International Slavery Museum: Igniting Ideas and Action

International Slavery Museum: Igniting Ideas and Action

People viewing an exhibition at the International Slavery Museum
Credit: Pete Carr

Heritage Horizon Awards

Waterfront South
Liverpool
National Museums Liverpool
£2958900
The International Slavery Museum in Liverpool will be transformed from a collection of galleries into a prominent museum, the first of its kind in the UK.

We have granted nearly £10million to the museum as part of the Heritage Horizon Awards, supporting its move into the historic Dr Martin Luther King Jr building. At the centre of the regeneration of Liverpool’s docklands, the project aims to become the national centre for teaching Black history and legacies of transatlantic slavery.

Bringing together partners across the world

The museum will work with the local community and those most affected by the legacies of slavery in Liverpool, across the UK, and internationally.

They will do this through:

  • museum content and engagement programmes
  • a community-led model of working
  • being a central resource for organisations throughout the sector

Event at the International Slavery Museum
Event at the International Slavery Museum. Credit: Pete Carr


Driving change  

The funding will go further than the International Slavery Museum in allowing National Museums Liverpool to incorporate Black history and the legacies of slavery into all our venues.

Laura Pye, Director, National Museums Liverpool.

The museum’s journey will support people and organisations to be agents of their own change, through a programme of academic rigour, debate and knowledge sharing.  

By helping people simultaneously learn about historic slavery and celebrate Black achievement and heritage, it aims to become a symbolic beacon of hope.

Laura Pye, Director, National Museums Liverpool, said: “We must tackle the themes around historic slavery, human rights, racism, and discrimination. The funding will go further than the International Slavery Museum in allowing National Museums Liverpool to incorporate Black history and the legacies of slavery into all our venues."