Five Years After Colston – Have we made any actual progress?

Colston’s Toppling Five Years On

Eleanor Callaghan examines how Bristol's local authorities and museum curators turned a controversial monument into an opportunity for inclusive public history.

Five Years After Colston – Have we made any actual progress?

By Rhodes Bray, First Year, EnglishIt’s been five years since the Colston statue has been ripped from its pedestal and dragged through the harbour, before he met his second demise in the river. This brutal – and perhaps overtly symbolic – dismissal of Colston and his active participation in the transatlantic slave trade rallied Bristol natives, bringing together an entire community in the violent outrage that accompanied the BLM protests.Its oft…