North West: “Manchester’s first on-line black history trail”

The Black History Trail was developed from an idea formulated in 2000 by the Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Archive with Dominique Tessier, Maria Noble of Manchester Education, and the Black Arts Alliance (BAA). 

An initial approach to English Heritage NW was made from the Black Arts Alliance in late 2004 with a collaboration for October 2005’s Black History Month in mind.  The potential of creating a permanent online version of trails that had previously only been led by guides a few times a year was quickly realised. 

With a web presence the Black History Trail could reach a much greater number of people all year round and allow for reflection on the trails from the Black community.  Feedback and reminiscence had always been a feature of the guided tours with local residents often would attending the trails to share their stories, but these perspectives would appear and then disappear with little time to record them. 

Consequently building an option for user interaction with the trails was identified as a priority.  As the site introduction says “This website will be constantly updated because BAA believes that it is incomplete. Its development and improvement depends entirely on you, the visitor to the site”

Intended then to be a journey of remembrance, the website currently encourages people to follow a route around selected areas of Manchester and neighbouring Salford that highlight the contribution made by black people to the lives of the two cities.  An attempt was made to get representation of a broad range of historic and culturally significant landscapes.  Hence you will find the legendary Russell Club listed alongside the Twelve Tribes of Israel headquarters, the site of the 5th Pan African Congress alongside Trafford Park. Images from the Manchester City Council Local Studies Archive illustrate many of the pages that were compiled for the on-line version of the trail that was devised by local historian Washington Alcott.

The trail currently highlights places which have enormous historic and emotional resonance for Manchester’s black community but it is only a first step.  As you will see, the site primarily focuses on African and Caribbean heritage.  As such, further trails representing Manchester’s diverse history are the next priority, carrying on with the academic approach, but having that informed and strengthened by outreach projects introducing the site to the community and asking them to contribute their own trails, memories or opinions.