When the International Slavery Museum (ISM) opens in Liverpool later this month, visitors may be forgiven for asking, why such a grand name? For what will be unveiled is in essence an updated version of the Transatlantic Slave gallery that has left the basement to come up to the third floor of the Merseyside Maritime Museum.
But aside from the gallery, which is phase one of the project, the next phase will see the building adjacent to the Maritime Museum turned into an academic research centre and community building for the study of this controversial subject. That's where the 'international' comes in.
Richard Benjamin, appointed the head of the slavery museum in October last year, agrees that the title is an 'enormous' one, but says there is a point to it: 'For me it's about giving people as clear an understanding of the issues involved as anywhere in the world can at this moment in time.'
The old basement gallery was groundbreaking when it opened in 1994. It drew heavily on international research on the subject and brought the area its first real taste of the trade that built the city.
Perhaps it is also fair to call Benjamin's appointment groundbreaking (though not before time) as the first visible minority person on the senior management team at National Museums Liverpool (NML).
The first thing that stands out about Benjamin is his deep Yorkshire accent. He is from Tadcaster, a town that lies between Leeds and York, and his voice sounds like it should hail from somebody older than the 35 year old who is explaining his busy schedule to me.
At first you might question the suitability to a museum role of someone who has zero curatorial experience and a background in the theory of archaeology. But take a closer look and Benjamin's academic and community work, predominantly in Liverpool, spells out his appropriateness for the job.
With a bachelor's degree in urban policy, community and race relations studies, he chose to do a master's in archaeology without any field experience. He acknowledges that the faculty at the University of Liverpool took a chance on him. And he was happy, he says, to find more than just a 'white middle-class world that was incredibly twee'.
A PhD, focusing on the archaeology of the African diaspora, followed. Part of his research involved a scholarship to Harvard at the WEB Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research. He worked on the African burial ground in New York where a new memorial and interpretation centre is being planned and where African Americans from the community were involved in decisions about how their ancestors were treated.
Benjamin has spent much of his career enabling access to education to 'non-traditional' groups. He worked in Oxford introducing the higher academic world to schoolchildren and homeless young people, and spent a couple of years at the University of Liverpool opening up access routes to education for various communities. 'It's about those groups that should have their history and their backgrounds on a level with the general population, especially in this country. The people who benefit are the general population.'
Benjamin believes this view comes from growing up in Tadcaster, where he says his was the only black (Asian or African) family. He has a Guyanese heritage (he calls Guyana 'the homeland' and his desk is adorned with its flag), and says his father was proud of his South American background. But it was not until Benjamin went to university that he discovered himself.
'It was only when I was at college in the early 90s that I found anything out about African history and culture - that was a big deal. And I don't think that a black person should be in their mid-20s before they find out about the different and rich cultures in Africa.'
He says the African history course he took was important to him: 'Everything I've done since then academically and professionally is about making more information accessible particularly to the black community and then to the wider population.'
And the slavery museum is no different. He wants the displays to speak to people, to challenge the bigots and to give people of African descent a sense of empowerment, by giving them information on African achievement and historical knowledge. He says he would be as happy working with a group of local children with racist views as top scholars.
I ask Benjamin if he feels the ISM is in competition with the interpretation of the transatlantic slave trade in Hull and Bristol, where major exhibitions opened earlier this year. His answer is emphatic: 'Not in my vocabulary. If someone else thinks like that, I wouldn't work with them. If another museum felt precious about something, I wouldn't work with them. We are dealing with a subject that is sensitive and difficult, that has been misrepresented in the past and I do believe that it's our job to get as much information as we can out there and to possibly change people's understanding and to broaden their knowledge.'
Benjamin entered the ISM project late in the day. With the content decided, he has had little input in shaping it. He joined NML in 2006 as the community consultation coordinator with responsibility for disseminating information on the slavery museum and the new Museum of Liverpool (which will open in 2010) and working with community groups. He became aware of sensitivities about the slavery museum, a reason, he says, why the museum should exist.
The real challenge for Benjamin will start after the opening of the gallery on 23 August. Conceptualising, organising and promoting the research centre will call on Benjamin's academic nous.
He has already made links with international museums that have African collections as well as those interpreting the Middle Passage. He has spent time in New York meeting people from the renowned Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. No doubt, NML is hoping to emulate it in phase two of its slavery museum. He is also looking closely at the Smithsonian museums in the US, with a particular eye on the plans for the National Museum of African American History and Culture planned for Washington, DC.
He says the strength of the ISM will be the fact that it does 'a bit of everything' - archive, collections, research, learning, community partnership.
The NML executive has been courting the US for sponsorship of the
ISM. (US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice visited Liverpool in 2006 and described the museum as 'extraordinary'.) Benjamin says he doesn't see it as 'selling ourselves, because of the subject area people are so interested to help.'
Benjamin tells me that he has been liaising closely with his fellow Guyanese David Lammy, the former minister for culture. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has promised £250,000 a year to the new museum. But any chance of more from the DCMS may have diminished with prime minister Gordon Brown's reshuffle, which saw Lammy move to the new department of Innovation, Universities and Skills.
Benjamin also says that it is at this next phase that he will focus his attention on learning about the sector. He admits that his entry to museum world has been a baptism of fire: 'The reason I have a smile on my face the whole time is because I am fascinated by the way things work.'
He says he wants to find out about the issues that power the museum world, as they will affect what he does in phase two. He manages two curators (one is a temporary assistant curator under the positive action traineeship) and depends on the gallery's curator to guide him on exhibition practicalities. His own line manager is John Millard, the keeper of World Museum Liverpool and deputy director of public services.
Rumour has it that Benjamin came under fire from the executive at NML for his openness in a previous Museums Journal's feature. In Ultimate Things (Museums Journal February 2007, p66) he said that the full and dark story of a Tibetan robe in the world museum's collection was not told on the display label.
Is the rumour true? He says not, but does say that he was talking from the viewpoint of an academic researcher and 'not a curator who knows about restrictions on labels'.
Though there are some gaps in his knowledge, he's not worried: 'I'm not someone to do a job where there is not some kind of test of me as an individual.' For him, this is a perfect career opportunity: 'With my interest and as a black person, what more can I ask for than to formulate a world-class museum? I wouldn't choose to be anywhere else. I couldn't have written it any better.'
But aside from the gallery, which is phase one of the project, the next phase will see the building adjacent to the Maritime Museum turned into an academic research centre and community building for the study of this controversial subject. That's where the 'international' comes in.
Richard Benjamin, appointed the head of the slavery museum in October last year, agrees that the title is an 'enormous' one, but says there is a point to it: 'For me it's about giving people as clear an understanding of the issues involved as anywhere in the world can at this moment in time.'
The old basement gallery was groundbreaking when it opened in 1994. It drew heavily on international research on the subject and brought the area its first real taste of the trade that built the city.
Perhaps it is also fair to call Benjamin's appointment groundbreaking (though not before time) as the first visible minority person on the senior management team at National Museums Liverpool (NML).
The first thing that stands out about Benjamin is his deep Yorkshire accent. He is from Tadcaster, a town that lies between Leeds and York, and his voice sounds like it should hail from somebody older than the 35 year old who is explaining his busy schedule to me.
At first you might question the suitability to a museum role of someone who has zero curatorial experience and a background in the theory of archaeology. But take a closer look and Benjamin's academic and community work, predominantly in Liverpool, spells out his appropriateness for the job.
With a bachelor's degree in urban policy, community and race relations studies, he chose to do a master's in archaeology without any field experience. He acknowledges that the faculty at the University of Liverpool took a chance on him. And he was happy, he says, to find more than just a 'white middle-class world that was incredibly twee'.
A PhD, focusing on the archaeology of the African diaspora, followed. Part of his research involved a scholarship to Harvard at the WEB Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research. He worked on the African burial ground in New York where a new memorial and interpretation centre is being planned and where African Americans from the community were involved in decisions about how their ancestors were treated.
Benjamin has spent much of his career enabling access to education to 'non-traditional' groups. He worked in Oxford introducing the higher academic world to schoolchildren and homeless young people, and spent a couple of years at the University of Liverpool opening up access routes to education for various communities. 'It's about those groups that should have their history and their backgrounds on a level with the general population, especially in this country. The people who benefit are the general population.'
Benjamin believes this view comes from growing up in Tadcaster, where he says his was the only black (Asian or African) family. He has a Guyanese heritage (he calls Guyana 'the homeland' and his desk is adorned with its flag), and says his father was proud of his South American background. But it was not until Benjamin went to university that he discovered himself.
'It was only when I was at college in the early 90s that I found anything out about African history and culture - that was a big deal. And I don't think that a black person should be in their mid-20s before they find out about the different and rich cultures in Africa.'
He says the African history course he took was important to him: 'Everything I've done since then academically and professionally is about making more information accessible particularly to the black community and then to the wider population.'
And the slavery museum is no different. He wants the displays to speak to people, to challenge the bigots and to give people of African descent a sense of empowerment, by giving them information on African achievement and historical knowledge. He says he would be as happy working with a group of local children with racist views as top scholars.
I ask Benjamin if he feels the ISM is in competition with the interpretation of the transatlantic slave trade in Hull and Bristol, where major exhibitions opened earlier this year. His answer is emphatic: 'Not in my vocabulary. If someone else thinks like that, I wouldn't work with them. If another museum felt precious about something, I wouldn't work with them. We are dealing with a subject that is sensitive and difficult, that has been misrepresented in the past and I do believe that it's our job to get as much information as we can out there and to possibly change people's understanding and to broaden their knowledge.'
Benjamin entered the ISM project late in the day. With the content decided, he has had little input in shaping it. He joined NML in 2006 as the community consultation coordinator with responsibility for disseminating information on the slavery museum and the new Museum of Liverpool (which will open in 2010) and working with community groups. He became aware of sensitivities about the slavery museum, a reason, he says, why the museum should exist.
The real challenge for Benjamin will start after the opening of the gallery on 23 August. Conceptualising, organising and promoting the research centre will call on Benjamin's academic nous.
He has already made links with international museums that have African collections as well as those interpreting the Middle Passage. He has spent time in New York meeting people from the renowned Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. No doubt, NML is hoping to emulate it in phase two of its slavery museum. He is also looking closely at the Smithsonian museums in the US, with a particular eye on the plans for the National Museum of African American History and Culture planned for Washington, DC.
He says the strength of the ISM will be the fact that it does 'a bit of everything' - archive, collections, research, learning, community partnership.
The NML executive has been courting the US for sponsorship of the
ISM. (US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice visited Liverpool in 2006 and described the museum as 'extraordinary'.) Benjamin says he doesn't see it as 'selling ourselves, because of the subject area people are so interested to help.'
Benjamin tells me that he has been liaising closely with his fellow Guyanese David Lammy, the former minister for culture. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has promised £250,000 a year to the new museum. But any chance of more from the DCMS may have diminished with prime minister Gordon Brown's reshuffle, which saw Lammy move to the new department of Innovation, Universities and Skills.
Benjamin also says that it is at this next phase that he will focus his attention on learning about the sector. He admits that his entry to museum world has been a baptism of fire: 'The reason I have a smile on my face the whole time is because I am fascinated by the way things work.'
He says he wants to find out about the issues that power the museum world, as they will affect what he does in phase two. He manages two curators (one is a temporary assistant curator under the positive action traineeship) and depends on the gallery's curator to guide him on exhibition practicalities. His own line manager is John Millard, the keeper of World Museum Liverpool and deputy director of public services.
Rumour has it that Benjamin came under fire from the executive at NML for his openness in a previous Museums Journal's feature. In Ultimate Things (Museums Journal February 2007, p66) he said that the full and dark story of a Tibetan robe in the world museum's collection was not told on the display label.
Is the rumour true? He says not, but does say that he was talking from the viewpoint of an academic researcher and 'not a curator who knows about restrictions on labels'.
Though there are some gaps in his knowledge, he's not worried: 'I'm not someone to do a job where there is not some kind of test of me as an individual.' For him, this is a perfect career opportunity: 'With my interest and as a black person, what more can I ask for than to formulate a world-class museum? I wouldn't choose to be anywhere else. I couldn't have written it any better.'
