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Black history

Building the museum before the building exists

Five years on from the Black British Museum/Museum X takeover edition of Museums Journal, the question is no longer whether a Black British Museum is needed. The question is what kinds of social relationships, infrastructures and experiments are required to build one

Sound waves | The Music is Black: A British Story, V&A East, London 

This joyful exhibition celebrates the huge impact that Black music has had on British society

Q&A | ‘We are not anti-museum – we’re trying to build something new from the ground up’

Community curator Adassa Dixon tells us how the UnMuseum programme is creating a new framework for Black heritage

A long time coming | Black British heritage moves centre stage

The UK has few standalone spaces dedicated to Black history, but this could all change in the coming decade, with several important museum developments gathering pace

Case study | Addressing missing narratives through public programming

Katherine Green shares community collaboration for Music is Black exhibition at the V&A East

Q&A | ‘It was important not to wait for a finished narrative’

Lucy Edematie on Manchester Museum's Africa Hub, a new type of space that exposes the gaps and silences in the museum's own records

Representations of Blackness at Vienna’s Belvedere Museum

How Tayla Myree is bringing a much-neglected discussion to the public with her tour exploring Black iconography in the museum's artwork

Europe after empire

Gary Younge introduces a series of articles that explore how decolonisation is being approached in European museums

What’s in a name?

Tracing ancestry through a surname uncovered a complex history shared by many, writes Rachel Ama Asaa Engmann

President intervenes to resolve row over Museum of West African Art

New museum has postponed all opening events amid protests about its role and mission

Political row delays opening of Nigeria’s Museum of West African Art

Edo state governor revokes land ownership rights in dispute over museum’s name and mission

Studio Museum in Harlem reopens after seven-year redevelopment

The organisation was founded in 1968 to address the exclusion of artists of African descent from the mainstream art world