Rename the Codrington Library at All Souls College, University of Oxford
Rename the Codrington Library at All Souls College, University of Oxford
The Issue
All Souls' College has a world famous and beautiful library, the Codrington Library, designed by the great Restoration architect Nicholas Hawksmoor, which has a wonderful and world famous collection of books on a range of subjects, including Classics, Law and History. There is however one problem with it - the benefactor after which it is named, Christopher Codrington (1668 - 1710), amassed is fortune through sugar plantations in the West Indies and, as anyone with good historical awareness knows, those sugar plantations would have relied on slave labour from black Africans.
In light of recent events regarding police brutality against African Americans, namely the killing of George Floyd and Breanna Taylor, in the USA and the growing awareness of racial disparities both there and here, whose ultimate origins lie in the legacies of slavery and colonialism, we think it irresponsible that such white-washing of colonial history and celebration of a prominent slaver continue. We therefore suggest that the Codrington library be renamed from a short-list of more appropriate (preferably BAME) past benefactors and scholars of the college drawn up and voted on democratically by the fellows of the College. One such example might be Cornelia Soarbji (1866 - 1954), an Indian lawyer and women's rights activist who was the first woman to study law at Oxford University and the first woman to study in the Codrington Library, being admitted there in 1890 at Sir William Anson's invitation.
We would also suggest that you consider some kind of restitution for the descendants of the victims of the slavery practiced by Christopher Codrington such as scholarships for people from Jamaica, Barbados and other former British colonies in the Caribbean and for the Afro-Caribbean community in the UK. We would further suggest that some funding go towards spreading education and awareness about our colonial history by the creation of professorships, research grants and essay prizes into related fields such as African History, Caribbean History and Imperial and Global History.
The Issue
All Souls' College has a world famous and beautiful library, the Codrington Library, designed by the great Restoration architect Nicholas Hawksmoor, which has a wonderful and world famous collection of books on a range of subjects, including Classics, Law and History. There is however one problem with it - the benefactor after which it is named, Christopher Codrington (1668 - 1710), amassed is fortune through sugar plantations in the West Indies and, as anyone with good historical awareness knows, those sugar plantations would have relied on slave labour from black Africans.
In light of recent events regarding police brutality against African Americans, namely the killing of George Floyd and Breanna Taylor, in the USA and the growing awareness of racial disparities both there and here, whose ultimate origins lie in the legacies of slavery and colonialism, we think it irresponsible that such white-washing of colonial history and celebration of a prominent slaver continue. We therefore suggest that the Codrington library be renamed from a short-list of more appropriate (preferably BAME) past benefactors and scholars of the college drawn up and voted on democratically by the fellows of the College. One such example might be Cornelia Soarbji (1866 - 1954), an Indian lawyer and women's rights activist who was the first woman to study law at Oxford University and the first woman to study in the Codrington Library, being admitted there in 1890 at Sir William Anson's invitation.
We would also suggest that you consider some kind of restitution for the descendants of the victims of the slavery practiced by Christopher Codrington such as scholarships for people from Jamaica, Barbados and other former British colonies in the Caribbean and for the Afro-Caribbean community in the UK. We would further suggest that some funding go towards spreading education and awareness about our colonial history by the creation of professorships, research grants and essay prizes into related fields such as African History, Caribbean History and Imperial and Global History.
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The Decision Makers
Petition created on 10 June 2020