Poetry against Slavery: guided tours in October and November 2018

This guided tour takes place at 12pm and 3pm on Thu 4 October (National Poetry Day), Sun 14 October, Sun 21 October, Thu 25 October, Sun 18 November, Thu 22 November and Sat 24 November. Venue: Museum of London Docklands, No. 1 Warehouse, West India Quay, London E14 4AL. The tour and museum entry are both free. All welcome with no need to book.

The London, Sugar & Slavery gallery at the Museum of London Docklands is a unique resource for exploring London’s involvement in the transatlantic slave trade, and for understanding the trade’s present-day legacies. As part of the museum’s Black History Month programme in October, and during the nationwide Being Human Festival in November, Matt Martin (Stuart Hall Research Scholar and PhD student in the Contemporary Poetics Research Centre at Birkbeck) will lead one-hour guided tours of the gallery, showcasing his research into how poetry has galvanised resistance against the oppression of African, Caribbean and Black British people.

From Africa’s rich heritage, through preservation of cultural legacies during slavery, to recent political activism, you will encounter and discuss poems that give voice to objects and images in the museum. Discover how African cultural origins have influenced language and poetry in the Caribbean, how poems inspired anti-slavery action in the Caribbean and the UK, and how later poets have drawn upon this history to oppose continuing racial injustices. The spoken and written word will emerge as powerful ways to build solidarity among and between communities. No advance reading required – all texts will be provided on the day.