National Museums Liverpool Blog - Richard

Hello

Well it is with great shock and sadness that I write this blog in light of the devastating earthquake in Haiti. Nobody could not have been shocked at the images shown in the media this past week but it was particularly difficult for those of us associated with the museum as Haiti is central to the museum's history and ethos for several reasons.

On 23 August 2007 the International Slavery Museum was opened. This is a significant date as it commemorates an uprising of enslaved Africans on the island of Saint Domingue (modern Haiti) in 1791. The date has been designated by UNESCO as Slavery Remembrance Day, a reminder that enslaved Africans were the main agents of their own liberation. Resistance to injustices and discrimination is a central theme of the International Slavery Museum.

An even more tangible link is the Freedom! scupture. The sculpture was commissioned by international development charity Christian Aid and National Museums Liverpool to mark 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade in 2007. The Freedom! sculpture is made out of recycled objects such as metal car parts and raw junk found in the streets of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and was created by young Haitians and sculptors Eugène, Céleur and Guyodo from Atis Rezistans in collaboration with Mario Benjamin, an internationally renowned Haitian artist who has represented his country at Biennials in Venice, São Paulo and Johannesburg.

Sadly one of the other artists (not one of the people pictured above) from the Grand Rue artists collective has died, along with thousands upon thousands of his fellow Haitians in the disaster. Our heartfelt wishes go out to all those who have lost family and friends in the disaster. Haiti has a strong and proud people and I am sure that with a sustained amount of aid the country will recover and grow after this horrific disaster. Please go to the following Unicef and Foundry TV sites for further information or to make a donation.

Hello there

Well it has been another great year for the museum in so many ways, not least the fact we have now had over 850,000 visitors, but it has also been challenging, thought provoking and indeed humbling.

There have been many highlights and some not so highlights of 2009. We were extremely proud that we achieved an Honourable Mention as part of the 2009 UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize for the Promotion of Tolerance and Non-Violence which rewards significant activities in the scientific, artistic, cultural or communication fields aimed at the promotion of a spirit of tolerance and non-violence.  It showed the museum was seen as a human rights campaigner by its peers. We also made the final of the National Lottery Good Causes awards and the European Museum of the Year awards in Bursa, Turkey.  We did not win but it was still a significant achievement for a museum which is only 2 years old.  

We have hosted several very successful exhibitions including Black Britiannia and Trafficked and been visited by a host of important, interesting and often well known people such as the civil rights activist Diane Nash, who give the annual Slavery Remembrance Day memorial lecture, and the Liverpool boxing legend John Conteh. In February Richard LeBaron, Chargé d'Affaires at the United States Embassy and Simon Woolley, national co-ordinator of Operation Black Vote, unveiled a plaque of President Barack Obama. Added to all this we continue to offer a vibrant learning programme which is both original and often groundbreaking.  

There have unfortunately been some less celebratory events. In particular the loss of John Hope Franklin, one of the most important American historians of the 20th century and a great advocate of the International Slavery Museum. He will be fondly remembered by myself and all those fortunate to have met him. The year shockingly also saw the British National Party gain a degree of political kudos by winning seats at the European elections. Rather than sit idly by I hope that like the museum you support the Hope Not Hate campaign and make a stand against such organisations.

Looking ahead I am convinced that International Slavery Museum will have an exciting, challenging and successful 2010. We are planning many events, for instance on 18 January (Martin Luther King Day in the US) we will be showing the film 'Boycott' about the 1955 Montgomery Bus boycott as a mark of respect. The inaugural Federation of Human Rights Museums (FIHRM) conference will also be held at the International Slavery Museum, which will bring together some of the leading human rights museums and institutions across the globe to see how we can work together to challenge issues such as racism and discrimination and the rise of the far right. The museum will continue to support Black History Month in October and there will be the annual Slavery Remembrance Day events. In March we will be launching a new exhibition called Beyond the Boundary which explores the relationship between cricket, culture, class and politics. There will be much much more so watch this space.

By for now and I hope that many of you have a visit to the museum as one of your New Year resolutions!

Hello there
As you may be aware the International Slavery Museum was recently awarded an Honourable Mention as part of the 2009 UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize for the Promotion of Tolerance and Non-Violence which rewards significant activities in the scientific, artistic, cultural or communication fields aimed at the promotion of a spirit of tolerance and non-violence .

The award ceremony was held at the UNESCO HQ in Paris.  I was accompanied by my colleague Claire Benjamin – Head of Communities here at NML. We met numerous permanent ambassadors and various UNESCO delegates and officials such as the Deputy Director-General of UNESCO - Mr Marcio Barbosa, and representative of the International Jury - Mr Mokhtar Taleb-Bendiab, to discuss how our organizations might work together in the future.

I have to say I was quite taken aback by the sheer scale of the awards.   There were upwards of 400 at the actual ceremony in the main hall at UNESCO HQ.  On the stage were the laureates, representatives from the Government Programme on Tolerance in Saint Petersburg who also received an Honourable Mention and the respective ambassadors of various countries sat next to the winners.  In our case it was Mr Peter Landymore, a supporter and advocate of the museum who reiterated to me just how great an honour it is to receive an Honourable Mention and indeed be given the opportunity on such a high profile stage to highlight the vital work we are doing here in Liverpool at the International Slavery Museum. 

Prior to this there had been a press conference which was filmed by several news agencies at which I had the honour of sitting next to Madanjeet Singh, now a Goodwill Ambassador for UNESCO.  When you look at the current winners - François Houtart (Belgium) who was recognized for his outstanding efforts to advance the cause of social justice in the world  and Abdul Sattar Edhi (Pakistan) for his life-long efforts to ameliorate the conditions of the most disadvantaged groups in Pakistan and South Asia; the list of prior laureate winners (Aung San Suu Kyi) and those who have had an Honourable Mention (the journalist Daniel Pearl; Simon Wiesenthal Centre) you get an idea of how significant it was to be given the opportunity to speak about ISM at such an event.

Here at the museum we were particularly delighted to receive the Honourable Mention as it highlights that the museum, one with world class display galleries, successful educational and community based projects, is very much seen by its peers within the field of human rights as a human rights museum - a museum which actively promotes all forms of tolerance and non-violence.

The museum will continue being a campaigning human rights museum with an even greater enthusiasm and sense of purpose than ever before.

By for now.
Richard

Hello there

Thank you to everybody who voted for the International Slavery Museum in The National Lottery Good Causes Awards. We find out if we have made it through to the final on 3 August so watch this space. If we do make it through to the live TV show then I'll have to get my suit down to Johnson's, dig out my Homer Simpson tie and practice my TV smile!

Talking of smiles (now that is a good link) I saw the most famous in the world recently whilst I was on a weekend break to Paris. We spent nearly a whole day in the Louvre and 'tried' to get a close look at Leonardo Da Vinci's 'Mona Lisa' or 'La Gioconda' (an alternative title as the sitter is probably the wife of an Italian merchant called Francesco del Giocondo). As you can see from the picture the Mona Lisa draws crowds of visitors most museums can only dream of. It really is a sight to behold although there is hardly any room to stand and admire the picture as people are busy barging past. As a museum professional I am almost as interested in the behavior of the visitor as much as the collections themselves though. Don't expect to be able to stand in front of her and act like an art connoisseur but still worth the effort if you ever visit.

The Louvre really is an enormous place and deserves days rather a day to see it. I suggest setting your sights on seeing a couple of galleries or even just several specific objects. It will still take you a while to get there! We also visited the sumptuous apartments of Napoleon III tucked away in their own wing and the Egyptian collections. I think the same goes though when you visit one of our venues here in Liverpool. You will never be able to see everything in one day so think about what interests you the most and start from there. You will undoubtedly pass something else which catches your eye. I loved visiting museums before I worked in them so I still have to fight the urge of spending all afternoon wandering the galleries at the World Museum Liverpool or Maritime Museum after a meeting!

Whilst in Paris we also went to visit the apartment of Le Corbusier, one of the most important figures in modern architecture and design. Something of which I am particularly interested. Another seamless link here is that Le Corbusier, like Da Vinci, used the proportions of the human body to improve both the function and appearance of architecture. Le Corbusier called his system the Modulor whereas Da Vinci's produced a famous version of the Vitruvian Man. You might not know his name or that Da Vinci drew him but think of the multi-limbed man in the square and the circle! 

Le Corbusiers apartment was not particularly large or in any way luxurious as one might expect from someone of his standing but it was truly functional and built around his own needs. It made me think of just how much space we actually need to use in our own homes. The apartment also contained many pieces of furniture and design features we now take for granted – such as its open plan feeling where the living and dining areas are integrated. I could go on but I might become a bit of an anorak.

Closer to home, the Walker Art Gallery has a new exhibition called New Radicals: From Sickert to Freud which features some fine examples of Modernist art for those of you who have a Modernist streak in you.

Au revoir for now.

Hello there

We've had some really good news - the International Slavery Museum has been shortlisted for a National Lottery Good Causes award under the Best Heritage Project category. If you are a regular reader of my blog or indeed this is your first time, we need your vote to make it into the final. Votes can be made online by visiting the National Lottery Good Causes website or by telephone on 0844 686 6957 (calls costs 5p from BT land lines and as they say on TV don't forget to ask an adult or whoever pays the bills!!).  Voting ends Friday 10 July. Every vote counts so we really do appreciate your support. I realise that blog readers are located around the globe (as well as my dear old Yorkshire) so please tell friends, family members and colleagues.

For the International Slavery Museum team it is not just about the financial award alone though, it is about raising awareness of the issues which the museum challenges and causes that we champion. In my last blog post I explained my despair at the success of a political party in the European elections which spreads disinformation in an attempt at being seen as a legitimate alternative on the political landscape. In recent weeks I have also been reminded of the daily incidents in the UK of a racist nature such as the racist attack reported by the Liverpool Daily Post under the headline African men assaulted in Liverpool race hate attack and the disgraceful behaviour towards members of the Romanian community in Northern Ireland.

So voting for the International Slavery Museum is not just a vote for a museum which is visited by hundreds of thousands of visitors; which has a successful community exhibition programme; incredibly dedicated local volunteers or even because we have one of the most extensive collections in the world of transatlantic slavery related objects. However important they are it is also about actively challenging racists and racial discrimination; people trafficking and various other human rights abuses which unfortunately live with us today. So please, spend a couple of minutes to vote.

Bye for now.

Hello there

One of the most unexpected but satisfying things I have seen in my recent travels has to be during a trip to Antwerp when I was invited to speak at the 'What’s in a name? Knowledge and Research in Museums' symposium held in the library of the Rubens Museum. It was organised by MAS (Museum aan de Stroom) which opens in 2010. MAS staff members as well as speakers from Amsterdam (such as the National Maritime Museum and the Tropenmuseum), London (Museum of London and Greenwich Maritime Institute) and my good self presented a series of papers explaining how knowledge, information and research is dispersed within their institutions.  

I have to say that the majority of debate took place between the invited British speakers. All friendly of course and focusing on whether or not the google generation as they are called would have any reason to come to a museum in person as they could access everything off site. I agreed to a certain extent but I think we are some way off the majority of 16-18 year olds googling museum collections in their own time before they have ever visited in person. As a follow up to a visit with parent or school yes, but before they log onto Facebook etc etc I am not so sure. An interesting area for debate though. 

The sight of seeing the Obama Bar in a backstreet of Antwerp whilst enjoying some of city’s beautiful architecture brought a smile to my face. His election recently not only caused unparalleled scenes of joy in the streets of the USA but it affected someone enough to open a bar (or probably rename a bar) after him in Antwerp. Take it from me, the location was definitely not on the main thoroughfare and I could well imagine Antwerp locals rather than American tourists drinking under a picture of a smiling Obama.

If only we had someone of Obama’s stature in the UK now, especially after the worrying and frankly disturbing MEP election results which I woke up to this morning. Someone to bring hope to a wide range of voters rather than focus negatively like so many politicians today on peoples differences with the aim of polarising towns, cities, schools, work places etc. Differences are a good thing, different languages, different beliefs, customs and so on. That is why when writing this blog I cannot help but sigh in despair at the fact that a representative of a so called democratic political party here in the North West has gained a seat at the European parliament on an agenda of hate, distrust and manipulation. 

Now I am not going to go on a political rant, that is not my job, but as head of a museum which actively challenges racism and discrimination it is my duty to encourage all of you to tell your friends and families to visit the International Slavery Museum more than ever. Take a look at some of the displays and exhibits we have which focus on both the more heinous aspects of world history and contemporary society as well as some of the most uplifting. For every reminder of what hate can do by looking at an object such as the Ku Klux Klan outfit, you can see what the bringing together of cultures can do in our cultural transformations section. Take a look at the Black Achievers Wall, and in particular the Black British achievers and the inspirational sportspeople, actors, poets etc and tell me that their contributions have not enhanced Britain? It is frankly ridiculous to suggest otherwise.

An institution like International Slavery Museum will continue to do all it can to stop the growth and influence of individuals and political parties who espouse division and hate. So hopefully in the very near future the Obama camp will visit the UK as well as Liverpool, Merseyside and Lancashire and give people enough belief in hope rather than hate.

Bye for now.

Hello there

As you can see from the photo, I've been travelling again, this time to Bursa in northwestern Turkey, a three hour plus minibus ride (plus a ferry crossing) from Istanbul. The reason for this exciting venture was that the International Slavery Museum had been shortlisted for the very prestigious European Museum of the Year Award, awarded by the European Museum Forum to a museum which offers an excellent example of innovation in museums.

Well I will not keep you in suspense; we did not win the top prize, which went to Salzburg Museum in Austria. There were also three museums who were specially commended, one of which, the Museum of Life Stories in, Speicher, Switzerland I thought particularly worthy. The artist involved in the project, HR Fricker, explained to me that in the public areas of a home for seniors, their lives are shown around them, through exhibits and documentation. This might well challenge people's view of what a museum is, which I think is a good thing. Of course I was disappointed at not even having been commended (by the amount of people who came up to me afterwards I think we were one of the favourites) but if success is also measured by fellow museum professionals wanting to work with you in the future, then the trip was well worth it. 

The judges' report noted that although the International Slavery Museum includes an enormous amount of information and emphasises the legacy of the transatlantic slave trade, the museum tried to tell too many stories. I do not believe we tell stories as such. We offer narratives of events which you can follow, sometimes chronological, sometimes thematic but we do not claim to be storytellers. What we do is connect the many aspects of transatlantic slavery - the trading, the traders and the enslaved Africans - into what we believe is a medium in which all types of visitors can relate. In the past European involvement in transatlantic slavery was often seen in an overtly economic sense, the museum has moved on from this and looks at the broader picture, including contemporary legacies of slavery. I don't expect everyone to agree with how we do this but it should not be assumed that this is common practice.

It is hard to be too disappointed though in a lovely place like Bursa, where the civic welcome was a sight to behold, with a number of traditional dances performed for us outside Bursa City Museum. Bursa is often called 'Yeşil Bursa' ('Green Bursa') in reference to its parks, gardens and surrounding forests. The rather large group of museum professionals (not sure what you call this, a pride, shoal etc? Answers on a postcard) were taken on a number of excursions, which to be honest were a bit too organised for my liking. I like to think of myself as a bit of an independent traveller (I am probably more Louis Theroux than Paul Theroux to be honest) but our every step was marshalled like a state visit. I have to say I think being followed by an ambulance at all times was a step too far, I mean, how rowdy can a group of museum professionals be!

One of the most beautiful sites was the aptly named 'Green Mosque' or 'Yesil Cami' with its fabulous carved marble doorway surrounded by some lush gardens. Also on the itinerary was a visit to several mausoleums of early Ottoman rulers, again in some very tranquil surroundings. An interesting afternoon was also had at the Karagöz Museum, which looks at the lives of famous Turkish shadow play characters who lived in Bursa. Think 'Punch and Judy' with dragons thrown in.  

For those of you who think that travelling to exciting and interesting locations as part of my job is totally stress free, think again. Especially when speaking of food – as a vegan it can be challenging when abroad. This turned out to be the case in Bursa, home of the İskender kebab (it takes its name from its inventor, İskender Efendi, who lived in Bursa in the late 19th century). Lets just say that there is not much for a vegan to look forward to at an Iskender restaurant! At least my hopes were not dashed, as they were at the main award ceremony dinner where I was eagerly awaiting my 'special salad' - as one of organisers called it. What exciting Turkish influence on the drab salad this could be I thought. Lettuce on a bed of lettuce is not my idea of special but maybe I was looking to be critical after we failed to win anything!

Bye for now.

Konichiwa

Well I am back at work after my break in Japan, as interesting and exciting a destination as I have ever visited. It really is a mix of the old and the new and this cannot be better personified than the city of Kyoto. I spent 5 days in Tokyo, truly a metropolis of bright lights, fashionistas and the latest gadgetry but Kyoto – what some call the cultural heart of Japan - is where the clash of worlds is most obvious. As soon as you step off the Bullet train you enter Kyoto's futuristic looking plate glass and steel frame rail station building designed by Hiroshi Hara. The Bullet train really is as efficient as you are told and quite a shock for someone used to British trains when your reserved carriage actually stops in front of you and on time. I can only hope a contingent of British rail carriers executives have their next annual conference in Japan and invite the CEO of Japan Rail as the keynote! The area around the station has hotels, offices and shops aplenty like most major cities but scratch under the surface and there lies a hidden world of temples and Zen gardens of all shapes and descriptions.

I wanted to visit one in particular – Ryoanji (part of the Peaceful Dragon Temple) in North Kyoto which is a simple gravel and Zen garden. It was also visited by Monty Don in the BBC programme Around the World in 80 Gardens! On the day we visited there were already hoards of tourists there (Monty Don must have been allowed access before the crowds) and as such it was difficult to have a totally peaceful experience. There was also maintenance taking place on the viewing platform but even so, the simplicity and beauty of the garden was palpable. To get to it though you had to first walk through the beautiful temple grounds with its cherry blossoms, lake and shrines. It made me think of something I was once told by a leading expert on Stonehenge on a visit to the World Heritage Site. We stood like the masses of tourists facing inwards looking at the famous stone structure but then he told me to turn around and face outwards, to look at the surrounding landscape. Nobody else was doing this but to get a real understanding of Stonehenge he said it had to be seen in relation to its surroundings.

I could not resist visiting a few museums whilst I was over there and thoroughly enjoyed the Tokyo National Museum. It is situated in the beautiful Ueno Park which was in full cherry blossom bloom during our visit. The park was packed with families, tourists and strangely... Tokyo rockers! Several rockers were dancing their hearts away to some loud Japanese rock 'n' roll directly opposite the museum entrance. The museum grounds are also the location of the Le Corbusier inspired Gallery of Horyuji Treasures which was designed by Yoshio Taniguchi (he was also the architect for MoMA in New York) which consists of over 300 objects, mainly from the 7th - 8th century, which were donated to the Imperial Household by the Horyuji Temple in 1878. It was a bit too dark for my liking inside the actual galleries but I liked the sense of space in the research area and library as well as the overall design. 

We also decided to take a day trip from Kyoto to Hiroshima. It was as expected a very somber and sobering trip but an interesting one nonetheless. I was particularly impressed with the Hiroshima National Peace Memorial Hall for the Atomic Bomb victims and Hall of Remembrance which was a very informative and respectfully designed centre. This was in sharp contrast to the larger Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, which in comparison had some rather dated displays. I am fully aware of the need to be respectful when looking at sensitive subjects but you also sometimes need to be quite graphic and not water down displays or exhibits. This museum might have taken that further than I personally would have though, that said; it was very busy with a large amount of schoolchildren who would have had to face issues which unfortunately are still with us in the world today. So it was a great trip and I thoroughly recommend it as a destination for museum aficionados, general culture vultures, amateur gardeners and even rockers!

Bye for now.

It is with great sadness that I pass on the sad news of the death last week of John Hope Franklin, one of the most important American historians of the 20th century and a great advocate of the International Slavery Museum. The museum was fortunate enough to have been visited by John Hope Franklin in 2007 and it was an honour personally to be able to interview this great man, one who more than most strove towards a word free from racism and discrimination. It speaks for itself when messages of condolence are sent from current President Obama as well as Bill Clinton (who awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honour, in 1995) and a host of other eminent historians and scholars. 

For those of you who are not familiar with his life and achievements visit the John Hope Franklin website and I urge you to read the classic 'From Slavery to Freedom', a million copy bestseller and a landmark book which made people realise that African American history is not only a part of American history but the two are inseparable and are one.

On behalf of the International Slavery Museum we send our deepest condolences to his family and remind those who have yet to visit the museum that John Hope Franklin can be seen on our Freedom and Enslavement Wall.

 

Hello there

Well before anyone sends me an accusatory email I will admit I am not the world's best blogger! Strange really considering I constantly annoy my colleagues by saying "That would be a great blog picture" or "I can blog this and that" etc.  So I am back and hopefully once again people will read my blog to support my rather bold claim that this is one of the most visited parts of the National Museums Liverpool website. I can hear the laughter coming from the web team office! 

Ok, so what has happened since I was last in cyberspace? Well one very successful event at the museum was the US Black History Month event on 17 February called From Lincoln to Obama: a look at the progress of civil rights. As well as a number of noted speakers such as Simon Woolley from Operation Black Vote and Wally Brown, the ex principle of Liverpool Community College, three new Black Achievers plaques were unveiled. Most notable was President Obama, a very popular choice and someone who rightly deserves his position on the wall. Equally deserving though are the two achievers flanking him - the Civil Rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer  and Dr Mae Jemison, the first African American woman in space. 

As people have rightly pointed out there are thousands upon thousands of people who are achievers and who deserve a place on the Black Achievers Wall but we are receptive to any ideas so send your nominations in. As an insight to how the International Slavery Museum team often works our logic on this occasion was the connection between the three of them. The pioneering work Fannie Lou Hamer carried out on voting rights and the fact that Dr Jemison literally reached for the stars. This echoed Obama's words at a recent rally where he said "The road ahead will be long, our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term, but America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there". Sentiments that people believed in and as a result voted in their millions.

I have also given several presentations recently. The first was at the Exhibiting Slavery:  Problematics & Possibilities conference at the Horniman Museum in London in early March. The conference looked at the legacies of the 2007 commemorations and the unprecedented interest in, and exploration of, the meaning of slavery in our contemporary moment. My paper focused on the issues involved in developing future strategies and programming for the museum such as a contemporary collecting policy and contemporary slavery educational resources whilst not ignoring transatlantic slavery and keeping repeat visitors, new audiences and interested parties alike, informed, interested and engaged.  

The audience of museum professionals, interested members of the public and some leading academics in the field were pretty receptive to my ideas. That said, the majority were from London institutions and it is not unusual for people to assume that London is indeed the centre of all major and significant advances in the cultural sector. This is not the case and although I do not get defensive I truly believe people need to be told in no uncertain terms that there is quite a bit going on up North! One example was when a member of the audience who I had never met before but who claimed that the International Slavery Museum would fudge the big issues; and would not dare to look at issues which central government might find uncomfortable. Neither I or members of the team are mavericks, we do not aim to simply shock or be controversial but equally we have strong values and a sense of purpose. I explained this to them and to be fair they acknowledged that their earlier statement was in fact unfounded on this occasion.

The other presentation took place at the University of Manchester to a group if students on the Manchester Leadership Programme on the subject of leadership and culture. Basically, how I deal with various challenges within the cultural sector. The vast majority of the hundred plus students had not visited the International Slavery Museum or indeed had much understanding of the subject. I also had the feeling that they expected a museum professional to turn up with cobwebs hanging off them! They might have been pleasantly surprised then (or shocked) when someone stood in front of them who spoke with a Yorkshire accent and announced that he would pick on someone to ask a question if they were too shy to do so!

Not sure I will blog again until the end of April as I am on leave for a few weeks. I am going to Japan, and even though it is not a work trip as such I am sure I will not be able to resist popping into a few museums. I'll update you on my return.  

Sayonara for now.

Hello there.

Well unless you have been living on another planet recently who could not have been gripped by the momentous events when Barack Hussein Obama was elected as the 44th President of the United States. First he is a loving father, a skilled politician, an inspirational leader and role model, who is married to a strong successful and supportive partner, he also happens to be the first African American President. A truly great achievement, especially in a nation that less than 60 years ago had separate seating on buses - white people who boarded the bus took seats in the front rows, whereas Black people who boarded the bus had to sit on the back rows (a certain Rosa Parks disagreed) and where the Jim Crow Laws were in place which segregated everything from schools to public parks and transportation, with a "separate but equal" status for Black Americans.

I could go on, but I think you get the message. As a result unsurprisingly, many people have suggested President Obama go on our Black Achievers Wall and I am sure that he will once we add new achievers to that exhibit. As a museum we are actively collecting Obama related material for our own collections: ranging from campaign badges to a plethora of magazines and newspaper articles. We are planning to have some of this material on display at the first ever US Black History Month event we are holding on 17 February called 'From Lincoln to Obama: a look at the progress of civil rights'.  We have a number of noted speakers such as Simon Woolley from Operation Black Vote and Wally Brown, the ex-principle of Liverpool Community College. See our website for full details.  

Most people in the UK associate Black History Month with October but it actually developed out of BHM events in the US in February founded by Dr Carter G Woodson, a great historian, author and educator. In 1926 Woodson pioneered a week long celebration of African American history and culture, the second week in February, to coincide with the birthdays of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln. The week of celebration eventually became Black History Month.

It is a particularly good time to visit the museum as we have two exhibitions to see, Shoot Nations and My Life, My Words, opening on Monday, which explores the lives and experiences of people from Liverpool's Black communities and their relationships with the ever-changing city. We had a visitor from the US looking around earlier today and they were blown away at just how much information we have on various aspects of slavery as well as thinking both exhibitions were very interesting and visually stimulating. I have shown many people around the museum but it does not matter how many times I walk through it I always find something to look at or listen to in a new way. Most of the time I am sure people think I am just a visitor like them but I always have an eye on how they react to an exhibit or display, that is my job!

Bye for now. 

Hello there

Well I hope you all had a happy holiday period and managed to relax. I certainly did. I spent several days back home in dear old Yorkshire. Always nice to catch up with the family.

The International Slavery Museum has an exciting series of events and programmes throughout the year, from a US Black History Month event in February to Slavery Remembrance Day in August. We also have Shoot Nations, an exciting new photographic exhibition focusing on global environmental issues through the eyes of young people, starting on 17 January. This is one of a series of exhibitions which highlight issues in the museum galleries – from global inequalities to racism, discrimination and identity. So watch this space for news about upcoming exhibitions.

Ii is now full steam ahead with our planning for phase two of the museum. We are working closely with the architects who will shortly be coming back to me and the team with their initial plans and thoughts. This is an incredibly exciting time to be working at this museum as it offers me and my colleagues the opportunity to have some input into what really could be the world’s leading educational and research centre on the subject of slavery. We are not doing this alone though. I am regularly in contact with international partners who also to some degree focus on slavery. One such institution is the Nantes History Museum.

In December we were visited by Bertrand Guillet, chief heritage curator for the museum. Bertrand was very impressed with the International Slavery Museum and we are looking at how our two institutions can work together, particularly in the field of educational resources. Staying on a French theme I also got to see the magazine article written about Lilian Thuram’s visit to the museum. Hopefully we can take things forward with him and his new organisation.

I have also been in contact with several Polish colleagues whose institutions focus on the many atrocities which took place in Poland during WWII such as the Auschwitz-Birkenau Memorial and Museum and the Galicia Jewish Museum in Krakow, both of which I have visited. One way we are looking to strengthen links with institutions such as these is to develop a forum for museum professionals who work in this area and other forms of genocide and human rights abuses and issues. I will keep you updated on this challenging and progressive venture.

I visited both Auschwitz I and Auschwitz II-Birkenau with a colleague when we stayed in Krakow last year and we were not only moved by the exhibitions and displays in the museum but by the sheer size of Auschwitz II-Birkenau. It was hard to comprehend on a bright sunny day just what happened and it only really hit me on my return. I took many photos, some quite distressing, of the trip which I feel need to be shown. I might include these in a future blog. What it did do was make me even more determined that our museum will not be a neutral one but take a stance on contemporary issues and challenge attitudes and injustices that still exist today.  

Bye for now.

Hello there
Well what a momentous year for the museum it has been.   Where shall I start?  Well how about the fact we have had over 500,000 visitors since we opened, which makes us one of the most visited museums outside of London in a very short space of time.  We launched our exhibitions programme with 'We are one' that celebrated and reflected on the International Slavery Museum's first year and were visited by well known personalities and advocates such as the Reverend Jesse Jackson, the footballer Lillian Thuram, Doreen Lawrence, Floella Benjamin and the noted academic Eric Foner and a host of other dignitaries.   The year continued as it had finished in 2007 with a high level of media interest from around the world.  Probably the most high profile was a live link from the museum for the Today Show which has over 6 million viewers.  I was interviewed by Al Roker for several minutes so no pressure then!  Thankfully I did not make any gaffs.

The museum has been the site of several pilgrimages and has had first time visits from citizens from a plethora of countries from around the world; in particular those from the Diaspora. Not only did many visitors want to visit a museum which focused on one of humanities most heinous acts, transatlantic slavery, but which actively campaigns against contemporary forms of injustice, discrimination and racism.  From the feedback I have personally received, from the thousands of responses left in our response zone area, and the support and interest we have had from some of the leading human rights organisations, we are living up to that objective.

It has also been a year which has had a number of personal high points.  I have been able to attended conferences from Atlanta to Belfast and my personal highlight was the Commonwealth Association of Museums conference in Georgetown, Guyana - the country of my father’s birth.   It is always a pleasure visiting Guyana, a country with unparalleled natural beauty and a rich history but to visit in my capacity as Head of the museum was a very proud moment for me and my family.   In fact, if I had to chose a moment of the year then I would say it was climbing (ok, walking very slowly) up to the peak of Turtle Mountain and overlooking the mighty Essequibo River in the heart of the Guyanese rainforest. 

The museum was also shortlisted for a number of awards which on several occasions we narrowly missed out on.   My own view is that the museum world was not quite ready for a museum which makes such bold statements, being an active and vocal campaigner, challenging contemporary issues.  In time, maybe people will acknowledge this rather than steer away from it.  We are still to hear if we have been successful in being named the European Museum of the Year. The judges who visited were impressed with what we are doing so hopefully 2009 will start with the museum receiving such an accolade.

For those of you who may have visited the museum I look forward to your continued support and hope that those of you who have not feel that 2009 is the year to come to Liverpool and visit the International Slavery Museum.  Liverpool might not officially be the Capital of Culture in 2009 but it is a city rich with culture and cultural institutions on par with any city in the country, London included. 

We are now actively planning the next stage of the International Slavery Museum – a world class educational and research centre located in the Dock Traffic Office adjacent to the current galleries.  We plan to open in 2011 and it will take the museum to a new level.  At times it can be a very challenging job but I would not want to work on any other project.  One that in my view can change the world in which we live.

Bye for now and happy holidays.

Hello there

What a few weeks it has been and one with a strong American theme. First of all, as promised, some feedback regards my trip to Atlanta for the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database launch at Emory University . The conference was very interesting indeed and had a number of academics, students and members of the public attend. There was a great deal of interest from people in the International Slavery Museum and how we hoped to use the database. The database is the most extensive in existence and includes slave voyages from various countries and ports. Liverpool is obviously central to the database. I was approached by one member of the public who told me that the name Liverpool was given to many enslaved Africans in Georgia to denote where the ship had originally sailed from. I explained I had not heard of this before or had seen any documents but that I would follow it up on my return.

Before I flew back to the UK I managed to visit a number of institutions and historic sites connected to Martin Luther King Jr, who was born in Atlanta, such as the King Center  and his birth home. Along with a number of other visitors I was shown around this historic site by Kevin - a  National Park Service ranger. I don't think people take pictures of him very often as he was 'made up' as they say here in Liverpool.  It was quite moving to be in the house where such a prominent individual was born and spent his early years. But in a sense what was even more thought-provoking for me were some of his personal items on display at the King Center. Such as a denim jacket, small suitcase, shirts, hat and books which he took on short trips to deliver speeches or attend rallies. It personalised this truly iconic figure. 

The week before I had the pleasure of meeting the Rev Jesse Jackson (a patron of the International Slavery Museum) for the second time whilst he was in Liverpool as part of a lecture tour of the North West. Last time the Reverend was here he only had a brief tour of the museum (followed by a mass of media) but this time he was with a small entourage and spent almost two hours in the museum. Whilst watching a film on Civil Rights and Martin Luther King Jr the Reverend turned to me and remarked that he was stood next to the Reverend King when he was assassinated on the landing of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis in 1968. The site is now the National Civil Rights Museum. 

It reminded me just how much the museum means to people. From internationally recognized individuals like the Reverend Jackson to visitors from around the diaspora and indeed form the local community. Not all museums have the same effect.

Bye for now.  

Hello there.

Well for those of you who are regular followers of my blog (surely double figures?) then you will know I have a penchant for the beautiful game. We were fortunate enough to be visited last week by the great French defender and World Cup winner Lilian Thuram who was in Liverpool as a patron of the Only a Game? exhibition at World Museum Liverpool.

Lilian is now retried from football but he is looking to start an origanisation which tackles issues such as racism and discrimination in Europe. As a result he wanted to come to the International Slavery Museum to look at some of exhibits which focus on this subject as well as talk about the possibility of some sort of collaboration. Lilian was particularly impressed with our Black Achievers Wall. A message he thinks is important to get across to children of African descent across Europe. 

Some of my colleagues had a good laugh at the attached picture. I have to admit myself it is not difficult to spot the famous footballer and the museum professional. Maybe if I had not smiled quite as much and looked all excited it would have been harder to choose! Sad as it might seem, after the tour and our official discussions, I could not resist asking him to come out of retirement to play a few games for my own team (Leeds United for those who don’t already know). He smiled and asked what league we were now in? He genuinely looked surprised when I told him it was the third tier of the English league. Well, if you don’t ask you don’t get as they say.

I also recently gave a talk to the Merseyside Archaeological Society one evening. I knew the organiser from my days as a PhD student at the University of Liverpool so it was good to catch up. It was held in the Friends Meeting House in Liverpool. This is particularly interesting because of the relationship between Quakers and the abolition movement. Now by no means were all Quakers always against slavery, many owned slaves themselves in the 17th and 18th centuries in particular. That said, when the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade was formed in 1787 with William Wilberforce as its parliamentary spokesperson, several of the founding members were in fact Quakers.

I am also very excited at the prospect of flying to Atlanta, Georgia, later this week, to attend the launch of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database at Emory University. I have been invited to be a panel member which will discuss some of the ways the database can be used. The database has information about almost 35,000 slave voyages and will be an essential tool for research in my opinion. Whilst there I hope to be able to visit a number of institutions and historic sites connected to Martin Luther King Jr, who was born in Atlanta. In particular the King Center and his birthplace.

I will update you on my return.
 
Bye for now.

Hello there

Well I have to start by saying what a momentous, historic and exciting past few weeks it has been. Not only the election of the first Black President of the United States, but the first Black (and youngest), Formula One World Champion.  

People have rightly contacted me to say that both President Elect Obama and Lewis Hamilton need to be included on the Black Achievers Wall in the museum (remember you can email the museum with your nominations). But I am also aware that these two fantastic achievements, often against all the odds, expectations and indeed wishes of many who are not too pleased to see Black people achieve, or be in positions of power, were done with the support of other, and often unrecognized, Black achievers. Namely Anthony Hamilton, his father, who has supported him since a young boy and Michelle Obama, the strong and charismatic partner of Barack Obama.  

I have also been recently reminded of the many Black achievers that have now passed away but who have played a great part in challenging both personal and institutional forms of racism in Britain. I am referring in particular to Walter Tull, who was the subject of an excellent dramatization recently on TV called Walter’s War.

It was in fact written by ISM advocate Kwame Kwei Armah about Tull’s life and the racism he regularly encountered. Even so, he became the first commissioned Black officer in the British Army and led his troops into various battles before being killed on the Western Front in 1918. Tull was also one of the first professional Black footballers and played for amongst others Northampton Town. In fact Arthur Wharton, the first Black professional football player, is already on our Black Achievers Wall.

Staying on the theme of Black achievers, the museum held a reception recently at the House of Lords, hosted by the indefatigable Baroness Howells of St Davids who was recently voted as one of the greatest 100 Black Britons. Baroness Howells is a well respected advocate of the museum and she brought together a range of high profile achievers from all walks of life (politics, sport and business to name a few) to highlight the current and indeed future work of the museum. Some of the attendees were from Liverpool such as Levi Tafari, one of the country’s greatest poets and the fantastic singer/songwriter Jennifer John. David Lammy MP, who was interviewed for our Freedom and Enslavement Wall, Baroness Amos (the first Black woman cabinet minister); ex footballer and TV pundit Garth Crooks and Doreen Lawrence were also present.

On an aside I think I slightly surprised Baroness Amos when I told her I had once sped past her home village of Wakenaam, a village on an island in the middle of the Essequibo River in Guyana, on a speedboat whilst travelling to Fort Zeelandia as part of the Commonwealth Association of Museums conference I attend earlier this year. Let’s just say it was the type of journey where you felt every bump!

It was great to see such support form prominent members of the Black community. For me it showed just how far reaching the museum actually is, yes, transatlantic slavery is central to the museum, but the recognition, and indeed celebration, of Black achievement, often against all the odds and a plethora of obstacles, is also key to the museum, and something we aim to promote in some small way by having displays like the Black Achievers Wall. Hopefully in the future we will be visited by those who have recently achieved so much. So Michelle and Lewis, if you read my blog, please have a word with your husband or take a nice drive up to Liverpool for the day respectively!

Bye for now.

Hello there. Well today I am going to speak about interpretation and art (bear with me here). There were many difficult decisions taken whilst planning the International Slavery Museum, some on the design of the building, the way we displayed exhibits and indeed the content. It was challenging but at the same time exciting and satisfying to think you can shape such an important project.

I believe that on the whole we made the right decisions when planning the International Slavery Museum. I also agree with people who contact me about the content, and say that there is room for expansion in some areas as well as the need for myself, and my team, to be receptive to new information, and indeed revise information due to new research or new methods of interpretation. Interpretation is big news in the museum world. The forthcoming Museums Association Conference will be laden with it.

Interpretation in museums was something I covered when I studied Archaeological Theory at the University of Liverpool (the word theory often made some of the undergrads recoil in horror) focusing on how communities engaged with their local and national heritage and indeed how they viewed and interpreted the past. As part of my research I spent many hours in the former Transatlantic Slavery Gallery. In fact I sent the odd enquiry about certain exhibits to people who are now my colleagues.

As well as working with Black communities here in the UK I also spent time in the United States focusing on the way African American communities engaged with local archaeological projects. From New York, where I visited the African Burial Ground to Ransom Place in Indianapolis. I also went over to Nevada which meant I spent three days on the California Zephyr. A great way to see the country and meet some characters. There is no substitute from visiting somewhere so that you can experience it for yourself.

So here is the arty bit! My artistic side was awakened this weekend when I went to see some of the installations which are part of the Liverpool Biennial. I live in the city centre and whilst walking past what I thought was a derelict warehouse I saw a carousel, yes, I did say carousel. I like to think of myself as an art aficionado (no laughing please) so I went to take a look inside. I ended up signing a waiver to have a quick ride on it! It was the work of an Argentinean artist which was ‘an artistic question about the constancy of everyday life’. Just what I thought (honest) whilst sitting in an armchair, going round on a carousel in a warehouse. There were a number of other installations too. I was particularly taken by the margarine tubs. I love the idea of art being open to the masses so have a look round the city; you never know what you will stumble across.

Bye for now.

Hello there

Well I hope that many of you got to attend Slavery Remembrance Day this year.  Once again it was a very poignant day but at the same time it had many positive and inspirational moments.   There were various performances which took place at the main event site at Otterspool which highlighted the rich African cultures that have influenced so many aspects of life around the world.   Earlier in the day there had been a multi faith act of reflection at St Nicholas Church and on the Thursday the poet and actor Lemn Sissay gave the annual Slavery Remembrance Day lecture at the Town Hall.

Last week really was a particularly busy one.  Not only did we have the Slavery Remembrance events but the 23 August marked the first anniversary of the opening of the International Slavery museum.   And what a year it has been!  Over 300, 000 visitors, international recognition, massive media exposure and a rich array of high profile visitors such as Harry Belafonte; Jesse Jackson and Paul Robeson Jr to name a few.  To mark the occasion we launched We Are One, an exhibition of celebration and reflection.  If you have not managed to visit the museum yet then now is the time to come. The exhibition will be in the museum until January 09.

The 28th was a particularly exciting day as we welcomed the US NBC Today Show  programme as they were broadcasting live from the museum.  The Today Show has over 6 million viewers so it is great exposure for us in the US.   I was interviewed by Al Roker, TODAY anchor and weatherman.  He had been carrying out some research on his family heritage which was part Bahamian and he wanted to visit Liverpool as it was central to the transatlantic slave trade. I even contacted my family members in Guyana and Canada just in case they could tune into the show. You can watch the interview on the msnbc website (right after the advert for a certain food chain).

Even though I have done quite a bit of media since I stared this job (I was on the Dean Sullivan aka Jimmy Corkhill radio show last week!) I have only done one other live TV programme for a local station, not one seen by so many viewers.  Come to think of it, in the opening week of the museum last year I was interviewed for RAI TV in Italy which was apparently dubbed. The kind of embarrassing moment I expect to see on You Tube one day! 

There were quite a few members of the public watching today as the interview took place right in the centre of the museum, it was pretty chaotic but people seemed to find it interesting.   With such a commotion going on I am sure they expected to see someone famous rather than me although there was a round of applause when we finished!

Bye for now. 

Hello there

Well since my return from Paris I have had a pretty varied couple of weeks which amongst other things included several meetings related to our forthcoming exhibition programme. It also included a visit from two judges for the European Museum of the Year award. This is a very prestigious award and goes to show just how successful ISM has been in its first year.  Hopefully this time we will be successful and I feel that the judges went away really understanding the fact that we are a museum which is at the forefront of a campaign to actively challenge present day racism and discrimination and various other injustices which exist. The shortlist is announced in early 2009.

I mentioned our exhibition programme. The plan is to have a varied range of exhibitions within the current galleries which highlight the broad subject of slavery. We are still in the planning stages but we will be shortly announcing our first exhibition which starts later this month, both a celebration and a reflection on the museum's first year. It will include information about all the milestones we have achieved (to date we have had upwards of 275,000 visitors and some very high profile visitors!) as well as the different types of responses we have had, some challenging, some thought provoking and others which are purely offensive. But we feel it is important to show the entire range of responses, positive and negative, so that we can move forward and really make the museum a tool of social change.

Other exhibitions will highlight various forms of contemporary slavery, as well as African sport and the link between natural history and slavery which uses many of the plant collections we have in National Museums Liverpool. It is an exciting programme so watch this space for further announcements.

The forthcoming week is a very interesting one, for starters I get out of the office on a few occasions (I have a great view of the Albert Dock from my office but when it is sunny it is hard being sat behind my desk!) Tomorrow I am meeting two respected local community historians to look at some archives which might be in need of being rescued from a building due to be renovated and then I go to London to visit the British Film Institute mediatheque to get some ideas for our Phase 2 resource centre. We want the resource centre to include a range of media so visits to established media facilities are really helpful. I'll let you know how it all went in my next blog post.

Remember; drop me a line if you have any comments about the International Slavery Museum.

Bye for now.  

Bonjour!

Last week I was fortunate enough to be in Paris for the launch of the Transatlantic Slavery Gallery exhibition at the UNESCO HQ. Along with Katérina Stenou, Director of the Division of Cultural Policies and Intercultural Dialogue and HE Mr Peter Landymore, Ambassador, permanent delegate of the United Kingdom to UNESCO, I said a few words. It was well attended by a number of delegates; interestingly one was a relative of the Senegalese poet and statesman Léopold Senghor who is on our Black Achievers Wall. 

It was a very satisfying occasion as this was the culmination of at least 12 months work by several members of National Museums Liverpool and UNESCO staff. The conception of this exhibition began when I met Edmond whilst attending a conference in London. Edmond was fully aware that the Transatlantic Slavery Gallery was closing down as a result of the International Slavery Museum opening up on 23 August 2007. A date familiar with UNESCO as it is Slavery Remembrance Day.

Up until June last year the Transatlantic Slavery Gallery in the Merseyside Maritime Museum was one of the most challenging, thought provoking and informative galleries in the world on the subject and was visited by politicians and dignitaries form most countries around the world. As such it had quality, well researched displays and information panels, of which 30 now make up this touring exhibition.

ISM is one of the newest and most highly technological museums in the world and as such there was the possibility that these panels might not be used again. But both Edmond and I agreed that this would be a great loss, especially as it is quite obvious that many museums, some which have exhibitions and displays about transatlantic slavery, do not have the resources available to them that ISM does.

Not one panel was simply packaged and sent to Paris. We went over all the panels to see whether we felt the information was still relevant and indeed accurate. Due to the professionalism and expertise of people like Tony Tibbles, in 1994 the curator but now director of the Merseyside Maritime Museum, we felt that most of the panels would still be a valuable educational tool on the subject. Along with some new panels detailing the work of ISM our learning team designed some educational materials to accompany the exhibition.

As well as being an informative exhibition on the subject of transatlantic slavery it will hopefully visit many countries and continents in the coming years. I was pleased to hear that representatives from Ghana, Serra Leone, Angola and Barbados had enquired about the exhibition.

Well I could not justify three days in Paris just for the launch so I had a very busy schedule of visiting museums and art galleries which might inspire me in some way whist planning the research and resource centre for Phase 2 of ISM.  I was particularly impressed with the Centre Pompidou and its array of stylish and very functional sections. I found the media centre to be very interesting with its simple layout and vast archive of music and art videos. I am not an art aficionado, or indeed a prude, but I was slightly embarrassed by finding myself looking at a film of the Viennese actionist artist Hermann Nitsch. Lets just say it would be shown after the watershed in the UK so I quickly fumbled with the mouse to change the film!

I also managed to visit the architectural wonder which is the Institut du Monde Arabe. It covers Arabic art and the sciences and has a large exhibition area (which had a temporary café inside serving great coffee) a museum and library. It was one of the 'Grands Projets' in the 1980s, initiated by Francois Mitterand, the French president. Other projects included new wings at the Louvre and the Musee D’Orsay.

One final observation is that all the places I visited had an entrance fee, some only a few Euros but it does add up. It made me realize that here in Liverpool we have free entrance to world class museums and art galleries unlike anywhere else in the world.

But before I left France my admiration for French innovation and architecture was severely challenged by having to spend several hours in Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport. I understand that certain low cost airlines might not be given a prime slot but to say that the terminal where you go to fly to Liverpool was dreary is an understatement. You will get a flavour of the place when I say it had a café there which made Little Chef look like The Ritz. No offence to Little Chef, I used to work at one for over two years many years ago!

Au revoir.

Hello there.

Well I visited Ireland for the second time this year but this time the South, Dublin to be precise. It was for WAC-6  which I know sounds like a 60s TV space drama but it is in fact the World Archaeological Congress. In fact come to think of it some of you might be wishing I was now going to talk about a 60s TV space drama! If not, keep reading. 

Now at first you might be thinking what is the connection between archaeology and museums? Well in the case of the International Slavery Museum we believe that archaeological research can help us further understand what life might have been like on some of the many plantations in the Americas. For instance within the Enslavement and Middle Passage Gallery we have a replica of a plantation in St Kitts where Dr Rob Philpott, Head of Archaeology here at NML has carried out fieldwork for a number of years.

I was part of a session on 'Archaeologists, Museums, Monuments and Anti-Monuments' (academics love long titles!) which I co organised with some old friends from the US, Professor Bob Paynter from UMASS and Dr Warren Perry from CCSU. I met Bob and Warren in 2002 when I was researching for my PhD in Archaeology. Bob has worked on the WEB Du Bois boyhood site for a number of years. Du Bois was a major figure who wrote The Souls of Black Folk a classic work of American literature and is quite rightly on our Black Achievers Wall. I visited a number of African American archaeological sites when I was over there; including the African Burial Ground in New York City which Warren worked on as did another session participant Michael Blakey.

I have to say that the session went really well (no heckling or people falling asleep is a good start in my book) and included some fascinating papers. One was given by Daryle Rigney, Yunggorendi First Nations Centre, Flinders University with the interesting title - 'Encountering the Common Knobby Club Rush: reconciliation, public art and whiteness'. For those of you like me who are not experts on Australian plant life a knobby club rush is a plant which grows along the coastline and was used in the paper to symbolize how indigenous cultures, like this resilient plant, did not break under the force of the prevailing wind, in this case represented by European settlers and their early encounters with the indigenous population, in an already occupied land. Truly fascinating. Another interesting few days in a consistently interesting job.

Hello there

One of the great things about my job is how incredibly varied it can be. I have frequently written about the different themed conferences I have attended, the many well known dignitaries I have met and the trips to other exciting and sometimes challenging museums. But I also get to do some curatorial work now and again, well, for an afternoon anyway!

The International Slavery Museum is part of a collaborative project with UNESCO which developed the Transatlantic Slavery gallery touring exhibition. The exhibition consists of over 30 panels which were part of the now closed Transatlantic Slavery gallery which was located up until last June in the Merseyside Maritime Museum. We have also designed some new panels for the exhibition explaining the work of the International Slavery Museum. It is a great project for two reasons in particular. Although some years old, the panels from the previous gallery are well written and informative and ideal for museums around the world who might not be able to resource new panels on the subject of transatlantic slavery. Secondly, it shows how committed we at the museum are in forging new international partnerships and links with sometimes smaller and less well resourced museums around the world, particularly in Africa.

Before the launch of the exhibition in Paris in July though the panels had to actually get there and this is where I came in! I was for an afternoon under the supervision (bossed around in my view!) of Angela Robinson - curator of transatlantic slavery here at the museum. We needed to get all the panels ready to be picked up by the specialist haulage company who would take them to Paris. This sounds easier than it was. The panels are quite heavy and needed to be carefully packed and inventoried ready for transportation. They were being stored in one of several specialist storage facilities that National Museums Liverpool has in Liverpool (I am afraid I cannot divulge the location though!).  

I have to say I was pretty excited at going behind the scenes of the organization so to speak. Not something I always have the time to do. Well we put in some hard graft as we say in Yorkshire. It is also worth stressing for those of you wanting a career in museums that it is definitely not the quaint profession that people often expect. Museums can be bustling hives of activity where most professionals in various departments have to multitask on most days... me included!

In contrast, earlier today I met with Doreen Lawrence OBE, mum of the murdered Black teenager Stephen Lawrence. Many of you will have heard of the murder of Stephen Lawrence in 1993 and the subsequent inquiry but I also know that many younger people have not. Indeed not everyone here in Liverpool or Merseyside has heard of Anthony Walker who I spoke about in my last blog post. So it was a very poignant moment for the museum when someone as well respected and determined as Doreen Lawrence visited us. I am pleased to say she liked how we presented the subject of transatlantic slavery and its legacies in the museum. She told me about the newly opened Stephen Lawrence Centre in Deptford, South London  and we also discussed how our two organisations might collaborate in the future.

Watch this space for any developments.

Hello there

As usual I have had a very interesting and varied past couple of weeks. I attended the 'Closing of the Slave Trades: Transatlantic Perspectives' conference at Queens University, Belfast, Northern Ireland , co-sponsored by the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition at Yale University. It was attended by museum professionals, public historians, and scholars from a variety of disciplines and institutions.  My talk focused on Phase 2 of the International Slavery Museum and the opening of the Research and Resource centre.

Even though Belfast City Centre is like many other lively European capital cities, with its grand historic buildings and trendy high street shops it is still a deeply divided city in many respects. This was highlighted when we went on a taxi tour of some of the political murals near the Falls Road, which is a largely nationalist and Catholic area. One of the murals depicted the great African American abolitionist Frederick Douglass. I, like many people from the UK, was brought up on news of the ‘Troubles’ and was happy to see the Northern Ireland peace process progress. But the remembrance gardens, the tone of the murals and most shocking for me, the imposing corrugated iron wall, often called the Peace Line, that divides large swathes of Protestant and Catholic Belfast shows there is still a long way to go before the city is free from sectarianism and intolerance.

There is also a big link, in fact a Titanic one (I could not resist!), between Belfast and Liverpool.  The Titanic was built at Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast and even though she never berthed at Liverpool she was owned by White Star Line of Liverpool. Visit the Titanic, Lusitania and the Forgotten Empress gallery at the Merseyside Maritime Museum for more information.

Another important aspect of my job is that of supporting local organizations in various campaigns against forms of injustice, inequality and indeed intolerance.  Along with a colleague I attended the Anthony Walker Foundation Festival 2008 event at Hope University. The International Slavery Museum had a stand there with information about the museum.  It was a lively and indeed poignant event. I watched a number of rappers perform very loud (do I sound old?) but meaningful performances. The aim of the event was to bring young people together from all backgrounds and to focus on positive messages. I only have the utmost respect for the Walker family, who out of the tragic loss of a son and brother has managed to start a movement which promotes togetherness rather than division.  Truly admirable.

Watch this space.

Hello there
As I said in my previous blog I recently attended the Commonwealth Association of Museums conference in Guyana where I was fortunate enough to meet a number of museum professionals from Africa and the Caribbean.   One of them, Terry Nyambe, Assistant Keeper of Ichthyology at the Livingstone Museum in Zambia sent me the attached picture.   Terry was constantly telling us all how beautiful Zambia was and looking at the following website I agree:  http://www.zambiatourism.com/travel/places/museum.htm.

The picture also proves two things.  One that I did actually visit the rainforest and two that I am a Leeds United fan!   Not something that everyone normally brags about but to me it is more than just shouting at a group of overpaid men running around a field.  No, it is about passion, belonging and indeed heritage.  You might think these are bold statements but let me expand.  

My family history is something I am both interested in and proud.   My Guyanese and Yorkshire parents, my friends, my hometown and the environment I grew up in have shaped to a great degree my view of the world. My brother and most of my friends were Leeds fans, so it was natural for me to follow in their footsteps; it made me feel part of a larger group with a shared passion.  But Leeds United’s ground, Elland Road, in the early 80s in particular was a haven of racist abuse and bigotry, often aimed at opposing Black and Asian players and fans: http://www.kickitout.org/.  

Sometimes I would feel very uncomfortable when hundreds of people all chanted something racist but at the same time I refused to leave or walk away.   I am a firm believer that there is no place that Black and minority ethnic individuals should not be.  There are no enclaves which we should not share.   I am proud to be a Yorkshireman, and even though we were rubbish in the recent League One play offs at Wembley, I am a loyal Leeds fan.   It is part of my very rich and diverse heritage.  

It has also been very satisfying that at the very core of Leeds United teams in the past few years have been a number of Black players.  For instance, the South African player Lucas Radebe is still idolized at Leeds even though he stopped playing several years ago.   Interestingly he used to play for a team called Kaizer Chiefs in South Africa, a name I am sure is well known by many music aficionados (the band really are Leeds United supporters!). What is an uncomfortable juxtaposition though is how some people chant his name but might also come out with a racist comment.   I have not yet quite managed to get to grips with this concept.

The International Slavery Museum looks to show how people of the African Diaspora, including footballers, have shaped the world and achieved in all sorts of fields and disciplines: http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/ism/black_achievers_wall.asp. 

For me, however illogical and infuriating it can be, watching a game of football and feeling like I have as much right to be there as anyone else, is part of that.   

Watch this space.

Hello there

Well I am pleased to announce my return to the world of blogging. The last time I wrote a blog post was way back in October. So what have I been doing since then? Well the answer is plenty!  First if all let me give you an update about the museum. We have had a fantastic response to the museum, from the public, museum professionals, academics and most importantly the local community. To date we have had upwards of 210,000 visitors. This is higher than we expected and we will hopefully exceed our annual forecast. We realise that there is still much work to do but in a way there always should be for a museum.  We aim to be receptive to ideas, comments and indeed criticisms but we truly believe we are a living and breathing museum and as such updating; revising and changing information as well as views and theories is part of that process.

Quite a lot of my time has been spent on putting together various strategies and policies for the museum.  This means that I have been having regular meetings with colleagues from various departments, as well as Angela Robinson - the curator of transatlantic slavery who is the person who looks after the museum collections. Angela quite rightly gets mad when I am sometimes referred to as the curator of the museum in the newspaper or on radio. But I always bring her a small present back from my travels to stay in her good books!

One of those policies is our new collecting policy. Not only do we aim to keep collecting archives and ephemera which relate to transatlantic slavery but we are looking to expand our collections into new areas. For instance, we already have in the museum a number of African American objects, what are often called ‘Black Americana’, objects such as prints, books, toys, games, ornaments or various household memorabilia, often produced from the 1920s through the 1950s in America. Some of these are on display in the Legacy gallery at the museum. Many of these objects depict racist stereotypical images and can be extremely offensive in their nature. We feel it is important though to highlight how these objects and images were used, and indeed tolerated, in popular recent culture.   

What we are now looking to do is increase our Black British memorabilia collections.  Again, some of these objects are very disturbing but we also aim to collect uplifting aspects of Black British life. If someone has an object that they feel we would be interested in please contact us here at the International Slavery Museum.

Another policy we have been developing is our international policy. As an internationally recognized museum we understand the need for us to build collaborations with a number of different countries, especially those who, like Britain, played a central role in transatlantic slavery. As part of this policy I was recently in Guyana for the Commonwealth Association of Museums conference on ‘Museums and Diversity’. I gave a paper titled ‘The International Slavery Museum: an active campaigner’. I wanted to draw attention in the paper not only to the fact that we want to work with museums in other countries, but how I see the museum as actively campaigning against contemporary forms of racism and discrimination as well as forms of contemporary slavery and bonded labour. This makes us an active museum, not a neutral one, and I challenge those that think we should be.

I also got to meet Dr Frank Anthony - the Minister for Culture, Youth and Sport. We talked about ways that we could link with museum and heritage institutions in Guyana, a country which we mention many times in the International Slavery Museum but which until 1966 was called British Guiana. There are many links between Liverpool and Guyana. One of them being that the family of four times Prime Minister William Gladstone owned a plantation near a town called Vreed-en-Hoop in a region of British Guiana called Demerara, a word which is now synonymous with brown sugar around the world. It was a very positive meeting and from it came an official invitation to participate in CARIFESTA.  We even managed to make the national press. The picture is probably the worst ever taken of me though!

Along with other delegates of the conference I managed to visit Iwokrama, a rainforest conservation and development centre. It aims to show how tropical forests can be conserved and sustained providing social, ecological and economic benefits to communities locally and indeed internationally.

On the second day we were told we would be going on a short hike up a very small mountain.  Alarm bells began to ring at the mention of the word mountain. Anyway, 2 hours and a lot of puffing and panting later I reached the top of Turtle Mountain. It was well worth the effort with beautiful views of pristine rainforest and the Essequibo River.

So I am pleased to say that the museum is a great success and there are some very exciting, as well as challenging, times ahead.  Thanks again to all of you who have visited the museum, and for those who have not had the chance, I hope you can make it soon.  Watch this space.

Hello there! The various presentations I mentioned in my last blog post about Black History Month, volunteers and lots of talks went really well (I was not jeered anyway). The audiences were all very different and that is one of the things I like about this job. At the Harris Museum in Preston I had to speak for 30 minutes, without using a PowerPoint to hide behind, to a mixed group with several members of the Preston Black community in the audience.  It is not a large community but incredibly varied with a fascinating history. Currently on show at the museum is an exhibition called Bitter Sweet: Legacies of Sugar and Slavery in the Caribbean until March 2008.

My last engagement was at Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford. My sister Lorraine lives there (she told me not to say older sister!) so I stayed over for the weekend. On the Saturday I was fortunate enough to see Oxford United v Woking with my brother-in-law Tom and nephew Samuel (both Arsenal fans unfortunately). It was truly a battle between giants of the lower divisions (minus goals or indeed excitement).

The rest of my time was spent discussing and planning the impending havoc of my niece Cara’s 18th birthday party. Over 200 of her friends (yes, I did say 200) will be strutting their stuff until the early hours in a few weeks. A table for the oldies has been arranged at the back of the room to save her from any embarrassment.

This week has been a really interesting one. Yesterday I had the pleasure to interview Nkosinathi Biko, son of the South African activist Steve Biko, and Chief Executive Officer of the Steve Biko Foundation. He is here along with his brother and mother for an event at the Merseyside Maritime Museum this evening.

Yesterday evening I gave a talk at a Manchester Black Health Agency event to commemorate the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade act. It was very well attended and it was a pleasure to have been invited to speak. The only downside of the evening was that my train back to Liverpool broke down just outside Newton-le-Willows. I set off at 11pm. I got back to Liverpool at 2am!

Well I will sign off for now but before I do an apology to my legion of football blog fans. Last week I said Leeds United were playing Millwall. It was in fact Brighton (we won 1-0). Tomorrow is Millwall so hopefully we can keep the unbeaten run going.

Well I have been silent for over a week as I have been on leave. I went back to see my family in dear old Tadcaster. I am sure you have now all seen the fantastic website which shows you that Tadcaster is an ideal holiday location. Forget about Spain, France or the USA, save on your carbon footprint and travel to Tadcaster on the Yorkshire coastliner bus from Leeds station!

The week prior to my mini break was a really interesting one. On Monday 1 October I gave the keynote speech to open Trafford Black History Month at the Imperial War Museum North. It was a diverse audience, with local schoolchildren, civic dignitaries (I had a coffee with the mayor!) and museum professionals. I talked about the development of the International Slavery Museum as well as the need for Black History Month and indeed the teaching of Black history in schools.

On the Tuesday it was a pleasure to meet and interview Paul Robeson Jr, an advocate of the Paul Robeson Institute, and on Wednesday we held the museum’s first volunteer day. If you are interested in volunteering at the International Slavery Museum you can email Claire Holden our volunteer co-ordinator.

Yesterday I gave a talk to the St Helens Historical Society on the development of the museum. One of the most interesting aspects of my job is meeting all sorts of audiences, and so later this week I am giving several other presentations. Tomorrow at the Harris Museum in Preston on ‘Issues regarding the historical and contemporary representation of transatlantic slavery and enslavement in museums’, then on Thursday I am speaking at a seminar for the Communities and Local Government Department about the need to highlight Black history in museums and on Friday I am at Pitt Rivers Museum in Oxford for a lunchtime seminar for students and staff.

So a pretty busy week. But my older sister lives in Oxford so I can stay with her and the family over the weekend which I am looking forward to.

 I’ll sign off for now but just before I go (I know my football blog info is a highlight for some people!) I have to let you know that this weekend Leeds United have the privilege of hosting Millwall at Elland Road. Should be interesting to say the least. Last Saturday we drew with Leyton Orient and missed a penalty to win in the last few minutes. Not good for my blood pressure. The highs and lows of being a football fan!

 

Hello all

So what have I been up to since my last blog post? Well, it has been pretty varied. Last Monday I did an interview for the Yorkshire Evening Post. I have to say that this could be seen as the pinnacle of a career for a Yorkshireman. The journalist was called John Woodcock, a very nice easy going character. He got very excited when I told him I was brought up in Tadcaster. For anyone that likes real ale then Tadcaster is the place to be brought up.

I have had to do a lot of media in the past few weeks, some good some not so good. It depends very much on the interviewer. Some are very easy going and friendly; others seem to think they are doing me a favour by talking to me. It is part of the job that has taken me a while to get used to but at the end of the day it is positive that I have the opportunity to raise the profile of the museum.

This coming week is a very exciting one for me as not only is it the start of Black History Month but I will get to meet the son of the greatly talented Paul Robeson - an actor, singer and lawyer who was unpopular with the American government in the 1930s as he visited the Soviet Union. On his return to the United States, he refused to sing to segregated audiences. I am pleased to say that Paul Robeson has been added to our Black Achievers Wall (remember, you can nominate your own Black achiever by sending me an email).

I'll sign off for now. By the way, I was in a good mood most of the week as we beat Swansea 2-0 but on Saturday we were cheated out of 2 points by a referee who sent off 2 players! Bitter, me, a Leeds fan... no way!

Hello fellow bloggers. This is my first journey into the technical superhighway that is blogging. I will try and be as interesting as I can but bear with me ok. It might take me a while to get into the swing of things. I have been asked to keep you updated about some of the things I do as part of my job as Head of the International Slavery Museum, and also as a Leeds United supporting vegan Yorkshireman. A strange mix if there ever was one!

The first Phase of the International Slavery Museum opened on 23 August 2007 – Slavery Remembrance Day here in Liverpool. It was hectic to say the least in the weeks up to opening but it was all worth while. The libation and cultural activities events which took place at Slavery Remembrance Day at Otterspool were very successful and grow year by year. Many of the people who attended the event then came down to Albert Dock to visit the museum.

We had approximately 2,000 visitors per day for the first five days and up until today we have in the region of 20,000 visits. The feedback has been very positive and although you will not always please everyone a museum in my view should not try to anyway. We want to provoke reaction, debate and dialogue. We might not have got everything right straight away but the museum is a living and breathing one and as such we can adapt to both public opinion and indeed the changing research and information around the subject of slavery.

I want to tell you though about one of the many presentations that I am asked to give these days. It was part of the BOUND conference at Tate Liverpool on Saturday 15 September. Phase 2 of the International Slavery Museum, which will be housed in the Dock traffic Office, the old Granada TV building, will contain a research and education centre, along with public spaces and exhibition space. As a museum we want to cover many aspects of slavery, not just transatlantic slavery, although that is still at the very core of what we are about. As such I wanted to meet professionals who worked in areas of contemporary slavery, such as Anti-Slavery International and Stop the Traffik . Working alongside partners like this I hope to make the International Slavery Museum an active participant in the combating of current forms of slavery. As Dr David Fleming – Director of National Museums Liverpool (the man on the left of Jesse Jackson in the photo above) has said on many occasions – museums should not, and indeed cannot, be neutral.

I’ll sign off for now.  See you next week (hopefully I’ll be in a good mood if we beat Swansea City at the weekend!).
Richard