Former home secretary Diane Abbott backs anti-racism campaigners and schools’ boycott of the museum for its refusal to remove a statue with slavery ties.
The statue is of the 17th Century merchant Sir Robert Geffrye, who made his fortune in the transatlantic slave trade. The Museum of the Home (previously, Geffrye Museum) is housed in former alms-houses funded by Geffrye. The statue was erected in 1715 to acknowledge his donation.
Campaigners from Hackney Stand Up To Racism launched the boycott in a meeting in Newington Green. Former home secretary Diane Abbott backs the move, saying “we should not be honouring the slavers and colonialists”.
The local teachers’ union and councillors from Dalston and Hackney also support the calls to remove the statue, which coincides with Black History Month.
The impact on the museum could be significant. Ken Muller from the Islington branch of the National Education Union acknowledged the museum “depends on people coming to see it” and many of its visitors are school children.
The museum has also been shut for extended periods recently due to a £18.1m redevelopment and the coronavirus pandemic.
The boycott follows a July 2020 public consultation to remove the statue. This was prompted by the toppling of the slave trader Edward Coulston’s statue in Bristol. Whilst 71% voted to take Geffrye’s statue down, the museum’s trustees decided it should stay after receiving a letter from ex-Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden urging them to keep the statue.
Diane Abbott has labelled the decision to keep slave trader Robert Geffrye’s statue up “completely inappropriate”. https://t.co/KsNUd36DCU
— Evening Standard (@EveningStandard) July 30, 2020
Since then, the Museum has placed a note on their website and several signs outside the buildings. These explain Geffrye’s links to slavery and acknowledge the debate over whether his statue has a place in the Museum today.
The Museum declined to comment on the boycott.
