Tom,
it's me again. I forgot to say that the maritime museum started out
as an absolutley bog standard, boats, bits of boats, pictures of
boats, sort of museum & the slavery gallery made national headlines
when it opened. It's certainly the first time there's been any
real/serious mention of the slave trade in relation to the history of
Liverpool, & to our shame I don't think it's really dealt with
anywhere else.

In the video of black people living in this country talking about the
'legacy' of slavery, one of them makes the interesting point that
white english people can cope with the concept of 'black british'
meaning part of the population of an area colonised by britain &
therefore coming under british sovereignty, & that this category is
expanded to include black migrants, particularly those coming from
the caribbean in the 40s & 50s to work in the UK, but there is
conception of 'black english' meaning a person born & brought up in
this country by parents who were also born & brought up here,  but
who are black.

It's an interesting distinction, & one which I hadn't considered
before, hopefully the exhibition will make others think about these
issues in a way which they wouldn't otherwise have.

The sections on West African and South American Cultures prior to
the arrival of europeans was interesting too, & African history in
particular is not really discussed in this country, so it was good to
see the imbalance being addressed.

Good luck with the session,
Jane