Myths About Race

25 August 2007

Myths about Race featured a selection of objects and images that were used in museums and other media to support racist ideas. It also looked at the ways in which individuals and organisations in Manchester have worked to dispel these myths.

For the Remembering Slavery trail five objects were selected from the museum's displays and reinterpreted to reveal their part in Manchester's history in relation to the slave trade and its legacy. The trail took place from 25 August 2007 until 6 January 2008.

Many Victorian institutions, including The Manchester Museum, contributed to the same racist thinking that had justified slavery. As part of the Revealing Histories: Remembering Slavery project, we explored the difficult and sensitive issues that this raises.

Objects and images are used which show how racist ideas were supported by museums and other media, and highlight how individuals and organisations in Manchester have worked to dispel these myths. This exhibition invites you to question the displays in the Museum, and to help shape its future.

Provoking thought about the role of the museum in constructing racial stereotypes, the exhibition divides into three themes. These challenge the notions that different ethnic groups formed a hierarchy, with southern people being somehow less 'evolved' than Europeans; the population of ancient Egypt were white, as perpetuated in motion pictures such as 'Cleopatra'; and unpack imagery that portrayed African people and their descendents only as victims.

The exhibition was part of the "Revealing Histories: Remembering Slavery" project, which marked the bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act in Britain.

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