Black History Month film screening: The Empire Pays Back

Dr Robert Beckford

The University of Salford is showing a free public screening of The Empire Pays Back - a film about providing compensation for the slave trade – on the evening of Wednesday, 26 October.

The 2005 film by Dr Robert Beckford explores the profits made by the UK’s slave trade which was around the size of today’s IT industry – about five per cent of the economy.

He estimates that Britain would have to pay £7.5 trillion if it was to compensate the descendants of slaves, and that reparations should be made by funding community and education projects that benefit black people.

The screening is part of the University’s support for Black History Month - the annual remembrance of important events and people in the history of the African diaspora.

Vice-Chancellor Professor Martin Hall said: “Supporting Black History Month is an important part of our commitment to diversity and equality. The film showing will provide an important insight into the atrocities of the slave trade and its repercussions.”

Tickets for the free event can be booked by emailing blackhistorymonth@salford.ac.uk

More information about Salford’s Black History Month activities can be viewed at www.salford.ac.uk/blackhistorymonth

The Empire Pays Back, 26 October, 7pm. Lady Hale Building, Salford campus, M5 4WT.