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Posts tagged ‘slavery’

Oct 2

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Black History Month and Liverpool

Carving of two black children at the entrance to Martin's Bank, Liverpool

Carving at the entrance to Martin's Bank, Liverpool, by Gadgetgirl2007 via Flickr

Black History Month is held in October each year. It’s origins go back to 1926, and the work of Carter G Woodson, editor for thirty years of the Journal of Negro History. It’s aims are:

  • Promote knowledge of the  Black History, Cultural and Heritage
  • Disseminate information on positive Black contributions to British Society
  • Heighten the confidence and awareness of Black people to  their cultural heritage.

Any student of Liverpool history (and any Liverpool child schooled in the history of the last 300 years) knows the role of black people in the growth, development and wealth of the city, particularly in the Victorian period.

At this time every year, however, a wider debate occurs as to whether Black History Month is still relevant. Is black history not worthy of study the rest of the year? Does the study of general history not include black people to the proper extent (and what is the ‘proper extent’?).

It’s probably not an argument that can be resolved conclusively, easily, or soon, but Liverpool for all its crimes during the height of trans-Altlantic slavery is in a well-placed position to enter the debate.

Black History in Liverpool

The award-nominated International Slavery Museum at the Albert Dock is perhaps the major place to go to learn about Liverpool’s role in transatlantic slave trade, and was built on the success of the transatlantic slavery gallery in the Merseyside Maritime Museum.

As the Vision for the museum states, despite the horrors that went on as part of that trade “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.” The museum is telling an affirmative story of the people, who are depicted as humans, not simply victims.

Another story which is being told, and which has special relevance to the subject of this blog, is that by Eric Scott Lynch on the Black History Tours.

As their website explains, the tours encourage us to “raise our eyes from the ground, both physically and metaphorically”. This, coincidentally, was how I developed an interest in the physical urban history of Liverpool: by looking at the details of the buildings, the friezes above the great doors of the Victorian institutions and the road names dotted around the city centre, you can see generally the past written out for you, and specifically the role of slavery – enslaved Africans and the wealthy who traded in them – in the creation of Liverpool as it is today.

Speaking of street signs, you may remember that Laurence Westgaph wrote a leaflet called ‘Read the Signs’ back in 2007. The leaflet covered a number of streets in Liverpool who were named after those involved in the slave trade – either making money from it or campaigning for its abolition.

A debate surrounded whether these streets should be renamed – including Penny Lane and Bold Street – or whether by keeping the streets as they are we would be reminded of how history played itself out.

Further Information

There are events going on during Black History Month in Liverpool Museums. See the 2010 Events Programme for details.

You can download Laurence Westgaph’s Slavery Remembrance Tour as MP3s and an accompanying map from the Liverpool08 website.

There are a number of books covering the trans-Altantic slave trade and Liverpool’s role in it:

Liverpool Continuing Education

Another useful resource for your educational needs is of course Liverpool University’s Centre for Lifelong Learning. They have an ongoing programme of courses, of which you may be most interested in History and Local History, or perhaps Irish Studies, which includes Finding the Liverpool Irish.

If you know of any courses which might be of interest to readers of this site, do get in touch. Or have you been on a course just mentioned, and want to recommend it? Let us know in the comments.

Aug 28

Changes to Liverpool Listed Buildings to mark International Slavery Remembrance Day

Saturday 23rd August was UNESCO day for the International Remembrance of the Slave Trade, and to mark the occasion Culture Minister Margaret Hodge has listed a number of buildings associated with the trade, and has amended the listing description of a number of others. In 2006, English Heritage started a project to review listed buildings and acknowledge historic links to transatlantic slavery and the abolitionist movement. For Liverpool, the changes to listed buildings are:-

Town Hall (Water Street, Liverpool) – includes an ornate frieze depicting slaves, animals (tigers, crocodiles, elephants) and other symbols of Africa. The listed buildings description has been amended to ensure that their connection to the slave trade is ‘adequately reflected’.

Allerton Hall (Springwood Avenue, Liverpool) – the former home of William Roscoe, and now a pub. The listed buildings description has been amended to ensure that their connection to the slave trade is ‘adequately reflected’.

62 Rodney Street (Liverpool) – Upgraded to Grade II*; owned by John Gladstone, father of William Ewart Gladstone, four times British Prime Minister. John Gladstone owned sugar plantations in the West Indies, and was an ardent anti-abolitionist. William Roscoe laid out Rodney Street itself, which survives remarkably well, with over 70 listed Georgian houses.

Mrs Hodge said: “These new listings and upgrades show the close and continuing historical and social links that much of our heritage has to the history of slavery both in this country and from around the world. It is particularly fitting that on this day of national commemoration, so many of our historic buildings and monuments are being granted a new or increased level of protection.”

For more information on English Heritage’s project, see its page on The Slave Trade and Abolition.

Feb 10

New listings for city centre buildings

To highlight Liverpool’s important Georgian built heritage, two buildings in the town centre have been listed. The town houses, on Dale and York Streets, are rare survivals of the new types of retail space developing at the time, and are two of only a few examples seen outside London.

However, Wayne Colquhoun,  founder of the Liverpool Preservation Trust, is generally pessimistic about the way Liverpool looks after its Georgian terraces.

Barclay’s Bank, Water Street, and 57 Parr Street are on a list of buildings with connections to slavery, whose listing details have been updated to better reflect their infamous links. Other candidates on the list include buildings in Bristol, Leeds, Cambridge and Hull. The list was announced by Margaret Hodge, and put together with the help of English Heritage.

Feb 5

Oldest settlement, and Liverpool museum nominated for award

A couple of interesting pieces of news concerning the North-West’s heritage, ancient and modern:

One of the oldest pieces of settlement evidence in the north-west has come to light on an excavation near Junction 6 on the M62. Although the motorway scheme will go ahead unchanged, the site should remain hidden safe beneath the junction at Tarbock Island.

The new International Slavery Museum has been nominated for the Art Fund Prize for Museums
, formerly the Gulbenkian Prize. The highly praised museum only opened in the final part of last year, but has already attracted a great number of visitors.

Jan 7

Buildings linked with Slave Trade Highlighted

The old Martin’s Bank, and a warehouse in Parr Street are two of the many buildings and landmarks in Liverpool linked to the trade in enslaved Africans. This connection has been highlighted by the government to commemorate two centuries since the trade’s abolition. Margaret Hodge, Culture Minister, and Simon Thurley, chief executive of English Heritage, both commented. See here for a full report by the Liverpool Echo

Dec 30

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Merseyside’s Martime History, ancient and modern

Two recent news updates have highlighted the marine importance of Merseyside, on both sides of the river:

Viking boat at Meols
Recent work by Professor Stephen Harding and a team of archaeologists from the University of Nottingham has brought attention to a possible Viking boat buried under the car park at the Railway Inn, Meols. The remains were first spotted in 1938 by men laying the car park, but with the risk that building work would be delayed by a dig, the find was kept secret. One of the workers, however, made a few notes, and in 1991 his son produced a report and a sketch. After the report was brought to the attention of the current landlord, the Nottingham team was brought in, and conducted a Ground Penetrating Radar survey of the location.

The survey seemed to show a ‘boat-shaped anomaly’ in the underlying clay, and further survey will assess the potential for an evaluation excavation.

The find is particularly interesting from a landscape perspective, as the pub is over a kilometre from the coast, and even further from the medieval shore. Prof Harding suggests that the boat may have been washed in by a flood, or have sunk in one of the many marshes which covered the area at the time. The area is covered with old Norse field and track names, and it wasn’t unknown for the people of the time to drag their ships substantial distances inland if necessary.

Reference:

Current Archaeology, Issue 213: p4-5.

Links:

Wirral and West Lancashire 1100th Anniversary Homepage

Liverpool Echo article on DNA analysis done in Liverpool by Professor Harding

News article in the Independent covering the survey.

HMS Whimbrel

More recent marine heritage may soon be making its way back to the Mersey, if Chris Pile and members of the HMS Whimbrel Battle of the Atlantic Memorial Project get their way. The group aim to bring the Whimbrel, a modified Black Swan class sloop, to Merseyside, and place it in Canning Dock, close to the Liver Building, with other symbols of Liverpool’s maritime heritage. The Whimbrel, launched in 1943, was designed for the defense of merchant convoys in the Atlantic.

The Project Team see the ship as a “symbol of heroism and sacrifices made in six year battle to keep open Britain’s vital wartime lifeline to North America”, and need £2m to bring it home from its current location, Egypt. They then require another £2m to make the ship fit for a public museum, which they hope to complete by Summer 2008. £300 000 has so far been raised from the Duke of Westminster, Liverpool City Council, the Government Office of the North West and several smaller donations.

Links:

HMS Whimbrel (1942-49) Battle of the Atlantic Memorial Project

Read the Signs
A recently released pamphlet highlights details of streets of Liverpool which are named after individuals who played a prominent part in the Transatlantic Slave Trade. The issue has become controversial in recent years, with calls to rename the roads, against the insistence that even Liverpool’s darker past should not be forgotten.

The Read the Signs booklet was written by Laurence Westgapgh, and distributed by HELP (Historic Environment Liverpool Project), who were involved in a Heritage Open Days event at Toxteth Town Hall, attracting over 200 people from the Liverpool area. There will also be an exhibition called ‘Read the Signs’ at St George’s Hall in 2008, managed by HELP.

The pamphlet is available from locations around Liverpool, including libraries and community centres.

Links:

English Heritage’s news article about the pamphlet

Read the Signs (PDF)