African-Caribbean antiques road show

Almost a year since the opening of the only permanent exhibition in London dedicated to exploring slavery, Museum of London Docklands is once again welcoming people to examine their own histories in relation to the capital city and its role in the global slave trade. On Saturday 15th November from 1.30pm a panel of historians will be on hand at Museum of London Docklands for four hours to help people preserve their African Caribbean heritage. Visitors can find out more about family objects such as photographs, textiles and furniture and delve into the stories about their family and beyond. The Museum of London Docklands invites everyone, from Londoners to Liverpudlians to explore their family treasures, their importance and history with a panel of renowned curators, historians and social commentators from around the UK. The panel of experts includes: Burt Caesar, renown British Actor, Director and member of the museum’s consultative committee developing the London, Sugar & Slavery gallery. Burt’s family name appears in the Mill’s papers on show at the Museum. Arthur Torrington OBE - is co-Founder and Chair Equiano Society, and Windrush Foundation. Heritage leader and commissioner African and Asian Heritage Commission. He is also a board member of the Black Cultural Archives. In the Queen's New Year's Honours (2002), Arthur was awarded an OBE for his 'Service to Community Relations in London'. The honour recognised his voluntary work over many years. Dr Tom Wareham, Curator of Maritime and Community Histories Museum of London Docklands. He is a historian, author and was one of the lead curators for London, Sugar and Slavery. Dr Janice Cheddie, Research Fellow 'Cross Cultural Contemporary Arts: Translating the Image', Goldsmiths College, University of London. She is also a writer on contemporary visual culture, cultural democracy and ethics. In 2005-2008 she was a consultant for the Mayor's Commission on African and Asian Heritage, Greater London Authority, and lead consultant on its Task Force Leslie Ikomi Braine, a vast collector of material representing African and Caribbean peoples from Manchester. Leslie is lending key artefacts for Museum of London Dockland’s London, Sugar & Slavery permanent exhibit. Much of the material is overtly racist and offensive. He has offered material to various museums in the past, but these offers have been ignored. Sandra Agard is one of Britain's most well known writers and storytellers of black culture and heritage. She was born in Hackney. Her repertoire includes stories from all over the world. She runs regular storytelling, creative writing and reading development sessions in the community. Her poetry and short stories have been published. Kelly Foster from the Black Cultural Archives, which collects records which document life in Black Britain and the history of the African diaspora. BCA was established in 1981 as a community archive, and is currently developing a new national centre for black cultural heritage to open in Brixton in 2011. Michael McMillan is a writer and curator of the ‘West Indian’ front room at the Geffrye Museum (2005-2006), drawn from memories of his parents’ and relatives’ homes in the 1960s and 1970s; looking at the choices people made in furnishing their front room, the symbolism of particular objects and the links between objects and personal identity. Dr Arero is curator of the Africa section at The British Museum and in July 2002 he started as Keeper of Anthropology at the Horniman Museum, London where he was curator for the exhibition 'Amazon to Caribbean: Early Peoples of the Amazon'. He is deputy chair of ICOM UK.

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