National Museums Liverpool Blog - human rights

Hello

I am sure most people like myself and the staff at International Slavery Museum have been keeping up-to-date with the unfolding humanitarian tragedy in Haiti, a result of the catastrophic earthquake on 12 January. Out of this disaster we received some welcome good news recently that one of the Haitian artists involved with the Freedom! sculpture on display in the museum, Guyodo (Frantz Jacques), along with his family, are fine, as well as several colleagues from the Grand Rue artists collective, but sadly his home was destroyed. We are currently looking to develop a long-term sustainable partnership with Haiti, possibly with an artists collective. Due to the imagination and creativity of Haitian artists this is a real possibility. Interestingly the Ghetto Biennale was held in Grand Rue in December which is a fascinating project and a good starting point for any future collaboration.

Remember that there are also a number of organisations and agencies who are still accepting donations such as Christian Aid (our partners in commissioning the Freedom! sculpture), UNICEF, the British Red Cross  and the Disasters Emergency Committee.

The International Slavery Museum has had another very good month in terms of visitor figures. We have now had upwards of 900,000 visitors since we opened in 2007 and our statisticians (scientists in white coats scratching their chins) think our millionth visitor will walk through the doors in March. It could be you! If it is, then you will be given an invitation to the private view of our forthcoming exhibition Beyond the Boundary.  I think our varied exhibition programme is a large part of International Slavery Museum's success. Black Britannia has received some fantastic reviews and Trafficked, difficult subject that it is, continues to be a very poignant aspect of the museum which highlights the fact we are a campaigning museum.  

Leading on from this, part of the job remit of our collections development officer - Stephen Carl-Lokko, was to develop a new collecting strand around the subject of contemporary slavery. A very difficult task but one we felt essential. As part of this policy the International Slavery Museum curatorial team has recently acquired two very powerful and indeed unsettling pieces for the museum's collections.
Missing (2007) is a series of photographs of urban and suburban Britain by the artist Rachel Wilberforce which depict sex-trafficking and prostitution through the interiors and exteriors of brothels and so-called massage parlours. They are devoid of people, yet at the same time reveal human activity. The photographs show scenes of a slave trade which still thrives, and illustrates how much slavery is still very much a contemporary issue. Rachel Wilberforce works with photography, film, video, installation and live art intervention.

The museum also acquired an ankle bracelet which had been collected by Anti-Slavery International. It was 'worn' by a modern-day domestic slave girl in Niger. It represents the importance of the International Slavery Museum's work in developing its collections in this area and campaigning on the issue of contemporary forms of slavery.

Finally I wanted to flag up the inaugural conference of the Federation of International Human Rights Museums (FIHRM) which will take place in Liverpool on 15-16 September 2010.  The Federation was established by National Museums Liverpool and will enable museums who deal with sensitive and thought-provoking subjects such as transatlantic slavery, the holocaust and human rights to work together and share new thinking and initiatives in a supportive environment. It will initially be led by the International Slavery Museum. The FIHRM website will be available soon, or for details on the conference you can email Françoise McClafferty using this contact form.

If you are indeed the millionth visitor then see you soon!

Bye for now

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

This special Rainbow Flag was recently donated to the Museum of Liverpool's permanent collections and will be displayed pride of place in the People's City gallery in the new Museum of Liverpool when it opens in 2011.

This flag represents a very important first in Liverpool. It was flown above Liverpool Town Hall for the first time for the International Day Against Homophobia on 17 May 2009. It is just one of the many objects with amazing stories which curators seek out to ensure contemporary issues and events in the city are represented for the future. International Day Against Homophobia marks the day in 1990 when the World Health Organisation took homosexuality off its list of mental illnesses. It is hard to believe that until relatively recently this was still the case but with recent homophobic attacks in Liverpool it is all too apparent that there is a long way to go in challenging prejudice and intolerance.

The flag was kindly donated by Liverpool City Council. It is a fitting time to add it to the collection at the start of Liverpool's annual Homotopia festival. National Museums Liverpool has always supported the festival and will be holding a free talk about the secret language of Polari at 2pm this Saturday at Merseyside Maritime Museum as part of the programme of events. Further details are on the Sailing Proud page on the Merseyside Maritime Museum's website.

You can see more photos in the Rainbow Flag set on Flickr.

Here's a special report on this year's Slavery Remembrance Day Festival from our 'woman on the ground', Claire Benjamin:

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"Over 5000 visitors enjoyed a weekend-long programme of events during the Slavery Remembrance Day Festival 2009. Held from 21-23 August, it got off to a powerful start with the annual lecture delivered by civil rights activist Diane Nash at Liverpool's Town Hall. Vikki Evans-Hubbard in role as the young Diane performed a section of 'Keep Your Eyes On The Prize', a dramatic retelling of her struggle as a student, before introducing the real Diane Nash to the audience. 'Keep Your Eyes On The Prize' is staged regularly at the International Slavery Museum, check the Events and activities page to find out when you can see it next.

Diane spoke about the influence Mahatma Ghandi’s teachings on non-violent protest had on her when she was a student in Nashville, USA, during the late 1950s and 60s. It was inspirational the way she described how it helped to transcend the horrors of racism and eventually effect a positive change. As a key figure in the birth and development of America's Civil Rights Movement, her efforts to fight against injustice and inequality saw her beaten, fined and, when four months pregnant, sentenced to two years imprisonment for teaching these non-violent protest tactics to children. She was thankfully released on appeal. Her belief in Ghandi's teachings has influenced her own personal philosophy throughout her life and when responding to questions from the audience, she gave us all much to think about.
 
The two-day programme at the International Slavery Museum and Merseyside Maritime Museum saw visitors enjoying exhibitions, dance workshops and demonstrations, face-painting, wood-carving, music, poetry, films and plays. Stalls selling crafts and Afro-Caribbean food proved very popular. In the Maritime Museum organisations including the British Red Cross, Amnesty International, Merseyside Police, Christian Aid and Anti-Slavery International promoted community and human rights issues, reminding visitors of the themes that underpin the Slavery Remembrance Day Festival. The Libation ceremony, which has always been the focal point of the weekend, was held near to the Piermaster's House and was led by Chief Angus Chukuemeka alongside elders and community leaders from Liverpool and London.  The Libation commemorates and remembers the lives of enslaved Africans and their descendants and celebrates contemporary Black culture – one of the legacies of the Atlantic slave trade. 
 
The event's return to the Albert Dock proved to be popular and we were helped by the good weather, which despite the clouds, remained mainly dry."