Descendants

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Descendants: Malik and Mark

Malik and Mark

BBC Radio 4 - Descendants, Malik and Mark

Two men's lives connect through their links to a British slave owner and an abolitionist

Two men from the North West, Malik and Mark, whose lives connect through their ancestral links to a British slave owner and an abolitionist

One year on from the toppling of the Colston Statue in Bristol, Descendants asks... how close is each of us to the legacy of Britain's role in slavery? And who does that mean our lives are connected to?

Yrsa Daley-Ward narrates seven episodes telling the stories of people whose lives today are all connected through this history.

Malik was a lost teenager in Liverpool when a chance encounter with Gil Scott-Heron set him on a path to find out more about his history. His journey to uncover his ancestry would take him to Guyana where he would discover the way Britain's role in slavery shaped the lives of his family today. But it also led him to discover his connection right back to the place where he began, and to the heart of power in Britain. In Liverpool, 200 years ago, Malik's ancestors would clash with Mark's ancestor, a prominent abolitionist called James Cropper. To this day Mark runs the family paper mill, James Cropper PLC, and the legend of James Cropper has travelled right down through the generations... yet Mark makes a shocking discovery when he learns that there's another side to his ancestry after all.

Producers: Polly Weston, Candace Wilson, Rema Mukena
Editor: Kirsten Lass
Academic consultants: Matthew Smith and Rachel Lang of the Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery at UCL
Additional genealogical research by Laura Berry

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

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Descendants looks into our lives and our pasts and asks how we are connected to slavery.

Descendants looks into our lives and our pasts and asks how we are connected to slavery. And, in turn, who does that mean our lives are connected to?

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Descendants

Malik and Mark

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