Rowntree Society investigates history of slavery and forced labour in cocoa company’s colonial-era past By Anthony Myers The Rowntree Society has said it has uncovered links to slavery and historic racial abuse in the brand s supply chain in light of the Black Lives Matter movement. The Rowntree chocolate factory in York was founded in 1862 and is the home of the KitKat bar since 1935.
Research into the company’s past, carried out last year partly in response to the Black Lives Matter movement, reviewed the company’s global supply chains and histories of slavery, forced labour, colonialism and racial injustice.
1/1 AN investigation into the history of the Rowntree chocolate company has produced shocking evidence that the famously philanthropic family business may have profited from slavery and forced labour. Research by the Rowntree Society prompted partly by the Black Lives Matter movement has also uncovered allegations of racial discrimination and anti-union tactics at the firm’s South African subsidiary Wilson Rowntree during the apartheid era as recently as the early 1980s. A statement by the Rowntree Society today stressed that it had found no evidence that Rowntrees, which donated Rowntree Park to the people of York and also set up the New Earswick model village , directly owned or traded in enslaved people.
British chocolate-maker Rowntree apologises for shameful role in slave trade and oppressive practices in apartheid-era South Africa that are at odds with its founding Quaker values after researching its history post-BLM
The Rowntree Society, which promotes the history of the company, carried out the research into its past in the wake of the recent Black Lives Matter movement
Research has revealed that the company may have profited from the slave trade
The society has said no evidence was found that showed the company directly owned or traded in enslaved people but said more investigation was needed
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