Trapped History

My Family Owned Slaves

Trapped History

Show Notes

As we close out Season 7, Trapped History takes a long dark walk down one of the most uncomfortable roads in history, going deep into the story of one British family which owned and traded in slaves.

We are joined by the journalist and writer Alex Renton who has tried to make sense of his family's past ever since he uncovered the shameful history. It is a hard story, a painful one but it is a story which we all need to hear – Black and White, British and Caribbean – if we are ever to free ourselves from the history which traps us. Head over to www.trappedhistory.com to sign up to the award-winning podcast, get our newsletter, bonus episodes and much, much more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

More from Trapped History

Aug 16, 2026

Eric Williams was Trinidad and Tobago's first Prime Minister after independence. Pretty consequential stuff. But for us, and for this week's guest Alex Renton, Eric was so much more.

Aug 2, 2026

After pulling the curtain away from James Bond, writer Mark O'Connell chose Bond's book designer for his Hall of Fame nominee.

Jul 26, 2026

He's the man's man, the lady's man, the pinnacle of heterosexual hyper-masculinity. His name is Bond.

Jul 19, 2026

This week, we've got a special Trapped History short for you. It felt wrong to ask Jocelyn to nominate someone for the Hall of Fame (Vera Rubin, anyone?) and so today we've got some choice gems which didn't make it into the main show.

Jul 12, 2026

In its 120 year history, nearly 1,000 people have won a Nobel Prize. And we're going to ask you a simple question: how many of those Nobel laureates are women? What, half of them maybe? Or perhaps more realistically, one in four? One in ten even?

See all episodes →