International Slavery Museum

The International Slavery Museum, on Royal Albert Dock in Liverpool, England, opened on 23 August 2007, the UN International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition, and is part of National Museums Liverpool. It occupies the upper floors of the Dock Traffic Office building next to Merseyside Maritime Museum. The museum examines the transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans between the 16th and 19th centuries and Liverpool's central part in it, as ships from the port carried well over a million people from West Africa to the Americas. Its permanent galleries follow a thematic path. Life in West Africa covers the societies, trade and culture before the trade. Enslavement and the Middle Passage uses objects, documents and a reconstruction to portray the capture, the sea voyage and the plantations. Legacy: Resistance and Struggle explores resistance and rebellion, abolition, racism and the civil rights movement. The collection includes shackles, plantation tools, personal testimony, art and objects from African, Caribbean and Black British cultures. Curators emphasise survivor voices and the continuing impact of slavery, including contemporary forms of slavery and issues of racial inequality. The museum is housed in a Victorian dock building, and the galleries were designed with film, soundscapes and sensitive displays so that the content is confronting but not sensational. The museum is part of the Slavery Remembrance programme, and hosts events and talks in August and throughout the year. Some content is distressing and the museum gives advance notice of challenging material. Admission is free, and most visitors spend about 90 minutes to two hours.