1620 the ship Mayflower, with 102 passengers, landed in North America and started the colonisation of the area that became known as New England. The Mayflower had landed in a region where the Sachem of the local Wampanoag Nation was Massasoit, who subsequently helped them survive. In the autumn of 1676, following the defeat of a war of rebellion led by Massasoit’s son Metacomet (King Philip), the ship Seaflower set sail from New England with a ‘cargo’ of Indigenous American slaves bound for the English Caribbean colonies.
The creation of the New England colonies by thousands of English colonists in the seventeenth century involved the rapid decline in the indigenous population, the violent seizure of territory and slavery. However, the 400-year anniversary commemorations in the UK seem to be overlooking this.
While attendance at this event is free, places are limited and so booking is required to avoid disappointment.
About the Speakers
Danny Reilly
Danny Reilly is a support tutor working in higher education and a volunteer ESOL teacher who has worked in a voluntary capacity for several refugee support groups. He has been an anti-racist activist for many years, a founder of the Campaign Against Racism and Fascism and worked at the Institute of Race Relations from 1977 to 1993 as information officer.
Steve Cushion
Steve Cushion is author of "The Hidden History of the Cuban Revolution: How the Working Class Shaped the Guerrillas’ Victory", "Killing Communists in Havana: The Start of the Cold War in Latin America" and "Up Down Turn Around: The Political Economy of Slavery and the Socialist case for Reparations". He is joint author, with Dennis Bartholomew, of "By Our Own Hands: A People’s History of the Grenadian Revolution". His current research is on German and Italian volunteers who fought in the French Resistance.