Transatlantic slavery victims remembered in London

Victims of transatlantic slavery will be remembered in London with a series of walking tours, exhibitions and research.

Ten organisations across nine boroughs will each receive up to £10,000 to help them establish the memorials, which will be linked to The Wake.

Planning permission for the near-7m (23ft) bronze cowrie shell sculpture was granted this month, and will stand on West India Quay in Docklands.

Mayor Lord Sadiq Khan said the capital's role in the trade had for too long "not been fully acknowledged".

The money comes from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and is being distributed through City Hall's Sites of Memory programme.

Projects include a touring exhibition in Camden about people who fought for freedom, a storytelling project in Waltham Forest on the borough's links to slavery, and five guided walks uncovering the black history of the City of London.

Deptford People's Heritage Museum will document the colonial past of Deptford Dockyard and resistance by African and Caribbean communities who lived nearby.

City Hall said that while London had many monuments reflecting wealth created by the trade, there was little to remember the millions of Africans who were enslaved.

The Wake, by artist Khaleb Brooks, will be the city's first major public memorial to victims of transatlantic slavery. Cowrie shells hold deep cultural significance and became a symbol of slavery after being used as currency in the trade.

Smaller memorials inspired by the shell will be placed around the capital, informed by the groups' research.

Brooks said the sites would be "monuments of connection offering a sense of belonging to our future generations".

Deputy mayor for communities Debbie Weekes-Bernard said public spaces "should reflect the stories and experiences of every community".

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