Examining interwoven narratives: multidirectional memory between enslaved labourers and mill workers in Northern England heritage sites

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article examines two heritage site case studies that juxtapose historical British mill workers with enslaved labourers working on cotton plantations in the Americas, thus creating what Michael Rothberg has termed ‘multidirectional memory’. Through close analysis of the People’s History Museum in Manchester and Cromford Mills in Derbyshire, the article engages with the difficult issue of guilt, the role of community co-production and the potential power of such displays to disrupt division and promote solidarity, while acknowledging challenges involved.