International Slavery Museum

[Kev]

Black Achievers? Wall at Liverpool?s International Slavery Museum

RECENTLY- installed US President Barack Obama was yesterday added to the Black Achievers? Wall at Liverpool?s International Slavery Museum. Read

[fortinian]

I can't help but think that a 'black achievers' wall is slightly patronising. Obviously it matters that Mr. Obama is black but should it? And do we achieve anything by celebrating the fact that he is black?

Surely we should salute the American populace for putting aside their long-held racism and voting for a decent human being for once.

[Kev]

Would we even know about this wall if the president wasn't black?

Have the Museum seized upon this opportunity to use the president to create interest in the Museum?

[burkhilly]

I think it's really important to acknowledge black achievement. It is an achievement to have a Black President. Black people have few positive role models, generally it's people like Martin Luther King and other dead heroes. For Barack Obama to make it shows kids that anything is possible. Black kids in Liverpool continue to underachieve and having positive role models may help improve their achievements.

I've seen the Black Achievement Wall and think it's great.

[Kev]

I've seen the Black Achievement Wall and think it's great.

That's great, I thought it was something 'new'. I also agree with what you have said.

[taffy]

Black Achievers? Wall at Liverpool?s International Slavery Museum

RECENTLY- installed US President Barack Obama was yesterday added to the Black Achievers? Wall at Liverpool?s International Slavery Museum. Read

In many ways this is a good idea but surely President Obama isn't black, he's mixed race. In Jamaica, you'll find a hierachy of "blackness" where the less black you are the better you are perceived. I imagine this goes back to the old terms of mulatto, quadroon etc.

[Max]

Obama's African roots are In Kenya where there wasn't slavery going on In that part of Africa I don't think.

Obama was raised by his white family and wouldn't got as far as he have without them, he hardly ever saw his dad. If Obama does a bad job then It will have been a bad Idea that he Is on the wall because of his blood and skin.

Plus the people on the wall were never slaves themselves and might of not even had slave ancestors. The ones on the wall all have lived In a time where they are free to become what they want so whats the point?

There have been white slaves In Haiti and other slaves around the world, there being too bias for blacks.

Alot of them misunderstand what Luther King says as well.

[ChrisGeorge]

In many ways this is a good idea but surely President Obama isn't black, he's mixed race. In Jamaica, you'll find a hierachy of "blackness" where the less black you are the better you are perceived. I imagine this goes back to the old terms of mulatto, quadroon etc.

Hi all

I recall that the late great southern American playwright Tennessee Williams remarked in a TV interview that he was an "octoroon" meaning he was an eighth black.

For Max's information, there was slavery in East Africa run by Arab slave traders working out of Zanzibar, so that no doubt encompassed Kenya and the other modern states in the area. I don't know if Obama himself might have had slave forebears. I don't see an objection to having him up on the wall at the museum as an African American who has succeeded despite the injustices and prejudices of the past. Last night, I watched a TV movie with Ben Vereen as a young Louis Armstrong experiencing the racial prejudices in the old South and it's still painful to see what went on back then.

Chris

[AngelCake]

I'd like to see this wall.
As for the constant debate over Barack obama's ethnicity ,I don't think it matters and find it boring that non-white people are always expected
to label themselves. It shouldn't matter in the year 2009 what colour your parents are

[wsteve55]

I'd like to see this wall.
As for the constant debate over Barack obama's ethnicity ,I don't think it matters and find it boring that non-white people are always expected
to label themselves. It shouldn't matter in the year 2009 what colour your parents are

So true!

[taffy]

I'd like to see this wall.
As for the constant debate over Barack obama's ethnicity ,I don't think it matters and find it boring that non-white people are always expected
to label themselves. It shouldn't matter in the year 2009 what colour your parents are

Agreed. However as far as I understand it, one's degree of blackness does still matter in Jamaican society. I should add our family has many members of mixed race including in Jamaica.

[Howie]

Maritime Tales: Cultural legacy of African slaves
Sep 5 2009
by Our Correspondent, Liverpool Echo

ENSLAVED Africans brought strong cultural identities and a wide range of skills when they were forcibly taken across the Atlantic to work in the Americas.

Liverpool slave ship captains traded goods for human cargoes on the African coast then took their captives across the infamous Middle Passage to the New World.

Although the slaves were kept under close restraint on the voyages, resistance took many different forms. Revolts were regular occurrences along with suicides and refusals to eat.

Another form of resistance was the retention of African culture, especially religion. African belief systems survived the horrors of the sea voyage and helped the enslaved endure their ordeal.

On display in the International Slavery Museum, in the Merseyside Maritime Museum building, is a necklace carrying charms which are an important part of African-based religions.

Once they landed in the Americas, slaves were sold to the highest bidder and the cash proceeds spent on commodities which were shipped to Liverpool.

The slaves then began lives of unpaid labour in a wide variety of undertakings, generating big profits for their masters.

On rivers in the Chesapeake Bay area on the east coast of North America they worked as sailors, boatmen and watermen.

During the 1600s this area of Virginia and Maryland became the world?s largest producer of tobacco. By 1750, 60% of the enslaved population of North America lived in this region, many involved in tobacco production.

They also worked in the fisheries of Chesapeake Bay and as crab pickers. In 1772 1.5m herring were caught, salted and pickled ? mainly by women. Some were eaten locally but most were sent to the West Indies to feed slaves on the plantations.

The forced labour of millions of Africans and their descendents transformed the landscape and future of the Americas.

Slaves and their descendents cleared the forests and bush, built roads and houses, dug canals, worked down mines and in forges ? all at the whim and to the financial benefit of their owners.

They grew sugar, cotton and tobacco and created the wealth that supported plantation owners and their families.

Among the skills Africans brought to the Americas were rice growing and metalworking. Many owners would hire out their skilled slaves to work for others, especially in the growing towns and cities needing expert workforces.

The museum has many contemporary illustrations of plantation life including a sugar estate and mill yard in Antigua, West Indies, by W Clark in 1823.

Antigua had first been colonised by the British in 1632 ? the first crops were tobacco, ginger and indigo. Sugar became the main crop about 1674.

Buy the Maritime Tales book (?3.99) at the Merseyside Maritime Museum open seven days a week, admission free, and at bookshops, newsagents and merseyshop.com.

Source: Liverpool Echo

[wsteve55]

When they include the African,and Arab,slave traders,I just might take it more seriously!

[Howie]

About the International Slavery Museum



Our vision for the museum

"The transatlantic slave trade was the greatest forced migration in history. And yet the story of the mass enslavement of Africans by Europeans is one of resilience and survival against all the odds, and is a testament to the unquenchable nature of the human spirit.

In 1994, National Museums Liverpool opened the Transatlantic Slavery Gallery, the first of its kind in the world. This gallery has achieved huge visitor numbers and impact, but there is now a pressing need to tell a bigger story because of its relevance to contemporary issues that face us all.

Our vision is to create a major new International Slavery Museum to promote the understanding of transatlantic slavery and its enduring impact.

Our aim is to address ignorance and misunderstanding by looking at the deep and permanent impact of slavery and the slave trade on Africa, South America, the USA, the Caribbean and Western Europe. Thus we will increase our understanding of the world around us."

Dr David Fleming OBE, director, National Museums Liverpool

Further information is available in the transcripts of David Fleming's speech at the dinner to celebrate the opening of the International Slavery Museum on 22 August 2007. This is just one of the transcripts of lectures, speeches and talks about or relating to the museum and the themes and collections within it that are available on this website.

Making the vision a reality

The new museum opened on 23 August 2007. Not only was this the date of the annual Slavery Remembrance Day, but the year 2007 was particularly significant as it was the bicentenary of the abolition of the British slave trade.

The International Slavery Museum highlights the international importance of slavery, both in a historic and contemporary context. Working in partnership with other museums with a focus on freedom and enslavement, the museum provides opportunities for greater awareness and understanding of the legacy of slavery today.

It is located in Liverpool's Albert Dock, at the centre of a World Heritage site and only yards away from the dry docks where 18th century slave trading ships were repaired and fitted out.

One of the greatest groups of national museums in the world, National Museums Liverpool is ideally placed to elevate this subject onto an international stage. Our previous focus on the issue of slavery, the Transatlantic Slavery Gallery at the Merseyside Maritime Museum, won worldwide recognition and was central to the development of our award-winning work on diversity and outreach.

Source: International Slavery Museum

[Waterways]

When they include the African,and Arab,slave traders,I just might take it more seriously!

Yep. And stop making out that Liverpool was founded on the slave trade, which it was not. Slave transporting was a sideline.