I have just finished reading The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel
Wilkerson. It’s a book about the Great Migration, described as “one of
the great untold stories of American history”.
It traces the experiences of the six million African-Americans who fled the southern states of the US for northern and western cities between 1915 and 1970 in search of a better life. It says a lot about what type of history books get published that it has remained an untold story for so long. It took Wilkerson, whose parents were part of the Great Migration, to tell the story.
The book made me think about museums, which are often brilliant at exploring untold stories, including the experiences of immigrants to the UK.
The Norfolk 2000 project is looking at historical immigration to the county using the archaeology collections of Norfolk Museums Service. The aim is for people to share experiences of different cultures and learn about immigration today.
In the summer, we will see the opening of the Huguenot Museum in Rochester, which will tell the story of what are described as “Britain’s first refugees”. Interestingly, the MP for Rochester and Strood is Ukip’s Mark Reckless.
In Liverpool, the Merseyside Maritime Museum is looking at the issue from a different angle, with an exhibition about the 100,000 children who were sent from Britain to Canada, Australia and other Commonwealth countries via migration schemes.
And on a wider scale, there is the Migration Museum, which was created following a report on the representation of migration in existing institutions. The project has developed a series of exhibitions, seminars and events since it was set up in 2012, and the eventual aim is to open a physical space.
All these initiatives feed into the idea that our shared history is one of migration. Helping people understand this makes a valuable contribution to conversations about what it means to be British.
Immigration, multiculturalism and identity, and how museums and galleries portray these issues, should be high on the agenda at this year’s Museums Association conference (5-6 November) in Birmingham, a city with one of the UK’s most diverse populations. I’m looking forward to the debates ahead.
Simon Stephens, editor, Museums Journal
It traces the experiences of the six million African-Americans who fled the southern states of the US for northern and western cities between 1915 and 1970 in search of a better life. It says a lot about what type of history books get published that it has remained an untold story for so long. It took Wilkerson, whose parents were part of the Great Migration, to tell the story.
The book made me think about museums, which are often brilliant at exploring untold stories, including the experiences of immigrants to the UK.
The Norfolk 2000 project is looking at historical immigration to the county using the archaeology collections of Norfolk Museums Service. The aim is for people to share experiences of different cultures and learn about immigration today.
In the summer, we will see the opening of the Huguenot Museum in Rochester, which will tell the story of what are described as “Britain’s first refugees”. Interestingly, the MP for Rochester and Strood is Ukip’s Mark Reckless.
In Liverpool, the Merseyside Maritime Museum is looking at the issue from a different angle, with an exhibition about the 100,000 children who were sent from Britain to Canada, Australia and other Commonwealth countries via migration schemes.
And on a wider scale, there is the Migration Museum, which was created following a report on the representation of migration in existing institutions. The project has developed a series of exhibitions, seminars and events since it was set up in 2012, and the eventual aim is to open a physical space.
All these initiatives feed into the idea that our shared history is one of migration. Helping people understand this makes a valuable contribution to conversations about what it means to be British.
Immigration, multiculturalism and identity, and how museums and galleries portray these issues, should be high on the agenda at this year’s Museums Association conference (5-6 November) in Birmingham, a city with one of the UK’s most diverse populations. I’m looking forward to the debates ahead.
Simon Stephens, editor, Museums Journal
