Black History Month 2017
Jessica Juckes, International Training Programme Assistant
We are halfway through Black History Month 2017 in the UK: the 30th anniversary of the launch of the initiative in this country.
Let’s take a look at what some of the ITP UK partner museums have been doing to celebrate and mark the month:
The British Museum hosted journalist and author Reni Eddo-Lodge earlier this month for an in-conversation talk with BM Curator Chris Spring on Black History and Cultural Heritage in Museums. And on the British Museum blog, BM Trustee Patricia Cumper has written about the significance of Black History Month, highlighting how the Museum can help to tell these stories to the world.
Bristol Museums are running a programme of events, including a Kwanzaa family event and Bristol Somali Festival. Read more on their blog here.
Black History Month in Glasgow is organised by CRER, and is offering a diverse range of activities, including a talk at St Mungo’s on ‘Black Depictions of Sacred Figures in Christian Art and Devotion’, a reggae event at GOMA, and a tour about the coffin and mummy of Ankhesnefer at Kelvingrove. Read the full programme here.
Over at Tyne & Wear Archives and Museums, the Great North Museum: Hancock has opened two politically-charged exhibitions inspired by Dr Martin Luther King Jr’s 1967 speech at Newcastle University.
In Manchester, the Manchester Art Gallery is holding the first of a 12-month programme of conversations investigating Black British Modern Art. Read about the initiative here.