Year 6 Visit Museum of London Docklands

As part of the Year 6 English and Global enquiry question, “Are All People Free?” Year 6 went to visit the Museum of London Docklands to find out more about the slave trade. We started outside the museum looking at the empty plinth and discussing why the statue of Robert Milligan had been removed in the 2020 during the Black Lives Matter movement.

The children found it fascinating to note that the Museum of London Docklands is housed in a 200 year old former sugar warehouse in one of the world’s first docks, where many of the goods that were grown and harvested by enslaved men, women and children, were unloaded. Having studied some of the facts about the Transatlantic Slave Trade, the children found it moving, fascinating and extremely sad to see the artefacts showing aspects of their lives during this time. One of the most moving displays was the large, blackboard with white writing showing the names, captains, owners and destinations of the ships that sailed from London to West Africa to transport enslaved Africans, however, much of the identity of these enslaved people has been taken away as their real names were never known so could not be recorded. The pupils were fascinated to learn more about the people of African descent who were living in London in the 1600s and 1700s. In school the children have learnt much about abolition and the people who campaigned against slavery, one of whom was William Wilberforce, a founding governor of our school. In the museum, they were able to see and learn more about the different abolitionists as well as learning there were other economic reasons that contributed to the decline of slavery. The children really enjoyed and commented how it had enhanced their learning about this topic.