Mayor to speak as Liverpool marks Slavery Remembrance Day with an array of events

On Saturday, Mayor of Liverpool Joanne Anderson will speak at the start of three days of events in the city to remember the history of the transatlantic slave trade.

Liverpool residents can watch online as the mayor joins an in-conversation piece with National Museums Liverpool (NML) Historian in Residence Laurence Westgaph.

The pair will reflect on the Liverpool mayor’s links with the era of the transatlantic slave trade and will explore the significance of Mayor Anderson becoming the UK’s first black female to become a directly elected mayor of any major city.

Slavery Remembrance Day has been marked on 23 August in Liverpool since 1999 - acknowledging the city’s role as the European capital of the transatlantic slave trade.

Legacy

Matt Exley, NML Learning and Participation manager said: “Slavery Remembrance Day gives us the opportunity to reflect on the past but also gives a vitally important opportunity to reflect on the legacies that slavery, colonialism, and imperialism leave today.

“This year’s theme allows us to interrogate Liverpool’s long and deep connections to slavery but to also tell the important and often untold story of grassroots community activism across the city, both past and present – all of which combat racism and the other legacies of slavery.

“We hope to provide a platform for people to reflect on what changes still need to take place and what we can each do to create a more equal, just, and fair future for everyone.”

Liverpool’s evolution

NML Historian in Residence Laurence Westgaph told LiverpoolWorld: “Its really important visually and symbolically to have a black person and woman in the highest elected office in local government.

“During the time when Joanne came of age in the 1980s, Liverpool was labelled as one of the most racist cities in England.

“In light of the city’s history when we originally had elected mayors these people were slave traders, merchants or plantation owners - now we have come full circle.”

What’s On

From Saturday, 21 August, to Monday, 23 August, NML is holding a number of events and lectures in and around the International Slavery Museum (ISM) on Liverpool’s Albert Dock.

There will be performances, craft sessions and family activities to run alongside panel discussions.

Here are a selection of events.

Saturday, August 21

- 1pm, 2pm and 3pm

The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. building next to the ISM will play host to a series of performances exploring the themes of slavery, colonialism, and imperialism during free ticketed performances curated by NML’s community producer, Cherise Weaver.

There will be a mixture of drumming, poetry, storytelling, football skills and visual art. With local artists and activists including drummer and poet Curtis Watt, children’s books writer Vinny Cleghorne and professional football freestyler Richard Braithwaite.

Free tickets are available from the shop at the Maritime Museum.

- 6pm

In Conversation- Mayor Joanne Anderson and Laurence Westgaph

Sunday, August 22

- 6pm

Dorothy Kuya Memorial Lecture – Maria O’Reilly

Listen to local community activist Maria O’Reilly outline the struggles and movements she has been part of and the radical changes she has seen within Liverpool’s Black communities.

A Liverpool and Slavery Map, will also be available detailing places in the city with links to slavery, places linked to the legacies of racism, imperialism, and colonialism, and places of remembrance, healing, and empowerment for local communities.

Monday, August 23

- 6pm

Dorothy Kuya Memorial Lecture – Professor Bayyinah Bello

Join world-renowned academic Professor Bayyinah Bello, a scholar attached to the State University of Haiti and expert in Pan-African and Haitian history and linguistics. Professor Bello founded the Fondasyon Félicité to preserve and research Haitian history and was recently honoured at the Gala des Femmes et Flammes as one of ten women “whose lives and professional work have paved the way for a better Haiti".

For details on these and all the other varied events on the programme click here.