PR Date: Wednesday, 30 September 2020 - 9:15am
North Hertfordshire Museum is contributing to this year’s Black History Month with a display of objects relating to the contribution Black people have made to our district’s history.
The display includes historic photographs and a medal commemorating William IV’s achievement, which included the outlawing of slavery. The display will also feature a document from 1819 listing slaves on Upper and Lower Pearl Estate in Grenada at the time they were sold to John Goodson in 1819.
The document has been lent to the museum by Tim Brewer. Tim discovered it during a clear out of a solicitor’s office in London, however it is not a family heirloom, nor did his ancestors benefit from the slave trade.
Tony Williams of the North Herts African Caribbean Community (the Hitchin and Letchworth Diversity and Culture) arranged for the museum to display the document. Tony said: ‘When Mr Brewer approached us saying he had this important document, we were very excited to put Mr Brewer and the North Herts Museum in touch. The North Herts Museum is a great place to showcase this document and it will bring the hard reality of people bring treated like commodities to life for the people of North Herts”.
Cllr Keith Hoskins, NHDC’s Executive Member for Enterprise and Co-operative Development said: “Please pop down to the museum during October to see the interesting exhibits and photography and learn more about the important contribution the Black community has made, and continues to make, in North Herts.”.
The Museum is free to visit. The exhibition opens on 01 October and runs until 01 November. Social distancing measures are in place. We can accommodate only six people from one or two ‘bubbles’ in guided tours of the whole museum which are on the hour or the half hour. For tours on the hour, you will need to book through Art Tickets UK (https://north-herts-museum.arttickets.org.uk/). Visitors can turn up at the museum entrance for tours on the half hour. The last tour, at 3.30 pm, is for the exhibition only.
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