Blog Archives

US National African American Museum opened

30/9/2016

The new National African American History and Culture Museum, part of the Smithsonian was recently opened by President Obama. It's existence is the result of a struggle over many years by legislators in the name of African American history.

Citing Ferguson, Missouri, and Charlotte, North Carolina, and other cities where black men have been shot and killed by police, Obama said that the story the museum tells is "central to our American story" and "perhaps needs to be told now more than ever.”

“We should not be surprised that not all the healing is done. We shouldn’t despair that it’s not all solved, and knowing the larger story should remind us just how remarkable the changes that have taken place truly are.”

The three-story, $540m building houses artifacts from the slavery era and the Middle Passage, the civil war, Jim Crow segregation, integration and the advent of Obama as the first black president. More...

Britain must acknowledge its role in slavery

26/9/2016

Yesterday's Observer Editorial, was entitled: "The Observer's view on Britain's role in the slave trade". It begins: "Nearly two centuries after slavery was abolished, this country has still not fully acknowledged the shameful part it played. We must delay no longer."
Compared with the US experience, our British slaves were thousands of miles away, meaning the terrible cost of the wealth they generated, and which we still benefit from, has been all too easily forgotten. But the legacy is still there to be recognised, here in Britain, abroad in our former colonies where the scars are deep, and globally. Devoid of the historical context of our role in slavery "our international responsibilities cannot be understood ... They are derived not just from the deep injustice of the structural inequalities that divide global north from global south but from the fact that in the past Britain has helped create those very inequalities."
Read the full article

Proving Legacy Seminar and MJR AGM

5/9/2016

On Monday 7th November, 12noon to 4pm, the Movement for Justice and Reconciliation will be holding their first AGM. This will be an open meeting and anyone with an interest in our work is welcome to attend.
Venue: Open University Camden Town Campus, London NW1 8NP.

PROVING LEGACY. We will be combining the AGM with a presentation of research we have been conducting into the effects of legacy issues on educational achievement and mental and physical health.

This is a free event and will include a buffet lunch. Spaces are limited so pre-booking is essential.
If you would like to attend please contact Jenny Cooper to reserve your place. Download a leaflet for more information

The Long-Lasting Legacy of the Great Migration

5/9/2016

"The history of African-Americans is often distilled into two epochs: the 246 years of enslavement ending after the close of the Civil War, and the dramatic era of protest during the civil rights movement. Yet the Civil War-to-civil rights axis tempts us to leap past a century of resistance against subjugation, and to miss the human story of ordinary people, their hopes lifted by Emancipation, dashed at the end of Reconstruction, crushed further by Jim Crow, only to be finally, at long last, revived when they found the courage within themselves to break free."

This fascinating article traces the continuity of oppression and resistance that links the era of slavery in the US to the civil rights movement and right up to the Black Lives Matter movement. More...

US National African American Museum opened

Britain must acknowledge its role in slavery

Proving Legacy Seminar and MJR AGM

The Long-Lasting Legacy of the Great Migration

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