Museum London is holding a number of events this year to celebrate Black History Month. Now because of COVID-19, you can’t physically go into the museum, but they have an online video exhibition. The exhibition is about the Black Lives Matter protest that brought 10,000 Londoners to Victoria Park on June 6, 2020.
The signs include the sayings ‘Black Lives Matter”, “No Justice, No Peace”, “Enough is Enough”, and “Say Their Names” and many more. You can also help spread the message by taking a look at their high-resolution image, screenshot it on your device, and share the image on social media. Amber Lloydlangston, a Curator for the Museum says that getting the signs was super simple.
“Olivia Musico (a community consultant for the exhibition) had emailed to say that would Museum London be interested in working with her to collect signs and possibly create an exhibition,” Lloydlangston says. “Both of us were very surprised when at the end of the rally, one of the organisers made an announcement to everybody who was still present, Museum London is interested in your signs, There were some 500 signs that were left, and we had to narrow them down to 117 signs.”
Some of the Black Lives Matter Signs used for the exhibition/ Museum London
In the video tour, you will hear from three community consultants (Ghaida Hamdun, Olivia Musico, and Keira Roberts), which two of them were organisers of the Black Lives Matter protest. Lloydlangston reflects that Museum London wanted to highlight what Londoners were doing in light of the death of Geroge Floyd.
“We’re also highlighting the fact that people were recognising that this is a problem in London, as well as in Canada, not just in the United States,” Lloydlangston stated. “Ultimately, we wanted to be a place where the conversation could continue. We felt like it was important that we provide a safe and brave space for people to come and look at the signs, think about the meaning behind them, and to contemplate what they could do to try and make things better.”
But the exhibition isn’t the only thing Museum London is providing. They also have some adventure fun in terms of the “People and Places, A Black History Tour of London and Southwestern Ontario“. The tour was created with research assistance from the 2003-2004 Public History Class at Western University with the help of the London Black History Coordinating Committee. Lloydlangston explains what Londoners can do on this tour.
“What it does is give particular locations, and gives information about those locations. At the back of the pamphlet is are a couple of maps, so that people can find where these locations are,” Lloydlangston says. “The idea is that they should then drive to visit these locations where they can visit the sites that are there. Connect with the institutions that are referenced, learn something about the history read the blacks, generally just engage with the history.”
Last but not least Museum London was used to film a six-episode series called the “Melanated View“. You can join Londoners and hosts Ali, Renée, Jen, Alecia, and Christina, as they talk about topics such as health care to media stereotypes.
For the last 18 years, Museum London hosted the lunch of Black History Month. But thanks to the pandemic, they aren’t able to host anything. Lloydlangston, however, says that Museum London is trying to change its representation within their exhibitions.
“It was a way for us to show that black history and stories about black Londoners and black Canadians get told in Museum London, outside of Black History Month,” Lloydlangston says. “It’s a way to try and start anti-racist practices in our museum work and that is to try to include the voices of other people.”
For more information about the online exhibition, the People and Places tour, or the Melanated View show, you can go to Museumlondon.ca.
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