Barack Obama joins museum's Black Achievers' Wall

Feb 18 2009 Paula Owens

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RECENTLY- installed US President Barack Obama was yesterday added to the Black Achievers’ Wall at Liverpool’s International Slavery Museum.

His image was one of three new photographs of black achievers put on permanent display at the waterfront museum.

Alongside Obama’s picture are photographs of voting and civil rights activist Fannie Lou Hamer and the first black female astronaut, Dr Mae Carol Jemison.

A crowd of onlookers gathered for the unveiling of the images by acting US ambassador Richard LeBaron, former principal of Liverpool Community College Wally Brown and Simon Woolley, national coordinator of Operation Black Vote.

Removing the US flag draped across the new images yesterday, Dr David Flemming, director of National Museums Liverpool, said: “This is the first time we’ve made an addition to the Black Achievers’ Wall since the museum opened 18 months ago.

“Today we add two women and the most powerful man in the world. The creation of the wall is an on-going process and we intend to fill it up.

“It serves as a reminder that even in adversity, the survival of the human spirit can be breath-taking.

“In theory, many cultures could have been destroyed by the slave trade. Instead, many descendants of those forced into slavery are now extremely influential in the world.

“We see black achievement across every form of human endeavour.

“That Barack Obama has now reached the top of the political pinnacle suggests real progress in racial justice.”