At the beginning of the first Covid lock-down this year, Intercomm started a series of public lectures given by Belfast historian Eamon Phoenix. And of course, these lectures had to be given online and live over Zoom.

Eamon is a distinguished historian and well-known broadcaster. He’s a teacher who tells stories and brings history to life.

Now, we are making some of the lectures available here on the Between the Lines podcast. And this is the first.

It was given in October this year during Black History Month.

Over 45 minutes, Eamon explores Belfast’s history during the slave trade, the relationship between the city and the early days of America and the Caribbean. Also, at a time when staues were being brought down in the US and Britain, he also talks about some of the statues around Belfast.

(Illustration: Olaudah Equiano known for most of his life as Gustavus Vassa was a writer and abolitionist from, according to his memoir, the Eboe region of the Kingdom of Benin, today southern Nigeria.)