The Guardian reports today that nearly 4 million records of enslaved people across 20 former British colonies are now searchable online. This connects directly with our work at Depths of Paradise in Grenada. We are linking the surviving registers so that individuals and families can be followed through time tracing relationships, births and deaths, movement between estates, manumissions and the transition from slavery to emancipation and apprenticeship.
The World is one of the United States' leading public radio programmes, broadcast across hundreds of public radio stations. In this interview I talk about: • how a bundle of family papers dating back to 1838 changed the course of my life; • the remarkable discoveries that followed; • why Grenada's history deserves to be better known; and • why I believe these stories should be told through the lens of courage, resilience and determination of our ancestors.
Klarke Strickland's interview with Steve Lewis introduces Depths of Paradise as a powerful historical and genealogical project that uncovers Grenada’s slavery and emancipation records by directly linking compensation claimants to the people they enslaved. It explains how the project brings these intertwined stories to life moving beyond statistics to reveal human experiences, family histories, and lasting legacies while also positioning the work as part of a broader effort toward education, public awareness, and reparative justice.
A powerful account of how two heirs of slavery’s legacy, Clive Lewis, a descendant of the enslaved, and Laura Trevelyan, from a family of enslavers come together to confront the injustices of the past.In this compelling six-part podcast series by Persephonica, they travel to the Caribbean to examine the enduring impact of slavery and the growing call for reparations. Blending personal reflection, interviews, and original music, the series explores where the reparatory justice movement is heading, whose voices are being heard, and how a shared path forward might be found.
Former BBC World News anchor Laura Trevelyan discovered her family’s links to slavery in Grenada through University College London’s 2013 slave ownership database. Her ancestors owned five sugar plantations and hundreds of enslaved Africans. Accompanied by producer Koralie Barrau, herself descended from enslaved Haitians, Laura travels to Grenada to confront this history, explore its lasting legacy and meet descendants of those her family enslaved. Along the way, they visit former plantations, meet local historians and speak with Grenada’s Reparations Commission chair, Arley Gill, about the island’s pursuit of reparatory justice.
