A British family will publicly apologize to the people of Grenada, a Caribbean island where its ancestors owned over 1,000 slaves in the nineteenth century.
The Trevelyan family, who owned six sugar plantations in Grenada, will also make reparations.
Her ancestors had been compensated by the UK government when slavery was abolished in 1833, but freed African slaves received nothing.
“It was truly horrific… I saw for myself the plantations where slaves were punished, as well as the torture instruments used to restrain them.”
“I was ashamed, but I also felt it was my responsibility. You can’t change the past, but you can accept the pain.”
Ms Trevelyan said seven members of her family would travel to Grenada later this month to apologize publicly.
The family will donate £120,000 to create a community fund for economic development on the impoverished island and in the eastern Caribbean.
Ms Trevelyan stated that the Trevelyans received approximately £34,000 in 1834 for the loss of their “property” on Grenada – the equivalent of approximately £3m in today’s money.
“For me to give £100,000 nearly 200 years later… that may seem really inadequate,” she said.
“However, I hope we’re setting an example by apologizing for what our forefathers did.”
The gesture was praised by Grenada’s National Reparations Commission.