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The International Slavery Museum

Housed within the Merseyside Maritime Museum, The International Slavery Museum, Liverpool is a unique public institution that explores aspects of historical and current-day slavery as well as performing an important role as an international centre for resources on human rights issues. Located at the World Heritage site of Liverpool’s Albert Dock, it sits only yards away from the dry docks where, in the 1700s, slave-trading ships would have been furnished and repaired.

The Slavery Museum opened on 23 August 2007 – a significant date for two reasons: it marked the annual Slavery Remembrance Day, but also 2007 saw the bicentenary of the abolition of the British slave trade.
The International Slavery Museum underlines the continual worldwide importance of slavery, both in an historic and a topical context. Partnering with other museums that share a focus on the issues of liberty and enslavement, the museum creates an environment that leads to a greater awareness and understanding of slavery’s ongoing legacy in the world today.
Forming part of the prestigious National Museums of Liverpool – one of the greatest groups of national museums in the world – the Slavery Museum is ideally placed to raise awareness of this subject at an international level.
Expanding on their earlier focus on slavery issues at the former Transatlantic Slavery Gallery at the Merseyside Maritime Museum – which won global acclaim and formed the basis of their award-winning work on diversity and outreach – the Slavery Museum promises to continue to highlight the historical and ongoing issues of slavery.