GLOBAL THREADS

Where did the industrial revolution take place?

Whose labour, skills, and knowledge drove industrial development, innovation, and production?

The idea of the Black Industrial Revolution is a way of answering these questions by thinking about one of the most significant transformations in human history – the Industrial Revolution – in a more holistic and global perspective, one that foregrounds the skills, experiences, labour, of Africans and people of African descent in the Caribbean.

To do this we have drawn upon the work of a wide range of scholars and disciplines, stretching back almost a century whose key ideas we share in these resources.

As well as key ideas and research, we also present where we can historical images and photographs, objects and archaeology, and first hand accounts and sources to help make these subjects accessible and understandable to a wide range of audiences.

We hope this guide can be particularly useful to educators and people working in public history and heritage organisations to help guide new interpretations, storytelling, and provide the raw materials for community engagement and educational resources and programmes.

By drawing together a wide range of evidence of Black innovators and skilled, craft, and industrial workers stretching back centuries we also aim to give a clearer way for young people in the Caribbean and from the diaspora to see themselves and their heritage related in histories of science, technology, and engineering – to make careers in STEM subjects, historical research, and heritage sectors more accessible and relatable.