The Class 2 children had an eye-opening day out at Lancaster Maritime Museum and
around Lancaster’s historic sites, as they learned about the slave-trade. The experience of
visiting the 4th biggest slave-trading port in Britain helped to bring to life some of the nature of the horrific period of history that we have started studying.
The weather was torrential but the children stayed focused as they visited the home of an
escaped slave, the wharfs where ships to Africa were loaded, and memorials to the rich
merchants who profited from the sale of enslaved people, as well as a memorial to the
people who were enslaved. Pupils explored the Maritime Museum’s rich range of artefacts,
artwork and information from the transatlantic slave trade, helping to solidify learning back
in the classroom.
The work on slavery has had strong links to last year’s Geography project, Sow, Grow and Farm, as well as to recent history work in Class 2 on the Shang Dynasty, Ancient Greeks and Golden Age of Islam. We have seen that although slaves existed in these cultures, the Transatlantic Slave Trade was far more brutal and had a much more substantial impact. Year 3 children have been able to see the link back to work they did in KS1 on explorers, learning how Columbus and the Conquistadors created the conditions for slavery to thrive.
