Centre for slavery research opens

Wilberforce was elected as MP for Hull in 1780

An institute for the study of slavery has been opened in Hull by the head of a country from where many thousands of young men were taken away as slaves.

Ghana's President Kufour opened the centre, the idea of Hull University.

It is located next door to the home of William Wilberforce, the MP behind the abolition of slavery in 1807.

The £2m institute will form the centrepiece for next year's bicentenary celebration of emancipation, achieved by Wilberforce shortly before he died.

Hull City Council, a partner in the development, leased the building to the university for a peppercorn rent, to be used as a base for both research and the storing of unique archive material of global importance.

The centre was the idea of academics from the university's history department, spearheaded by Professors David Richardson and Mike Turner.