National Museums Liverpool Blog - black history

A divine Clarice Cliff 'tea for two' set from Age of Jazz.

It's an eclectic selection and there are some great books, my personal favourites being 'When Time Began to Rant and Rage...' which is a fab book of Irish figurative work and totally worth a fiver,  Age of Jazz: British Arts Deco Ceramics as I'm a sucker for a deco teaset, and British Watercolours and Drawings from the Lady Lever's collection.

If you've still not got a John Moores catalogue then now is the time to buy one as they're reduced to £7.50. And if you buy it from the Walker shop you get the John Moores China version for free.

Vikky Evans Hubbard from the International Slavery Museum has news of a talk this Thursday:

An evacuee. Courtesy of the Imperial War Museum

Stephen's book, ‘Mother Country - Britain's Black Community on the Home Front, 1939-45’, unearths a ‘hidden history’ of Britain and the Second World War.

At the International Slavery Museum this Thursday 22 November at 1.30pm, Stephen will give an illustrated talk highlighting some of the forgotten Britons he features in the book, including the community leaders Dr Harold Moody and Learie Constantine, Esther Bruce, singer Adelaide Hall and bandleader Ken 'Snakehips' Johnson.

The book also explores the experiences of Black evacuees and Black senior citizens who Stephen interviewed about the home front in Africa and the Caribbean.

Stephen will also screen the short documentary he made about his adopted aunt, Esther Bruce: ‘Aunt Esther’s Story’.  In the 1930s Esther made dresses for the famous African American singer Elisabeth Welch and she also be-friended another citizen of London at that time, the Jamaican nationalist Marcus Garvey.

The talk will be held in the lecture theatre on the fourth floor, full details are on the website. Places are free but limited, please call 0151 478 4456 to reserve a place.

Tributes to be paid to the life and work of Liverpool based performer Elroy Josephs (1939-1997).

As part of our Black History Month 2012 programme, the International Slavery Museum presents a tribute to actor and dancer, Elroy Josephs in an evening of movement and memories that celebrates the work and artistic achievements of the Liverpool-based artist.

Elroy, who arrived in the UK from Jamaica in 1956 developed a ground breaking fusion of African-Caribbean and European dance styles that changed the way dancers and choreographers thought about movement. Central to this was his understanding of plantation slavery in the Caribbean and its colonial legacy. How he felt this history lived within him and informed his work and gave it the power and emotion he felt was essential for dance to have. Despite Elroy’s influence on British dance heritage, (he was the first Black dance tutor at a British University), his story is largely absent from the history of British Dance.

Through a collaboration between International Slavery Museum, performance student Cherise Weaver and staff and students at Enterprise South Liverpool Academy, the present generation have been introduced to Joseph's technique who have then used this as the basis for an original piece.

Join us at the International Slavery Museum on 12 October at 6pm where it will be performed. The evening will use documentary footage, music, movement and former student’s recollections, as well as an overview of Elroy's life, work and impact on the creative arts scene in Liverpool.

Places are free, but please book your space on 0151 478 4456.

National Museums Liverpool's Black History Month 2012 poster

Hello,

Welcome to Black History Month (BHM).  First of all you can find a list of the varied events we have planned by clicking here. Over the past few years BHM has had a number of detractors, mainly by those who point out that every month should be a BHM and that Black history should be embedded in all history taught as part of the curriculum.  I could not agree more, however, I still believe it is a very worthwhile event as it often the first time some people, of all ages, engage with Black history.  This might not be ideal but it is a fact.  We have similar experiences here at the Museum.  For many people we are an introduction not only to transatlantic slavery and contemporary forms of slavery but African achievement, African culture, African civilization and indeed African resistance.  All these subjects should be obligatory aspects of world and British history, but alas, we are not there quite yet, so in the meantime, let’s get behind BHM events nationwide.

Dr. Carter G. Woodson, to many the father of African American history and author of the seminal The Mis-education of the Negro  which highlighted the power of education for  African Americans, established what at the time was called ‘Negro History Week’ in 1926, which became Black History Month.  In the US this traditionally takes place in February, the reason being that it contains the birthdays of two influential figures who Woodson thought had greatly impacted on the lives of African Americans - Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln.  Prior to this Woodson had also established the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (now called the Association for the Study of Afro-American Life and History) in 1915 which aimed to research,  promote, preserve and disseminate Black history and culture.  The development of appropriate language has followed to some degree the development of the study and understanding of Black history.  As such, today terms such as ‘negro’ widely used in the 18th to 20th centuries to describe someone of African descent is now considered derogatory and should only be used in a specific historic context.

In the 1980s October was chosen as BHM in the UK as it was at the beginning of a new academic year and thus a good time for young people to get involved.  A number of useful BHM related resources can be accessed at the Jorum website which shares UK Further and Higher Education learning and teaching resources.  More information about how BHM came about can be found at Black History Month UK and Merseyside wide events can be found at the Merseyside Black History Month Group site.

Before I go…10 Did You Know Black History facts?

Dr Maulana Karenga, the founder of Kwaanza who delivered the 2011 Slavery Remembrance Day lecture in Liverpool was the guest of the Greater London Council for what is widely believed to be the first UK BHM event in 1987.

The Kuumba Imani community centre in Toxteth, Liverpool was named after two guiding principles of  Kwaanza -  Kuumba (Creativity) and Imani (Faith).

Over 175,000 Black troops served in the Union army and navy during the American Civil War.

During a promotional tour of England in 1944 the boxing legend Joe Louis signed for Liverpool FC.

The activist Michael de Freitas changed his name to Michael X after meeting Malcolm X who was visiting England in 1965.

John Richard Archer, who became London’s first Black mayor in 1913 when elected in Battersea, was born in Liverpool.

Lord Learie Constantine, cricket legend and Britain’s first Black peer, played for Nelson Cricket Club in Lancashire.

Bahamas born Dr. Allan Glaisyer Minns was the first Black mayor in England, elected at Thetford, Norfolk in 1904.

During the 2nd and 3rd centuries a North African auxiliary unit Numerus Maurorum Aurelianorum was stationed at the Roman fort of Aballava (modern Burgh-by-Sands) at the western end of Hadrian’s Wall in Cumbria.

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, joint winner of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize is the 24th President of Liberia and the first elected female Head of State in Africa.

Bye for now,
Richard

Did you know that almost eighty Africans are known to have donated more than 500 objects to World Museum. Their donations helped to create one of the most important historical collections of African cultural artefacts in Britain.

A new display at World Museum shows photographic portraits of some of the West Africans who made donations to the museum between 1897 and 1916.

Most of them were taken by West African photographers. All the donors were friends or contacts of Arnold Ridyard, the steamship engineer who transported their gifts to Liverpool.

Ridyard was a prolific collector himself. He brought an astonishing total of 6,450 artefacts and natural history ‘specimens’ to the museum in Liverpool while serving as Chief Engineer with Elder Dempster & Company’s West African shipping service.

Little is known about some of Ridyard’s West African friends and collaborators so Zachary Kingdon, Curator of African Collections at World Museum, is helping to uncover their forgotten stories through his current research.

The picture below is of Nii Kojo Ababio IV, (formerly Amoako Atta) (1873 - 1938). Kojo Ababio IV was Mantse, or ‘king’, of the Alata Quarter of Accra’s James Town in the Gold Coast (now Ghana). He was an important figure in Accra’s politics during the colonial period. He donated ten Ga artefacts to the museum, four of which are on display in the World Cultures gallery in the museum on the third floor.

Photographer: J.K. Bruce-Vanderpuije, Accra c.1935. Permission: Isaac Bruce-Vanderpuije.

Crowds prepare to watch the action at Elland Road, Leeds

In 2008 I wrote a blog about my experiences as a Leeds United fan and how Elland Road in the early 80s was a haven of racist abuse and bigotry, usually aimed at opposing Black and Asian players and fans.  I explained how I felt uncomfortable when hundreds of people chanted something racist but at the same time I refused to leave or walk away.  I had as much right as anyone to be there, I was a Black Yorkshireman and proud of it.

I also placed a link to Kick it Out, an initiative unthinkable in the 80s, established in 1997, with the admirable aim of challenging discrimination and encouraging inclusive practices in the game.  So it is sad that in 2012 there is the need to blog about such issues, showing there is plenty of work to do.

There have been a number of articles and statements made about several recent high profile examples of allegations of racist abuse in football which to some degree have sadly overshadowed the success of various anti-racism campaigns and initiatives. Football clubs have a responsibility in the first instance to their supporters and local community. In Liverpool for example, a city with an international slavery museum, a city with the Anthony Walker Foundation and like-minded organizations fighting against racism and bigotry, what is needed, whatever the outcome of such investigations, is a statement that racism and discrimination is totally unacceptable in the modern game and that cultural misunderstandings should not be a smokescreen for unacceptable comments.

Football clubs should take the initiative, and educate British and international players on the cultural differences which might exist in their own changing rooms and what as a result is acceptable behaviour and use of language. Also, I hope that international footballing bodies also begin to look long and hard at how they deal with racist incidents on and off the pitch.  A handshake does not adequately settle racist abuse between players and racist monkey chants at Black players in various European countries is not eradicated by paltry fines. Come on football; get a grip of the situation. 

Dr Richard Benjamin, Head of International Slavery Museum

This year we've got our busiest ever programme for Black History Month, with lots of free events taking place across several venues. Here's some information about the subject of one of the first talks, activist Olive Morris, from education manager Vikky Evans-Hubbard:

Copyright Lambeth Archives

In her short life, Olive Morris co-founded the Brixton Black Women’s Group and the Organisation of Women of Asian and African Descent (OWAAD) and was part of the British Black Panther Movement. She campaigned for access to education, decent living conditions for Black communities and fought against state and police repression. Despite dying at a young age, she empowered the people who lived and worked around her.
 
At the project’s inception, there were no public records about Olive Morris, and no information about her was available on the internet.
 
This long term project was started in 2006 by Brixton-based artist Ana Laura Lopez de la Torre, when she encountered a photograph of Olive Morris taken by British Black Panthers’ photographer Neil Kenlock. The photo shows Olive Morris standing at a Black Panther Movement demonstration in Coldharbour Lane in 1969, and holding a placard reading: “BLACK SUFFERER FIGHT PIG POLICE BRUTALITY”. Research into this particular moment in local history led to a meeting with community activist Liz Obi, a friend and colleague of Olive Morris, who then become a key collaborator in the project.  
 
On Monday 3 October the International Slavery Museum is pleased to welcome Nadja Middleton, from the Remembering Olive Collective, who will tell us more about this inspirational young woman's life and the project that has preserved her memory.
 
During October, Olive Morris will be added to the Black achievers wall in the Legacy gallery.
 
To reserve a place for this free event, please call 0151 478 4432."

Visitor at the Living Apart exhibition

Hello

Well there have been plenty of things happening here at the museum since my last blog post. We have launched three very successful and eclectic exhibitions: Living Apart: photographs of apartheid by Ian Berry; '42' Women of Sierra Leone, a series of photographs of Sierra Leonean women, highlighting the alarming fact that life expectancy for them is only 42 and Toxteth 1981, a community exhibition developed in collaboration with the Merseyside Black History Month Group to mark the 30th anniversary in July 2011 of the 1981 riots in Toxteth, Liverpool. The latter involved members of the Liverpool Black community who lived in Toxteth during the disturbances loaning photographic material for the exhibition. The images gave them a voice which I believe is very important if museums are to be truly seen as a resource by the local community in particular.

The power of images was further highlighted on a recent trip to London where I visited one of the most disturbing and thought provoking exhibitions I had seen in quite a while called Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America at Rivington Place gallery. The room itself was small with whitewashed walls and I was the only person in there for nearly an hour. It was quiet, solemn, disturbing and it made me angry. Angry that such horrific acts of violence were made into macabre souvenir postcards, which showed people laughing and smiling at the horrific suffering of the victims. Tragically children as young as 4 were taken along to witness such barbarous acts.  

I was familiar with several of the images as we have them on display in the racism and discrimination section of our Legacy gallery. That said, we do not have the postcards, and in some ways seeing them in their original form made it even more chilling. Even after five years at the International Slavery Museum I am not desensitized from the human suffering which is on display. I believe to do so would be to lose part of one’s own humanity.

James Allen - the collector and custodian of the objects - noted:

"I believe the photographer was more than a perceptive spectator at lynchings. The photographic act played as significant a role in the ritual as torture or souvenir grabbing... Even dead, the victims were without sanctuary."

Finally, we have now completed our new ramp leading to the Dock Traffic Office.  By early next year we hope to have a public offer of some kind which will allow people to see what a fantastic building it is and get an idea our plans for the state-of-the-art education and research centre we will be developing in the space. Watch out for further announcements.

Bye for now.

FELA! is a new musical that is taking the world by storm! Here is our Education Manager, Vikky Evans-Hubbard, from the International Slavery Museum to tell us more about it...

While in London recently I was lucky enough to see the London Production of FELA! at the Royal National Theatre. The musical, produced by Jay-Z and Will and Jada Smith, tells the story of Afrobeat pioneer and political activist Fela Anikulapo-Kuti.
 
Born into a middle class Nigerian family in 1938,  a cousin of writer Wole Soyinka, who was later to win the Nobel Prize for Literature, his mother was a well renowned political activist in the anti-colonial movement, and he was exposed to political ideas at an early age.
 
His belief that art should be political meant that inevitably his music carried strong messages. His influences included the Black Power Movement, discovered while in the United States, this led him to change his middle name to Anikulapo (meaning "he who carries death in his pouch"), stating that his original middle name of Ransome was a slave name.
 
Fela's music, 'Afrobeat' is a fusion of Yoruba rhythms, Highlife, Jazz, Funk, chanted vocals and call and response. It became hugely popular in Nigeria and across the continent in general. He sang in pidgin English, so that his music could be enjoyed and understood by individuals all over Africa where the local languages spoken are many and diverse.The music desk in the Legacy gallery at the International Slavery Museum.

He had a strong belief that Nigerians should hold onto their cultural identify as Africans and not blindly adopt European standards and ways of living and look upon all things African as wrong or inferior. He formed the Kalakuta Republic, a commune and recording studio, which was home to many of his followers and those connected to the band and his nightclub the Afrika Shrine. He later declared it independent from the state of Nigeria.
 
In 1977 Fela and his band, 'Afrika '70', released the album Zombie, to describe the zombie like the methods of the Nigerian Military. The album infuriated the government, Kalakuta Republic was viciously attacked and one thousand soldiers were ordered to attack the commune. Fela was severely beaten, and his elderly mother was thrown from a window, causing fatal injuries. Never defeated, Fela reacted by writing 'Coffin for the Head of State' which tells of how he brought the coffin containing his dead mother, to the door of the Nigerian Head of State in Protest. He later put himself forward as a presidential candidate, but his candidature was refused.
 
Now, Liverpool audiences will have the chance to see scenes from this man's incredible life on stage, as the London production is broadcast via live link, at Fact, on Thursday 13th January at 6.45pm.
 
In the meantime you can hear examples of Fela's amazing music in the Legacy gallery at the International Slavery Museum.