Cast in Stone

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• 1994, Announcement of the re-installation of the Robert Milligan statue
• 1994, Festival of Bangladesh is started
  A public celebration of Bangladeshi culture in London
• 1994, Performance of Siraj ud-daula play at the Festival of Bangladesh organised by Iqbal Wahhab
• 1995, Blackboy Clock falls into disrepair
  Stroud News and Journal gave the following summary: "An expert clock-mender has appealed to Stroud Art College to allow him access to an historic Stroud landmark - before it decays beyond repair. Mr Michael Maltin, a former airline pilot from North Woodchester, says he is willing to mend the Black Boy clock, on the old Black Boy School in Castle Street, free of charge. Along with two other local craftsmen he totally overhauled the clock, which features a black child ringing a bell and turning his head, between 1974 and 1977 and has been dismayed at its decline since then. ‘It needs attention and I know what’s wrong with it, but I’ve tried several times to get up there and can’t get in,’ he said. ‘I’m quite prepared to go and restore it and get it in working order - if necessary I’ll even wind it myself,’ he said. The clock started life on the front of High Street watch-maker John Miles’ house around 200 years ago and was moved after his death. DISREPAIR It then spent several years on the front of the Duke of York pub in Nelson Street - before being bought in 1844 by public subscription and placed on the front of the Castle-Street National School. Winding the clock became the responsibility of the senior class who took it in turns, but after the school closed the clock fell into disrepair. The building is now used as part of Stroud Art College and Mr Maltin wants the authorities to let him work on the clock. ‘I would say it’s unique because it’s the only jack clock in the country where you’ve got the original clock driving the original jack,’ he said. ‘It should either be restored or put in a museum.’ Local residents have appealed to Stroud Town Council to try and save the historic clock’s hourly chime and the council’s planning committee has promised to look into it. FAMILIAR ‘It wasn’t really melodious, but it was one of those familiar sounds that gave us the feeling that all was well with the world,’ said Mrs Elizabeth Sargeant, who lives in nearby Middle Street, Stroud, and is a member of the National Trust’s executive council. ‘Because it does date from such a long time ago, it would be such a great loss to Stroud to lose it.’"
• 1995, Restauration et classement de la statue de Voltaire, Paris
  The statue was restored and classified as a historical monument
• 1997, Nurul Haque organises a conference on Plassey
• 1997, Re-installation of the Robert Milligan statue
  The Annual Report of the LDDC for the year ending March 31st 1997, includes the following statement underneath a photograph of the statue facing west outside the Ledger building – close to the position where it had stood from 1813-1875. ‘LDDC Joint Chief Executive, Roger Squire and Museum of London Director, Max Hebditch, welcomed the return of a statue of Robert Milligan – Deputy Chairman of the West India Dock Company – to West India Quay in February, after an absence of 122 years.' (referring to the 1875 relocation) In March 1997, Docklands News, the LDDC Newspaper, reported that ‘a statue of Robert Milligan, one of Dockland's historic figures with the West India Dock Company now has pride of place on its original site by the Sugar Warehouses’.
• 1998, 'Fuck off slave trader' painted on Colston statue in red paint
  The Guardian reports: The first direct action against the Colston statue takes place, with “fuck off slave trader” painted on the statue overnight in red paint. Days later a Bristol councillor, Ray Sefia, said he could understand why the statue was targeted. “It’s like having a monument to Hitler,” he told the Bristol Post. “We have to be very clear about Colston’s role in the slave trade.”
• 1998, 150th anniversary of the decree abolishing slavery in France
  To mark the 150th anniversary of the promulgation of the decree abolishing slavery in France on April 27, 1848, official commemorations are being organized across the country.
• 1998, Bristol City Councillor Ray Sefia calls for the removal of the Edward Colston statue
• 1998, Creation of a new bronze relief for the Robert Milligan statue
• 1998, Inauguration of the Statue of Slavery.
  The inauguration, organized by the associations of the Collectif du 150e, was attended by Mayor Jean-Marc Ayrault.
• 1998, Inauguration of the Victor Schœlcher monument, Le Diamant
• 1998, The statue of Josephine is covered with a black sheet
  In 1998, for the 150th anniversary of the abolition of slavery, the statue was draped in black cloth, because of its link with memories of slavery, through the famous question of its re-establishment in 1802.
• 1998, Nurul Haque organises a larger conference on Plassey
  Bangladeshi-British councillor Nurul Haque organises the third of his annual conferences on Plassey, at the Kobi Nazrul Centre in London. An audience member 'started shouting' and gave a 'rousing speech' about how the statue of Clive should be brought down. Community acitivist Muhammad Ahmedullah notes that this is when he first became aware of the statue in London.
• 1998, Toppling the statue of the abolition of slavery
  A week after its installation on the Quai de la Fosse in Nantes, the statue is knocked down.
• 1999, A plate of raw liver on a blood-spattered table is placed under the Edward Colston statue to symbolise how he "dined" on slavery
• 1999, Red paint and inscription on the Churchill statue in Paris
  The statue's hands were painted red, with drips on the cane and on the monument's first step. Inscription on the monument: "HR".
• 2000, Glasgow City Council's efforts to take down the traffic cone from Duke of Wellington's statue opposed by residents
• 2000, Installation of a replica Hibbert Gate
  The original Hibbert Gate (named after the slave-owner and merchant George Hibbert) was built in 1803 but was demolished in 1930. A replica Hibbert Gate was created in 2000 and is still in place as of 2024.
• 2000, Projectile et peinture rouge sur la statue de Voltaire à Paris
  A projectile fractured the nose and cheek, fragments of which were never found. The red paint on the left hand dripped onto the left side of the jacket and onto the left leg. The damage occurred during the summer.
• 2000, Winston Churchill statue defaced during May Day protests
• 2001, adoption de la loi Taubira
  Adoptée le 10 mai 2001 sur un projet rédigé et porté par Christiane Taubira, la loi portant son nom reconnaît « que la traite négrière transatlantique ainsi que la traite dans l'océan Indien d'une part, et l'esclavage d'autre part, perpétrés à partir du xve siècle, aux Amériques et aux Caraïbes, dans l'océan Indien et en Europe contre les populations africaines, amérindiennes, malgaches et indiennes constituent un crime contre l'humanité ».
• 2001, Removal of the blackamoor caricature for restoration
  At some stage between August 1995 and June 2001, the blackamoor caricature was removed for restoration works. A photo of the building by Maurice R Teal dated June 13th 2001 from Historic England Archive shows the figure absent from the building at this date. By February 2004, with restoration work on the figure and clock complete, the Blackboy Clock had been re-assembled in its original position.
• 2002, Decision by Marlène Captant, RPR mayor of Sainte-Anne in Guadeloupe, to erect a statue in memory of the figure of the Maroon
• 2002, Inauguration of the Maroon Memorial
• 2002, the statue of Victor Hugo by Ousmane Sow is presented in front of French Parliament in Paris to mark World Day to Overcome Extreme Poverty.
  Créée par Ousmane Sow à la demande de l'ONG Médecins du monde, elle rappelle l'engagement de Victor Hugo contre la misère
• 2002, Nose of Voltaire statue broken again by a projectile
• 2002, Projectile et peinture rouge sur la statue de Voltaire à Paris
  Nez à nouveau cassé et à nouveau, projection et coulures de peinture rouge très épaisse, sur le bas du visage jusqu’au bras côté gauche, du bas du visage au socle côté droit.
• 2002, Stroud Town Council Finance and Policy Committee Agenda
• 2002, Stroud Town Council Finance and Policy Committee Minutes
• 2002, Stroud Town Council Minutes
• 2002, The Trooper statue enters the collections of the British Empire and Commonwealth Museum
• 2003, Inauguration of the statue of Victor Hugo, Besançon
  In 2003, Besançon, Victor Hugo's birthplace, purchased the statue designed by Ousmane Sow. Its inauguration was a belated tribute to Victor Hugo, as the city where he was born in 1802 did not commemorate his bicentenary in 2002.
• 2003, Inauguration du buste de Gandhi à Fort-de-France
• 2003, Opening of the Museum of London Docklands
• 2003, Stroud Town Council Planning Committee Agenda
• 2004, Blackboy Clock restored again
  Stroud News and Journal gave the following summary of the restoration: "A historic Stroud clock is tick-tocking for the first time in 50 years after a recently completed restoration project. The Black Boy Clock, which dates back to the 18th century, is running again on the old Black Boy School building on Castle Street following an £8,000 refit. Richard Mellish, who owns the former school building, masterminded the year-long project along with a £2,000 grant from Stroud Town Council. “It was bought by public subscription originally so it is a part of Stroud, really,” he said. “I am very pleased it is finally completed.” Town mayor John Marjoram was also pleased with the horological masterpiece. “It is a fascinating clock and we are delighted that it is finally working again,” he said. “It is all these little things that I think really make the town what it is.”"
• 2004, Conservation of monument to Gallieni in Paris
  From June to September 2004, the City of Paris commissioned to professional conservators to carry on routine conservation work on the monument to Joseph Gallieni. They performed biocide, removal of copper sulfate traces, replaced former joints in previous cracks. (source DACVP-COARC, Archives, Gallieni 2)
• 2004, Inauguration de la statue de Velo
  Le décès de Marcel Lollia cause un choc et une foule compacte se rend à sa veillée, animée par le son de multiples gwo-ka, à Pointe-à-Pitre. Pendant vingt ans, entre sa mort et 2004, le groupe Akiyo organise des commémorations annuelles dans les rues de Pointe-à-Pitre où il aimait jouer. Une souscription est ouverte par le groupe pour ériger une statue. Elle est inaugurée en 2004, le représentant en position de jeu avec son gwo-ka, comme les gens avaient l’habitude de la voir dans cet endroit précis.
• 2004, Inauguration du buste de Félix Eboué à La Boucan, commune de Sainte-Rose
  Inauguration en présence de Lucette Michaux-Chevry, alors présidente du Conseil régional de la Guadeloupe. Félix Eboué est réapparu dans les commémorations publiques à partir de 1999 à l'occasion du 50e anniversaire de son entrée au Panthéon, en même temps que Victor Schoelcher. En 2004, un timbre le présentant comme le "premier résistant de l'empire" a été édité pour le 60e anniversaire de sa mort.
• 2004, Martinican artist Victor Anicet creates a mural entitled Liberté behind the Victor Schœlcher monument
  Victor Anicet describes his work as a “mural animation”, created from one hundred enameled Massif Central lava slabs; it “tells the story of the arrival of the chained slaves, their revolt, the breaking of the chains, the escape of the first marooned slave, with the word ‘Liberté’ in charge. Underneath, the contribution of Amerindian culture” (Victor Anicet website). A plaque reads “Liberté. Mural fresco in Volvic lava, created by Victor Anicet, ceramist, July 21, 2004", then quotes, below this information, a sentence by Aimé Césaire: ‘Schœlcher's clear-sightedness gave the impetus for freedom, the impetuosity of the Negro did the rest’. The aim is to place Schœlcher's action in a broader context, and to highlight the role of slaves in the fight for their emancipation.
• 2004, Reinstallation of the statue of William Mackinnon in Campbeltown, Scotland
• 2004, Stroud Town Council Planning Committee Minutes
• 2005, The statue of William Huskisson is re-erected in Liverpool
• 2006, 'Restoration' art exhibit by Hew Locke
• 2006, Creation of the Bristol Radical History Group
• 2006, Unveiling of a portrait of Rosa Park in the sports center named after her in Paris (14th arrondissement)
  Paris City Hall chose to link the inauguration of the Jefferson statue and, earlier in the day, the unveiling of a portrait of Rosa Park in the sports center that has borne her name since February 2006 in a popular part of the 14th arrondissement. In December 2005, the City Council decided to name "an educational site in Paris" after her.
• 2006, Inauguration de la statue de Thomas Jefferson à Paris
• 2006, Inauguration du buste "l'esclavage" d'Etcheto
  Inauguration le 10 mai 2006. La date du 10 mai (date de l'adoption de la loi Taubira) est devenue en 2006 la date fixe de commémoration de l'abolition de l'esclavage en France.