A Manchester-based composer has created a requiem to honour enslaved Africans, a significant cultural event addressing historical injustices through art. The work draws inspiration from centuries-old insurance documents that detailed the trafficking of enslaved Africans, often beginning with the phrase “In the name of God, Amen.”
Dr. Errol Francis, artistic director of the arts and heritage charity Culture&, highlighted the striking contradiction of invoking God in documents that treated human beings as cargo. This artistic creation serves as a powerful recognition of this painful history.