London's Black History

Hear the voices of the Windrush generation, learn about dub reggae's influence on the capital and explore the heritage of Black Londoners thanks to our on-site programme and online resources.

• 

  Feeding Black: Community, Power & Place

  Now open, Museum of London Docklands

  This brand new, free display spotlights four African and Caribbean businesses and their owners, exploring how they are much more than the services and goods they provide.
  

  Find out more
• 

  Story sleuths: The stories of Black Londoners

  Until 30 November, Museum of London and the Museum of London Docklands

  Learn how the legacies of past Black Londoners have shaped the city and the lives of people who live here today in this free digital trail.
  

  Pre-book now

• 

  Windrush Stories

  From never-heard-before oral histories to articles exploring our extensive photography collection, we have curated a selection of content that explores the history of the African-Caribbean community in London.

  FIND OUT MORE
• 

  University of Repair

  University of Repair (UoR ) is a mobile, open-ended and site-specific series of interventions that draws on the museum’s London, Sugar & Slavery gallery to initiate a process of repair.

  We want to develop more affirmative approaches to doing and curating silenced, challenging and undocumented histories. We are looking to work with researchers, practitioners, thinkers and creatives that can reimagine our collections and displays.

  Find out more
• 

  Black Londoners through time

  Take a trip back in time to discover just some of London’s Black history from the Roman era to the present day. Learn about the amazing achievements of African and Caribbean Londoners and their contributions to London life.

  Explore the timeline
• 

  School resources - Our Stories: Reflecting on Black British History in Four Objects

  Culture Mile Learning has produced a programme of activity and digital content, to support secondary school teachers to incorporate Black British history, arts, and culture into the curriculum.

  Find out more
• 

  Black & British: A Fashionable Windrush Story

  In the spring of 2021, the Museum of London acquired two fashion ensembles and a group of oral histories from Tihara Smith and her Granddad, Lazare Sylvestre. Together, these acquisitions tell a multi-generational story about immigration, life in London, and a shared love for fashion.

  Read now
• 

  Photographing Black Britain: Neil Kenlock & Armet Francis

  Neil Kenlock and Armet Francis took their cameras onto the streets of North Kensington to document the lives of African-Caribbean people across London and beyond. Both Jamaican-born, they arrived in Britain as children and became well-established professional photographers.

  Find out more
• 

  Photographing Black Britain: Roger Mayne & Henry Grant

  Discover how photographers Roger Mayne and Henry Grant brought an outsider's perspective to North Kensington, fascinated by the community they found there.

  Find out more
• 

  Photographing Black Britain: Charlie Phillips

  Look through the lens of Charlie Phillips, a groundbreaking photographer who captured the lives of black Londoners in North Kensington, and street life for over thirty years.

  Find out more
• 

  Listening to London and the Windrush Generation

  Delve deeper into our oral history collection, containing more than 5,000 hours of recorded life story interviews from the people who have lived, worked, moved, migrated, found refuge or just passed through London.

  Find out more
• 

  Our Stories: reflecting on Black British History in four objects

  How do we communicate through objects? What does representation mean? And whose stories are told in our collections and archives? Four newly produced short films delve into such questions by exploring objects and individuals in collections across the Culture Mile.

  Find out more
• 

  SoundClash: London's dub reggae roots

  Immerse yourself in the history of dub reggae in the capital with exclusive interviews, articles and photographs from our collection.

  FIND OUT MORE
• 

  From Brixton 1981 to BLM 2020: reflections on Black uprisings

  Listening to London volunteer Jasmine Pierre discusses oral histories of the 1981 uprising in Brixton to reflect on her own experiences of racial upheaval in London in 2011 and 2020.

  Find out more

Also of interest...

• 
  Shop Black History Month books
• 
  Henry Grant Collection
• 
  London, Sugar & Slavery gallery