London’s publicly-funded National Maritime Museum is planning to “capitalise on momentum built up by Black Lives Matter" to address 'aspects of slavery relating to Royal Navy', according to the Daily Telegraph.
The outlet adds that the status of Lord Nelson, a British naval commander and national hero, famous for his naval victories against the French during the Napoleonic Wars, will be reviewed as part of efforts to challenge Britain's "barbaric history of race and colonialism".
The maritime museum in Greenwich, London has many of Nelson’s personal effects including love letters that Nelson sent to his mistress Emma Hamilton to the coat Nelson wore when he was fatally shot during the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.
Internal documents reportedly seen by The Telegraph apparently indicate that the museum’s Nelson displays could be subject to "wholesale changes" in future, and the "more complex" nature of his heroism will be tackled by curators re-evaluating historical events and people as part of a new strategy.
Museum trustees and “community groups” will seemingly guide the new strategy to address "issues raised by the Black Lives Matter movement", focusing in particular on any links to slavery.
Royal Museums Greenwich director Paddy Rogers told staff that the widespread reassessment of history resulting from the BLM movement provided a "moment to shine".
Rogers said perspectives on history and identity "have never been so hotly discussed as they are right here and right now" and the institution could "play a key role".
The colonial legacies of figures such as Captain Cook and Francis Drake have previously been addressed by the Maritime Museum amid widespread calls from activists to create a museum that focuses on Britain's role in the slave trade.
Britain had a key role in ending the slave trade. After Nelson's death at Trafalgar, the British Parliament passed the Slave Trade Act in 1807. The Royal Navy then established a squadron of ships based on the West African coast, the West Africa Squadron, to suppress the slave trade. Between 1808 and 1860 the Royal Navy’s West Africa Squadron seized nearly 1,600 ships and freed 150,000 Africans bound for the plantations of the Americas.
George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man, was killed in Minneapolis, Minnesota, while being arrested for allegedly using a counterfeit bill. His death triggered worldwide protests against police brutality, police racism, and lack of police accountability, while bringing the issue of race relations to the fore.
Various states across the United States and Europe have been the subject of protests, with demonstrators alleging that they promote white supremacy by raising "racist" figures to the status of heroes. Dozens of statues and monuments celebrating leaders of the Confederate States of America and its military have been torn down, burned or defaced in the US.
Black Lives Matter protesters then went on to expand the focus of their attacks, removing statues of Christopher Columbus and other European colonisers as well as statues of slave owning presidents such as Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson and George Washington.
A majority of British members of Parliament who tweeted between May 26 and June 10 posted about Floyd or used the phrase “Black lives matter” or the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag, according to analysis by Pew Research.