The role that transatlantic slavery played in the shaping of Manchester is at the heart of a new exhibition developed by The Guardian and the city's Museum of Science and Industry.

The exhibition tells the story of Manchester's transformation into the world's first industrial city, and is the first time the museum has put the connections between enslaved African people, cotton and cities at the center of the exhibition.

In conjunction with a public engagement programme, the free exhibition aims to raise public understanding of how transatlantic slavery affected urban development, British economic development and global capitalism, exploring the continuing impact of humans and the cotton trade on life today.

Produced by the Museum of Science and Industry and the Scott Trust Legacy of Slavery Project, the project will be developed with people of African descent and diaspora communities through local and global collaborations, and feature new research.

Catherine Weiner, editor of Guardian News and Media, said it was a "fundamental part" of the restorative justice program launched in response to the newspaper's founder's links to transatlantic slavery. “We announced this two years before launch so that we could work with the city’s communities – particularly Caribbean and Afro-descendant communities – to shape the exhibition,” she said.

The exhibition will open in the Museum of Science and Industry's Special Exhibitions Gallery in early 2027 for a year, followed by permanent exhibition. Plans for permanent schools and city-wide events are also being launched.

The museum is located on the site of Liverpool Road Station, through which cotton produced by slaves once flowed.

The exhibition was announced by Weiner at an event in Manchester, where he spoke with Mill founder Josh Herman, who discussed the history of The Guardian, which was founded in Manchester, and its founding Human connections to transatlantic slavery.

The Scott Trust Legacy of Slavery Program is a 10-year restorative justice project launching in 2023 to raise public understanding of how slavery affected black communities today - with a focus on Manchester.

The project will develop the museum’s existing gallery content, as well as ongoing work on the links between Manchester’s development as an industrial powerhouse and its textile industry that relied on colonialism and slavery, while sharing insights from a city that prides itself on being at the cutting edge. A more inclusive history re-examines the past through collaboration and proposes radical ideas.

Wiener added: "Many of the Guardian's 19th-century founders profited from transatlantic slavery, principally through Manchester's role in the cotton industry. A fundamental part of our restorative justice work is focused on that region, we aim to raise awareness and a deeper understanding of the city's historical connections to transatlantic slavery.

“The partnership with the Museum of Science and Industry will combine Manchester’s knowledge and experience with thoughtful collaboration, which is vital to serving the communities most affected by these lasting legacies.”

Sally MacDonald, director of the Museum of Science and Industry, said: “This will be an exhibition about important aspects of our past that are relevant to the world we live in today.

"The exhibition explores themes of resilience, identity and creativity, as well as exploitation and inequality, from the perspective of those who experienced slavery and whose lives were affected by it, and will pay particular attention to the ways in which science and technology have developed. Driven by and The Transatlantic Slavery Drive.”