The Migration Museum’s 2020 lecture, delivered by Baroness Warsi

All images © Ana-Maria Militaru

It’s safe to say that the Migration Museum lectures don’t disappoint: all have been thought-provoking and inspiring in equal measure, from Michael Rosen’s lecture on ‘The Languages of Migration’ in 2014 to David Olusoga’s ‘The Perils of our Insular Illusion’ in 2018.

But the lecture that Baroness Sayeeda Warsi gave on Tuesday 21 January at King’s College London was a bit special – particularly because it was introduced and chaired by her friend, Baroness Shami Chakrabarti, who has spoken eloquently about their cross-bench friendship previously, referring to Sayeeda Warsi as her ‘naughty little sister’. From her introduction to the lecture to the interview that followed it, there was a political friendship on display that was affectionate but challenging, exploring differences, questioning positions – in essence, a representation of what Baroness Warsi was saying that the UK itself needed right now.

Sayeeda Warsi’s lecture explored the rise of Islamophobia and described the challenge of navigating complex currents of religion, identity and allegiance as a British Muslim and a high-profile politician in her talk. But, because, for her, migration was all about stories, ‘stories that make up who we are as Britain’, there were also stories, mostly about her family, who, as she said, had been British for 150 years – both her grandfather and her great-grandfather having fought ‘for’ Britain in the two world wars of the 20th century.

In a wide-ranging and thought-provoking lecture, based in part on her best-selling book, The Enemy Within, Baroness Warsi started by posing four provocative questions for the audience:

• Whose country is Britain?
• Which migrants are/were acceptable, and which are not?
• Who has the right to belong?
• Why are the children of migrants always told to be grateful?

As part of her response to these questions, she recounted her mother’s keenness to buy a house in Pakistan, ‘for when they kick us out of here’ – a position that Baroness Warsi at the time thought was absurd. After all, who was this ‘they’? And who were ‘we’? And wasn’t the situation in Britain getting better by the year, and Enoch Powell becoming increasingly a distant memory of a bygone age?

Over the last few years, however, Baroness Warsi had come to understand her mother’s position more and more. In the course of the 2016 referendum – for which, as she explained in the talk, she had been an early supporter of the Leave campaign before stepping down, worried at what she called its xenophobia – immigration, never far from the number one spot in most papers’ headlines, took up a fixed position there for the next year or two. And, of course, what many voters meant by immigration was essentially (if erroneously) Muslim immigration.

In an atmosphere of anxiety and apprehension at the drift in public discourse towards intolerance and incivility, Baroness Warsi remained cautiously optimistic. Migration was about stories, she said, and the more people heard these stories, the less able they were to demonise the migrants involved; similarly, nothing was likely to defeat Islamophobia and racism more than the simple matter of people living alongside each other and forming relationships (there was silent applause from all Migration Museum members at this point!). And Britain itself was a work in progress, as it always has been. People who think its identity is static, fixed and determined are just not facing up to historical reality – the country and its identity have been constantly evolving, and always will. Look, for example, she said, at the difference between Margaret Thatcher’s promotion of the infamous Section 28 (which banned the ‘promotion’ of homosexuality, or the promotion of ‘the acceptability of homosexuality’, in schools) and David Cameron’s government in 2010, which legalised same-sex marriages.

Things had to change, of course. Baroness Warsi suggested that Muslim communities needed to be more active in their exposition of Islam and not wait for an incident such as a terrorist attack before denouncing such behaviour as contradictory to their religion. And Britain as a whole needed to recognise that ‘diversity’ was not people of different skin tones holding exactly the same opinions as their ‘white’ colleagues – real diversity was an acceptance of difference, a challenging of different positions, and a movement onwards, propelled by those differences. The affectionate and respectful way in which Baroness Warsi and Baroness Chakrabarti challenged each other’s positions was itself an expression of the diversity Baroness Warsi was calling for.

The lecture was also a celebration of a new partnership between King’s College London’s Arts and Humanities Research Institute and the Migration Museum, and Professor Anna Reading and Dr Leonie Ansems de Vries gave short talks about the academic research being undertaken into migrant studies.

The 300 or so attendees traipsed out into the grey, gloomy Tuesday evening afterwards with a little nugget of hope.

Migration Museum at The Workshop – highlights of a fantastic two and a half years

Historian, TV presenter and Migration Museum trustee David Olusoga speaking at the launch of our Room to Breathe exhibition, October 2018 © Poppy Williams/Migration Museum

After a fantastic two and a half years, our Migration Museum at The Workshop is now closed to the public.

As we gear up for a move to an exciting new venue in 2020 – more details coming soon – we wanted to look back at some of the highlights of our time on Lambeth High Street.

Being based at The Workshop since April 2017 has been transformative for us as an organisation, providing us with a venue of our own for the very first time. We have staged a dynamic series of exhibitions, events, and education and group workshops, and significantly grown our audience, profile and partnerships, testing ideas, gathering feedback and providing a showcase for the permanent Migration Museum for Britain that we are working to create.

During our time at The Workshop, we:

Welcomed over 32,000 visitors from across London, the UK and beyond.

Visitors to a late opening at the Migration Museum at The Workshop © Migration Museum

Staged three major exhibitions:

Call Me By My Name: Stories from Calais and Beyond, a multimedia exhibition exploring the complexity and human stories behind the current migration crisis, with a particular focus on the now demolished Calais camp.

Call Me By My Name: Stories from Calais and Beyond at the Migration Museum at The Workshop, April 2017 © Kajal Nisha Patel

No Turning Back: Seven Migration Moments that Changed Britain, an acclaimed exhibition exploring seven migration moments throughout history that changed Britain through art, photography, graphics, quotes and stories.

No Turning Back: Seven Migration Moments that Changed Britain at the Migration Museum at The Workshop, November 2018 © Migration Museum

Room to Breathe, an immersive exhibition inviting visitors to discover personal stories from generations of new arrivals to Britain by journeying through a series of interactive rooms in which the struggles, joys, creativity and resilience of living in a new land are brought to life through audio, films, photographs and personal objects.

Room to Breathe at the Migration Museum at The Workshop © Elzbieta Piakacz/Migration Museum

The exhibition included an art studio, curated by visual artist and educator Dima Karout, which hosted a different migrant artist in residence each month who made the studio their own, creating art and sharing their work and process with visitors in real time. This programme culminated in Borderless, a group show curated by Dima Karout and featuring all of the artists who had taken up residency in the art studio during the exhibition run.

Visual artist and educator Dima Karout leads an art workshop in the art studio in Room to Breathe © Migration Museum

Hosted a regularly changing series of pop-up and temporary exhibitions, including:
The New Londoners, a series of family portraits by Magnum photographer Chris Steele-Perkins documenting London’s unique cultural richness
Caribbean Takeaway Takeover, an interactive pop-up art and sound installation showcasing the stories of Windrush generation elders by artist EVEWRIGHT
Nowhere People UK, a selection of works by UN documentary photographer Greg Constantine, commissioned and presented by UNHCR, exploring the impact of statelessness on individuals in the UK
A Mile in My Shoes – Migration, an immersive experience by the Empathy Museum housed in a giant shoebox inviting visitors to walk a mile in the shoes – literally – of refugees and migrants who have made London home while listening to their story.

Nigeria – Joe Ogunmokun, his mother Adebimpe Ogunmokun and brother Michael Ogunmokun, from The New Londoners by Chris Steele-Perkins © Chris Steele-Perkins

Caribbean Takeaway Takeover: Identities and Stories at the Migration Museum at The Workshop, May 2019 © Elzbieta Piakacz/EVEWRIGHT Studio

Empathy Museum presents: A Mile in My Shoes – Migration at the Migration Museum at The Workshop © Migration Museum

Held over 100 events, ranging from cookery classes to stand-up comedy nights, theatre performances to themed lates, sports tournament receptions and conversations with business leaders to our first ever Family History Day.

A Migrateful cookery class at the Migration Museum led by Woin, a migrant chef from Ethiopia © Tommy Walters/Migration Museum

Audience members watch a performance at our Queer Migrations Late, April 2019 © Elzbieta Piakacz/Migration Museum

Touching Home, an immersive play by theatre company 27 Degrees, staged at the Migration Museum at The Workshop © 27 Degrees/Migration Museum

Paul Canoville, one of our distinguished friends, presents medals to participants in our Borderless Cup football and basketball tournament at the Migration Museum at The Workshop, August 2019 © Elzbieta Piakacz/Migration Museum

Karen Blackett in conversation with David Abraham as part of our Migrants Mean Business series of conversations with business leaders with migrant backgrounds, in association with Allianz Global Investors, November 2019 © Elzbieta Piakacz/Migration Museum

Family History Day at the Migration Museum at The Workshop, November 2019 © Elzbieta Piakacz/Migration Museum

Welcomed more than 5,000 primary and secondary school students, who took part in facilitated workshops and activities run by our learning team focused on the themes explored in our exhibitions and within relevant parts of the curriculum.

Students from Grafton Primary School participate in a workshop at the Migration Museum, March 2019 © Pop-up Projects

Students from Harris Westminster Sixth Form take part in a workshop in our Room to Breathe exhibition, June 2019 © Ufuk Gky/Migration Museum

Hosted more than 2,000 facilitated group visitors, ranging from community groups for older people to young refugees and asylum seekers, corporates and charities to government departments.

A guided tour of No Turning Back for a Tooting-based community group, 2018 © Migration Museum

Taken our activities out beyond the walls of the musuem into the local area through walking tours, sports tournaments, talks at schools, colleges and libraries and more.

Participants in ourBorderless Cup Lambeth football and basketball tournament, August 2019 © Elzbieta Piakacz/Migration Museum

Our guided Lambeth Migration Walk, as part of the Lambeth Heritage Festival, September 2019 © Migration Museum

Thank you to everyone who visited us at The Workshop and to all of our contributors, funders and supporters.

We look forward to welcoming you to Lewisham in 2020!

We’re hiring: Museum Operations Manager, Gallery Supervisor and Curatorial Assistant

We’re hiring for three exciting new roles for our new venue in Lewisham in 2020 (click for more info, job descriptions and deadlines):

Museum Operations Manager (Applications now closed)
Freelance Gallery Supervisor (Applications now closed)
Freelance Curatorial Assistant (Applications now closed)

Join our dedicated team at our fantastic new venue, opening in February 2020 in the heart of a bustling shopping centre in one of London’s most dynamic and diverse boroughs.

Family History Day: uncovering our past, illuminating our present

With the increasing popularity of online genealogy tools and DNA testing kits, and the long-running success of TV programmes such as Who Do You Think You Are?, there is a growing desire to find out where we come from and to uncover the stories of the ancestors that brought us here. But many of us don’t know where to start – or have become stuck in our research and don’t know where to turn next.

That’s why, on 2 November, we partnered with The National Archives, the London Metropolitan Archives and the National Trust to bring our visitors a Family History Day with a difference.

All images © Elzbieta Piekacz/Migration Museum

We were joined by genealogy specialists, history organisations and local history groups, who offered advice and guidance to visitors on the day. Among them, the Jewish Genealogical Society were on hand to offer expert advice on tracing Jewish ancestors, whilst the Commonwealth War Graves Commission gave information on tracing family who fought during the First and Second World Wars.

Surrey Heritage, Lambeth Archives and The Brixton Society provided advice on tracing local histories; the Black Cultural Archives presented a timeline of the history of Black Britain; and the Families in British India Society shared their expertise in tracing those who lived in India.

Upstairs in our Breathing Space Café, we hosted a series of talks and workshops by a range of speakers who complemented our exhibitors’ expertise with personal, practical and historical perspectives.

Our headline speaker, TV presenter Robert “Judge” Rinder, opened the day by speaking about his experience of being featured on the BAFTA-award-winning series of Who Do You Think You Are? He shared what he learnt about his grandfather in Poland, and how the experience shaped his personal connection and understanding of his forefathers. This, he shared with a rapt audience, has given him a renewed appreciation not only for what Holocaust survivors had been through, but also for what this country had given his family.

Roger Kershaw, Migration Records Specialist at The National Archives, followed in our Breathing Space Cafe. Drawing on over 30 years of experience in researching records, he shared how items in the key collections of The National Archives, such as passenger lists, passports and registration records, could be searched and interpreted.

In the afternoon, author and Migration Museum trustee Robert Winder added a new dimension to the conversation, encouraging us to reflect on the wider historical context of our individual stories and to consider who has shaped our historical frames of reference. In doing so, the author of Bloody Foreigners suggested, we become acutely aware that, far from being dead and buried, the past is always with us, pressing into the present in persistent and unexpected ways.

Else Churchill, Staff Genealogist at the Society of Genealogists, rounded off the talks programme with advice on researching your 20^th-century ancestors, looking at distinct features of 20^th-century life and the sources and techniques genealogists can use to supplement the gaps in knowledge – from divorce records to social media, drawing on her own research into her family.

Over in our Artist Studio, we staged a series of workshops focused on practical advice and tips for family history researchers. Migration Museum trustee Sarah Caplin and her sister-in-law Judith Schott ran a hands-on session on compiling a family history. In their candid conversation, the two drew on their personal experience as they talked about everything from the impact of research on the individuals being researched, to the challenges of writing up the histories of those who are no longer with us.

They have also compiled a handy resource, available to download here and at the bottom of this post.

After lunch, Maureen Roberts and Claire Titley of the London Metropolitan Archives gave us a helpful guide to the documents, events and training courses on offer at the London Metropolitan Archives and how to make use of this invaluable resource.

Meanwhile, downstairs in the main hall, guests flocked to “Ask-The-Expert” drop-in workshops with Catherine Troiano, Curator of National Photography Collections at the National Trust, bringing with them family photographs, some as dating back to the late 19th century. Throughout the day, Catherine ‘unpacked’ visitors’ family photos, learning about styles, materials and dates, and finding out how these fitted in with photography’s wider history.

We were also joined by Kitty and Alan, two World War Two eyewitnesses with the Imperial War Museum’s “We Were There” programme. They shared their stories of living through the war in London. Kitty revealed why many railings in Kennington are curved, and what the area local to the Migration Museum at The Workshop looked like before the blitz.

Over at the Migration Museum stand, our Head of Creative Content, Aditi Anand, was collecting personal stories for the Migration Museum’s upcoming exhibition Departures – which looks at 400 years of emigration stories from the departure of the Mayflower to present day. If you missed the opportunity to share your story on the day, please see below.

Those in need of a break re-fuelled at a series of stalls run by local organisations and social enterprises. Usman, of Haven Coffee, served up freshly ground coffee to keep our guests on top form, Local social enterprise Brixton People’s Kitchen offered warming soups, with the south London chefs at Panache Food offering hearty lunches.

A big thank you to everyone who joined us on the day. We hope that you enjoyed the day and left inspired and equipped to continue your family research independently. We hope that our inaugural Family History Day will be the first of many such events that can inspire all of us to unlock and explore our pasts ­– watch this space.

Through finding out more about our family stories and exploring the journeys our ancestors have made, our Family History Day illuminated the central role of migration – whether within the UK or beyond its borders, or both – in making us who we are today. But even more than this, understanding where our families came from can open our eyes up to different aspects of human experience in unexpected ways. A connection with the past bleeds into our present and future, providing us with greater context, understanding and appreciation for what our ancestors went through – and perhaps, what is happening now.

Resources and links

Sarah Caplin and Judith Schott – advice on writing personal histories

Family History Day – programme of talks and workshops