Eagleton Abstract 2006
The Transatlantic Slave Trade and money museums: Catherine Eagleton, British Museum, London
Millions of Africans were enslaved by European traders, and put to work in the American plantations. Following rebellions, and campaigns by abolitionists, in 1807 the British Parliament passed a bill banning the transatlantic slave trade. This bill did not end slavery, however, and it was not until 1834 that a bill was passed banning slavery in the British Empire.
The Transatlantic Slave Trade was extremely lucrative for the European powers that supported it, and its legacy affects people of the African Diaspora today. But how should such an issue be covered by money museums, and how should issues of such sensitivity be handled?
This paper will discuss an exhibition and educational programme that is being developed for 2007 - the bicentenary of the passage of the first bill - in the Department of Coins and Medals at the British Museum, and the issues and ideas that this has raised for the museum and its audiences.
"back to Frankfurt programme":http://www.icomon.org.uk/meetings/33/frankfurt-programme