Paper short abstract:

2020 saw growing global protests around Black Lives Matter (BLM) and amplified responses from different cultural institutions. In Bristol Museums, the legacies of the Transatlantic Slave Trade had played a role before, and I will discuss two projects partnered with and aimed at the Black community

Paper long abstract:

As a response to the BLM protests, museums and the heritage sector all over Britain committed to reassess colonial legacies of their collections, exhibitions and narratives. This paper discusses two collaborative projects run by Bristol Museums that were particularly addressed at Black communities and the responses before and after the toppling of the statue. The first project, the Bristol Black History project (ongoing) started in 2018 is a digital Black Historyproject in collaboration with Black experts as well as a general public. An early survey had revealed that there was a demand to present more (positive) narratives of Black people and move beyond the history of slavery. Although the project was only a digital format, which had been criticized, it provided an advantage during the lockdown. The second project Uncomfortable Truths was run in 2019 and is also made available for online access. In this project, participants mostly of ethnic minority background unravel hidden histories of artefacts in the museum through a critical lens. Both projects not only aim to present Black history beyond stereotypical images, they are also platforms to provide agency, authority and visibility to the participants. Both projects were already started before 2020, but have gained increasing interest during the course of the global BLM movements and the toppling of the Edward Colston statue. This paper discusses both projects, the reflections of participants and the increasing interest after June 2020 also against the backdrop of tackling general racism as well as hostile environments in the cultural sector.