Black memory, collective mobilisation and museums in Liverpool at the end of the twentieth century
School of Law and Social Justice Building (Events Space), Liverpool, L69 7ZR
Monday 19th October 2026
Join us for a talk with Professor Stephen Small (The Graduate School Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies, University of California, Berkeley).
Title: Black memory, collective mobilisation and museums in Liverpool at the end of the twentieth century: cultural expression in the longest-standing Black community in Britain
Museum exhibits in Liverpool on slavery and imperialism throughout the twentieth century were characterised by caricature and highly problematic representations of Africa, Africans and their descendants. There was continuous celebration of the British Empire and the prominent role of Liverpool shipping, sailors and soldiers in it. Liverpool museums (and many others across Britain) housed massive amounts of cultural and spiritual artefacts, including significant numbers of the so-called Benin Bronzes acquired during the British Punitive Expedition to Benin in 1897, led by Admiral Sir Harry Rawson. There was little or no acknowledgement of resistance and resilience in Africa, the Americas or in the Black community in Liverpool itself. Throughout this period Africans and their descendants in Britain, including Liverpool, cultivated collective memory of slavery, imperialism and its legacies that stood in sharp contrast to museums' representations. They drew on a panoply of culture, from music, art, sculpture and performance, to writing, photographs, film and videos. Expressive culture provided entertainment and distraction, satisfied spiritual and aesthetic needs, and provided political and social insight. Black people established organisations and groups, alongside the work of individuals, and embraced cultural practices to survive, affirm human dignity, and achieve success.
Beginning with the 1990s, Liverpool museums' exhibits took a remarkable turn in the direction of more accurate, more extensive and more inclusive representations, and members of the Liverpool 8 community were active participants in this process. They have also played a major role and catalyst in innovative research. This transformation is best exemplified in the Staying Power: Black Presence in Liverpool exhibit, which opened in 1991, the Transatlantic Slavery Gallery which opened in 1994, and the International Slavery Museum which opened in 2007. By the start of the twenty-first century, National Museums Liverpool was at the forefront of exhibits that reflected the variety and vitality of Black Life in Liverpool. Stephen Small was a guest curator, member of the Advisory Committee to the gallery, and contributed several chapters in the gallery catalogue – ‘Against Human Dignity’ edited by Tony Tibbles. He has contributed lectures and feedback to museums and community groups since the 1990s.
In this presentation, drawing on research findings in his recently published book – Black Liverpool: ‘the real thing’ West African, West Indian and Afro-American culture at the end of the twentieth-century - he describes the context of the dramatic transformation of museum representations of slavery and imperialism in Liverpool, and the significant role of the Liverpool 8 community in that transformation.
Liverpool University Press will be selling copies of Professor Small's book after the talk.
Speaker bio:
Stephen Small is a Professor of the Graduate School in the Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, a position he began in January 2025 after he retired from 30 year’s teaching on campus. He researches the history and sociology of Black people across the diaspora, with a primary focus on legacies of slavery and imperialism, public history and collective memory. He is a faculty member of the Black Europe Summer School (BESS) (since 2007) – a two-week program in Amsterdam, founded and directed for Dr Kwame Nimako; and has held visiting positions at universities in Brazil, England, France, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, and Zimbabwe. He earned his PhD in Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley (1989).
He has authored five books, co-authored or edited six books, and written or co-written more than fifty journal articles and book chapters. His most recent book is Black Liverpool: ‘The real thing’ West African, West Indian and Afro-American Culture at the end of the twentieth century, published by Liverpool University Press in June 2026. Recent publications include In the Shadows of the Big House: Twenty-First Century Antebellum Slave Cabins and Heritage Tourism in Louisiana (2023) and 1981- Black Liverpool, Past and Present (2022) (co-written with Jimi Jagne). He is also co-editor (with Darlene Clark Hine and Trica Danielle Keaton) of Black Europe and the African Diaspora (2009).
Stephen was born and raised in Liverpool 8.
Title: Black memory, collective mobilisation and museums in Liverpool at the end of the twentieth century: cultural expression in the longest-standing Black community in Britain
Museum exhibits in Liverpool on slavery and imperialism throughout the twentieth century were characterised by caricature and highly problematic representations of Africa, Africans and their descendants. There was continuous celebration of the British Empire and the prominent role of Liverpool shipping, sailors and soldiers in it. Liverpool museums (and many others across Britain) housed massive amounts of cultural and spiritual artefacts, including significant numbers of the so-called Benin Bronzes acquired during the British Punitive Expedition to Benin in 1897, led by Admiral Sir Harry Rawson. There was little or no acknowledgement of resistance and resilience in Africa, the Americas or in the Black community in Liverpool itself. Throughout this period Africans and their descendants in Britain, including Liverpool, cultivated collective memory of slavery, imperialism and its legacies that stood in sharp contrast to museums' representations. They drew on a panoply of culture, from music, art, sculpture and performance, to writing, photographs, film and videos. Expressive culture provided entertainment and distraction, satisfied spiritual and aesthetic needs, and provided political and social insight. Black people established organisations and groups, alongside the work of individuals, and embraced cultural practices to survive, affirm human dignity, and achieve success.
Beginning with the 1990s, Liverpool museums' exhibits took a remarkable turn in the direction of more accurate, more extensive and more inclusive representations, and members of the Liverpool 8 community were active participants in this process. They have also played a major role and catalyst in innovative research. This transformation is best exemplified in the Staying Power: Black Presence in Liverpool exhibit, which opened in 1991, the Transatlantic Slavery Gallery which opened in 1994, and the International Slavery Museum which opened in 2007. By the start of the twenty-first century, National Museums Liverpool was at the forefront of exhibits that reflected the variety and vitality of Black Life in Liverpool. Stephen Small was a guest curator, member of the Advisory Committee to the gallery, and contributed several chapters in the gallery catalogue – ‘Against Human Dignity’ edited by Tony Tibbles. He has contributed lectures and feedback to museums and community groups since the 1990s.
In this presentation, drawing on research findings in his recently published book – Black Liverpool: ‘the real thing’ West African, West Indian and Afro-American culture at the end of the twentieth-century - he describes the context of the dramatic transformation of museum representations of slavery and imperialism in Liverpool, and the significant role of the Liverpool 8 community in that transformation.
Liverpool University Press will be selling copies of Professor Small's book after the talk.
Speaker bio:
Stephen Small is a Professor of the Graduate School in the Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies at the University of California, Berkeley, a position he began in January 2025 after he retired from 30 year’s teaching on campus. He researches the history and sociology of Black people across the diaspora, with a primary focus on legacies of slavery and imperialism, public history and collective memory. He is a faculty member of the Black Europe Summer School (BESS) (since 2007) – a two-week program in Amsterdam, founded and directed for Dr Kwame Nimako; and has held visiting positions at universities in Brazil, England, France, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, and Zimbabwe. He earned his PhD in Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley (1989).
He has authored five books, co-authored or edited six books, and written or co-written more than fifty journal articles and book chapters. His most recent book is Black Liverpool: ‘The real thing’ West African, West Indian and Afro-American Culture at the end of the twentieth century, published by Liverpool University Press in June 2026. Recent publications include In the Shadows of the Big House: Twenty-First Century Antebellum Slave Cabins and Heritage Tourism in Louisiana (2023) and 1981- Black Liverpool, Past and Present (2022) (co-written with Jimi Jagne). He is also co-editor (with Darlene Clark Hine and Trica Danielle Keaton) of Black Europe and the African Diaspora (2009).
Stephen was born and raised in Liverpool 8.
