1. What connects the song you hear (Bob Marley’s Redemption Song) with this man, this house and these objects?

2. The 1st Clue … The man is Thomas Clarkson.
He was born in 1760 (Wisbech, Cambridgeshire).
His father was the local headmaster. Clarkson was only six when his father died in Clarkson went to the local grammar school and later Cambridge University (St John’s College).
He intended to join the church. Friends describe him as a kind, generous and shy man. Clarkson was over six feet tall and always tended to wear black.
He lived here (Playford Hall, near Ipswich) for 30 years …

3. and is buried here (Playford Church, Suffolk)

4. What connects the song you here (Bob Marley’s Redemption Song) with this man, this house and these objects?

5. Clue 2 Listen to the song carefully …
REDEMPTION SONG
Old pirates, yes, they rob I; Sold I to the merchant ships, Minutes after they took I From the bottomless pit. But my hand was made strong By the 'and of the Almighty. We forward in this generation Triumphantly. Won't you help to sing These songs of freedom? - 'Cause all I ever have: Redemption songs; Redemption songs.

6. What connects the song you hear (Bob Marley’s Redemption Song) with this man, this house and these objects?

7. 2 more clues …

9. What connects the song you here (Bob Marley’s Redemption Song) with this man, this house and these objects?

10. The Clarkson challenge …
During a parliamentary investigation a witness for the slave trade described how ‘delightful’ the slave ships were, Robert Norris stated
‘[The slaves] had sufficient room, sufficient air, and sufficient provisions. When upon deck, they made merry and amused themselves with dancing… In short, the voyage from Africa to the West Indies was one of the happiest periods of a Negro’s life.’
BIG QUESTION
Was the Middle Passage really one of the ‘happiest periods’ of an African’s life?
LITTLE QUESTIONS
What were conditions like below deck? Did the slaves really have ‘sufficient room’ and ‘sufficient air’?
Did the slaves have ‘sufficient provisions’? Were they well fed and well looked after?
Did slaves really dance on deck? Did they have leisure time?