International Slavery Museum & Merseyside Maritime Museum

International Slavery Museum & Merseyside Maritime Museum Liverpool

Jake Davies

The International Museum of Slavery in Liverpool with exhibits of the Transatlantic slave trade. — The International Museum of Slavery in Liverpool with exhibits of the Transatlantic slave trade

The International Slavery Museum is located in the same building as the Merseyside Maritime Museum in the museum quarter around the UNESCO World Heritage listed Albert Dock in Liverpool.

Slave ships and the story of the slave trade on display at Liverpool's excellent Museum of Slavery. — Slave ships and the story of the slave trade on display at Liverpool's excellent Museum of Slavery

International Slavery Museum at Albert Dock in Liverpool. — International Slavery Museum at Albert Dock in Liverpool

History

It opened in 2007 after the success of a slavery exhibition at the Maritime Museum convinced the operators that a stand-alone museum was justified.

Ku Klux Klan, a legacy of slavery at the International Slavery Museum in Liverpool. — Ku Klux Klan: legacy of slavery at the International Slavery Museum in Liverpool

Exhibits

It focuses primarily, but not exclusively, on the transatlantic slave trade and the part played in it by the port of Liverpool.

There are three main galleries, with the first showcasing Life in West Africa, displaying culture and peoples life-ways including a recreation of an Igbo compound and examples of artifacts from the time before European invasion. There is an emphasis on masks, musical instruments, and other things that have influenced world cultures.

African masks on display at the International Museum of Slavery, Liverpool, England, UK. — African masks on display at the International Museum of Slavery, Liverpool

Slave Trade

The second gallery is about the slave trade itself. By the second half of the 18th century until the official abolition of the slave trade in the British Empire, Liverpool had become the biggest port in Europe engaged in the slaving. The exhibits detail the operations of the slaving ships, the economy and profits of the trade and conditions in the New World plantations.

The final gallery is about the legacy of the slave trade. This is the section that changes most and includes many contemporary issues like identity, freedom, human rights, social justice, racial discrimination as well as the transformations of many non-African cultures.

There are also an ongoing series of events and activities connected to forms of slavery still exiting today.

Many of the exhibits focus on life after slavery in the USA for descendants of the slaves including the ongoing struggles for freedom and liberty displayed on the Fight For Freedom and Equality Wall with displays on the rise of the Black Panthers, Martin Luther King etc. The Black Achievers Wall display famous faces of the Black Diaspora including Muhammad Ali, Oprah Winfrey etc.

Martin Luther King Building, Albert Dock, England, UK. — The Dr Martin Luther King Jr Building in Albert Dock (previously the Albert Dock Traffic Office and former home of Granada Television) will be transformed to create a new entrance to the International Slavery Museum

Goods From Japan delivered to your home or business. — Goods From Japan delivered to your home or business

Merseyside Maritime Museum, Albert Dock, England, UK. — Merseyside Maritime Museum

Merseyside Maritime Museum, Liverpool

The Slavery Museum occupies the 3rd floor of the Merseyside Maritime Museum which also has a wide range of exhibits on the maritime heritage of Liverpool.

As well as boats there are models and a big collections of paintings. Also included are items from shipwrecks and the basement is a museum for the UK Border Service with displays on seized items.

Life in the merchant marine is a major theme and the role of Liverpool during the Battle for the Atlantic is covered. A major exhibit is on the Titanic which was registered at Liverpool but never actually visited.

Other museums in Liverpool include The Beatles' Story, the Walker Art Gallery, Tate Liverpool and the Museum of Liverpool.

Museum Access & Hours

Merseyside Maritime Museum & International Slavery Museum
Albert Dock, Liverpool, Merseyside, L3 4AQ
Tel: 015 478 4499
Open 10 am to 5 pm every day. Free entry.

Mock-up of the Titanic at the Merseyside Maritime Museum in Liverpool. — Mock-up of the Titanic at the Merseyside Maritime Museum in Liverpool

Reproduction of steerage on board the Titanic. — Reproduction of steerage on board the Titanic

Access - Getting to Liverpool

Lime Street Station is Liverpool's main station with trains to Manchester Piccadilly, Birmingham New Street and London Euston. Lime Street's underground station has trains on the Wirral Line to Chester. There are connections from Liverpool Lime Street to Manchester Airport, Nottingham, Norwich, Sheffield, and also Manchester Oxford Road, First TransPennine Express trains also run to Leeds, Newcastle, Scarborough and York.

Take a #500 bus outside the station to Liverpool's John Lennon Airport, 8 miles south east of the city.

There are ferries from the ferry terminal just north of Pier Head and close to James Street Merseyrail station to the Isle of Man, Belfast and Dublin.

The Mersey Ferry crosses the River Mersey from Liverpool's Pier Head to the Seacombe terminal on the Wirral in just 10 minutes. Morning commuter services every 20 minutes from Seacombe terminal run 7.20 am-9.40 am with the evening commuter service from Pier Head beginning 5 pm and running until 6.40 pm.

Long distance National Express buses run nationwide from the bus station on Norton Street.