Museum of London Docklands Trip – 14/09/2019
The Legacy Makers family are incredibly disappointed in the display boards placed outside of the Museum of London Docklands (not placed by the museum). The display completely fails to recognise our ancestor’s contributions to the wealth derived directly from the trade of things such as sugar and rum. One area of the board even focuses on sugar and manages to state that ‘it was the most highly sought commodity of the period’. However, the effects of sugar being in high demand on enslaved African people is not mentioned at all.
We are unimpressed by the fact that the boards go on to simply glorify the wealth and prosperity gained through the trade in West India Dock; without mention of the work done on plantations to produce items of trade by enslaved African people. Our ancestor’s contributions to trade must be recognised as without their contributions, ‘the prosperity of the area’ would never have been achieved. Furthermore, all the achievements being celebrated, such as five-story warehouses, were also built off the back of the slave trade and were made possible due to the work being done on plantations.
A large picture of the Robert Milligan statue has also been printed onto the display, despite being able to view the statue only a couple of feet away. This area of the board could have been used to teach people about our ancestors’ contributions to the construction of West India Dock and prosperity in the area.
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