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PEOPLE & ARTS Thursday 19 december 2019
Slavery museum in Liverpool aims to confront painful legacy

By RUSSELL CONTRERAS its related to the themes
Associated Press around modern-day slav-
LIVERPOOL, England (AP) — ery. During my visit in No-
Scarlet shackles sit peace- vember, I encountered an
fully on display in front of exhibition called “Am I not
a sad, gray backdrop. The a woman and a sister” — a
now rusted leg irons once moving image installation
locked human ankles dur- by England-based artist
ing 18th century voyages Elizabeth Kwant. She co-
from Africa to some Eu- created the project with
ropean port, then to the female survivors of modern-
Americas. day slavery in partnership
Who the shackles held re- with Liverpool charity City
main a mystery. But as a Hearts. The project links cur-
citizen of the United States, rent human trafficking to
I’ve likely broken bread the story out of the Middle
with a descendant of the Passage.
woman forced to wear In the U.S., journalist Nikole
this instrument. Maybe my Hannah-Jones has sparked
uncle fought alongside her conversations about the
kin in a war. Or it’s possible legacy of slavery in that na-
one of her distant relatives tion’s history with her inter-
is now be my relative. active 1619 Project in The
These are the thoughts I In this Nov. 24, 2019, photo, a sculpture entitled "Timalle," by French artist Francois Piquet, which New York Times.
entertain recently while tackles the themes of slavery in the Caribbean, is displayed at the International Slavery Museum It examines the 400th anni-
in Liverpool, England.
walking through the re- Associated Press versary of the arrival of the
flective International Slav- first enslaved people from
ery Museum in Liverpool, ditional masks from pres- dedicated to the African the ideology that launched West Africa on the pres-
England. Founded in 2007 ent-day Sierra Leone and American heroes from Har- racialized slavery in the first ent-day America’s eastern
on the bicentenary of the Mali. There are vibrant tex- riet Tubman to the Rev. place. There’s also photos shore.
abolition of the British slave tiles from Ghana, intricate Martin Luther King. Jr. and of the civil rights struggled The project challenges
trade, the museum sits just headdresses from Camer- Malcolm X. U.S. news foot- in the United Kingdom from readers to consider how
a short walk from the dry oon and samples of Igbo age from the 1950s and London’s “Keep Britain their own lives have been
docks where slave trading wall painting from Nigeria. 1960s illustrates how the White Rally” in 1960 to the shaped by the legacy of
ships were repaired and fit- You can listen to samples descendants of those who Toxteth Riot of 1981 in Liv- slavery and it is helping in-
ted out in the 1700s. (And of drum signals from the crossed the Middle Pas- erpool over allegations of spire activists in places like
it’s close by the The Beatles Republic of Congo or a sage had to fight for human police harassment. Albuquerque, New Mexico,
Story, the world’s largest Mbuti hunting song. The rights and against violence The museum ends with a to push for their own muse-
permanent exhibition pure- messages are clear: before amid white supremacy — space for changing exhib- um of black history.q
ly devoted to the home- enslavement, Africa was a
town band.) Once a major diverse and complex con- 25 years later, Mariah Carey’s
slaving port, Liverpool grew tinent with long artistic and
thanks to merchants’ finan- religious traditions.
cial ties to the enslavement Next, visitors are whisked Christmas original is No.1
of people to the Americas. toward a room tackling
Today, the building tells the enslavement and the bru- By The Associated Press
story of the enslavement tal Middle Passage. Racial NEW YORK (AP) — Christ-
of people from Africa and ideologies and Europe’s mas has come early for
how this British city ben- unfamiliarity with the cul- Mariah Carey: the pop
efited from human bond- tures of Africa sparked the star’s original holiday clas-
age. The Liverpool loca- slave trade which grew sic, “All I Want for Christmas
tion reclaims a space once once European powers ex- Is You,” has reached the
connected to worldwide panded to the Americas, No. 1 spot on the Billboard
human suffer and is similar the museum tells us. In this Hot 100 chart 25 years after
to O Mercado de Escra- room, details of the voyage its release.
vos — the slavery museum of the ship Essex are recon- Billboard announced
in Lagos, Portugal, where structed. That’s a slave ship that the song topped this
the European slave trade that left Liverpool on June week’s chart, giving Carey
began. But Liverpool’s mu- 13, 1783, just nine years af- her 19th No. 1 of her ca-
seum is much larger, more ter the American Declara- reer. She is only behind the
interactive, and more am- tion of Independence. Beatles, who have had 20
bitious without being ex- During the Middle Passage songs top the Hot 100 chart. In this Oct. 20, 2019 file photo Mariah Carey performs during a
ploitative. portion, visitors encounter Each holiday season Car- concert celebrating Dubai Expo 2020 One Year to Go in Dubai,
Inside, visitors immediately shackles and chains used ey’s “All I Want for Christ- United Arab Emirates.
are taken on a medita- in forts and castles along mas Is You” begins to climb Associated Press
tive experience focusing the African coast to hold the Billboard charts as its You” is the first holiday to 1 on the Billboard R&B al-
on Africa before European humans before their horrific popularity resurfaces. Last top the Hot 100 chart since bums chart.
contact. You are greeted journey. year the song hit a peak at “The Chipmunk Song” in Carey wrapped her All I
by quotes of American Then, there was resistance, No. 3 and set a new one- 1958-59. Want for Christmas Is You
abolitionists and civil rights liberation, and the long day streaming record on The song is from Carey’s Tour on Sunday at New
leaders etched into stone fight for civil rights. Surpris- Spotify. 1994 album, “Merry Christ- York’s Madison Square
walls before you see tra- ing, I walked into an area “All I Want for Christmas Is mas,” which is currently No. Garden.q