The focus of this exhibition is the 1772 map of the Belvidere estate in Jamaica, which was owned by the first cousin of Jane Austen’s father. This section contextualizes British society during the Regency period, particularly the time when Jane Austen was writing Mansfield Park, published in 1814 (first US edition, 1832). The story follows Fanny Price, who, at the age of ten, is sent by her overwhelmed family to live with her affluent aunt and uncle and traces her growth into early adulthood. Fanny’s uncle, Sir Thomas Bertram, derives part of his wealth from the ownership of a plantation in Antigua, which is believed to be based on an estate owned by a friend of the Austen family. Bertram travels to Antigua “for the better arrangement of his affairs.” Later, in a conversation with Edmund, Sir Thomas’s younger son, Fanny mentions that she asked her uncle about the slave trade but refrained from inquiring further because “there was such a dead silence!” This episode has led to much scholarly debate about what it reveals about the novel’s stance regarding slavery and the slave trade.

There is substantial evidence to suggest that Austen was sympathetic to the abolitionist cause, as reflected in her letters, which indicate that she read and admired Thomas Clarkson’s The History of the Rise, Progress, and Accomplishment of the Abolition of the African Slave-Trade by the British Parliament, published in 1808. Additionally, the estate's name, Mansfield Park, has been interpreted as a possible reference to Lord Mansfield, who in 1772 ruled in the case of Somerset v Stewart. In this case, he declared it illegal for Charles Stewart to forcibly remove James Somerset, an enslaved African, from England back into slavery. This decision generated significant political reactions throughout Britain and its American colonies. The ruling was widely misinterpreted as a declaration that enslavement was unlawful in England and became a pivotal moment in the abolitionist movement.

An abundance of scholarship and commentary is available in relation to Mansfield Park and Jane Austen’s relationship to the Transatlantic Slave Trade system. This exhibition aims to demonstrate that it was nearly impossible to be part of British society without being connected to the slave trade in some way as it was a large part of the economy of the period. However, the extent of the information available at the time, as well as its accuracy, remains difficult to determine. The objects on display are intended to provide a sense of this complex historical context.