It is the kind of historical artifact that would be easy to miss: an old and fragile little book unearthed in the archives of the Derbyshire Record Office, in the East Midlands of England. The book, a commercial ledger from 1822, holds the names of enslavers who ran cotton plantations on islands along the coast of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. The Taylor in question was none other than John Edward Taylor, founder of The Manchester Guardian, now known simply as The Guardian, the most prominent progressive newspaper in Britain for more than two centuries. “In that moment, what I realized is that we can now connect the founder of The Guardian to the enslaved people of the Sea Islands,” Ms. Gooptar said in a recent call from Trinidad, where she grew up. “It proved that he was importing cotton, picked by slaves, for profits.”

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Persons: Shuttleworth, Cassandra Gooptar, Taylor, John Edward Taylor, Ms, Gooptar, ” Organizations: Taylor, University of Hull, The Manchester Guardian, Guardian Locations: Derbyshire, East Midlands, England, Florida , Georgia, South Carolina, Britain, Trinidad