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London, Sugar & Slavery |
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8 November 2007/ UNESCO Culture Sector’s Calendar of Events – November 2007
On 10 November 2007, Museum in Docklands will open the only permanent gallery in London to examine the city’s involvement in transatlantic slavery and its consequences on the capital. Marking the bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act 1807 by Britain, the new gallery called London, Sugar & Slavery is part of a series of events and projects planned by the Museum for 2007 and 2008, and which received the full support of the International Scientific Committee of the UNESCO Slave Route Project. Prof Rex Nettleford, President of the Committee will attend the event.
The gallery reveals how London’s involvement in slavery has shaped the capital since the seventeenth century. It will debunk the myth that London was a minor player in the trade by showing that it funded much of the city’s industrial and financial success. From Jamaica Road to the Bank of England, from the merchant houses of Blackheath to the nation’s art collections, profits from this most lucrative trade shaped the metropolis. The most challenging part of the gallery will shed light on the vital role that Africans played in liberating themselves from enslavement. Their resistance to accepting a life of slavery and their rebellions in the Caribbean islands forced the British establishment to re-think its economic and foreign policy and inspired the public to help campaign for abolition.
The gallery will include personal accounts, film, music and over 140 objects including a table at which negotiations over the Abolition Act were hammered out, and art from the cultures that were impacted by the transatlantic slave trade. Visitors will be able to record their own responses to the subject on a comments wall, and a performance area and exhibition space for community groups will complete the exhibit.
Contact:
E. Moukala, CLT/CPD
FRANÇAIS
More Information:
Museum of London Group
The Slave Route
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Related Link(s): The Slave Route, Cultural Policies |
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