The transatlantic slave trade—a horror that took 12 million enslaved Africans across the Atlantic—began in the 15th century, when Portuguese and Spanish merchants transported Africans to the Caribbean. In the 17th century, overseas demand grew exponentially; hundreds of thousands of workers were wanted for cotton and sugarcane plantations. The atrocities are well documented. It is less known that in Britain, from 1750 to 1850, heroic battles took place to abolish slavery. Black Georgians and Victorians rose up—as did the intrepid Jamaican freedom fighter, Nanny of the Maroons. In 1789, the Nigerian-born writer Olaudah Equiano published an autobiography, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, telling of his kidnapping, enslavement in the West Indies, Virginia, and then Britain. The book galvanized countless other freedom fighters. This exhibition tells these important stories through archival materials, paintings, and photography. —Elena Clavarino