Gallery

Eric Lynch is a black scouser, an active trade unionist though now retired from the council. He left school at the age of 14 and couldn't read and write because in those days it was judged that blacks didn't need such skills. Within a few years however, he had taught himself to read and write, partly because of his fascination for the history of Liverpool - he needed to know how things had come about. This wanderlust and need to know even led him to unsuccessfully stow away on a ship bound for Barbados, but discovered before the sailing he was unceremoniously thrown back to the Liverpool shore. And so Eric learnt about Liverpool life and its history. He worked on the docks and later in the council's direct building labour organisation. Slavery, racism and Liverpool seem for many to ring together. The past record does not shine favourably on the city. Racist practices are still manifestly evident. The city's black population is largely confined to a ghetto area in the South of the city, known by most as Toxteth. Centuries of racial discrimination and prejudice are deeply ingrained. But it is not all bad. Eric points to the way in which the system has sown discrimination, using divisions between newly arrived Irish and native Liverpudlians and then later, racism, to divide people in the city. So it is fitting that someone who has moved around the city, explored it's history and worked in bastions of white employment should now be our guide for the city and its connections with slavery. In a way it shows that despite everything, the barriers of racism were always there to be broken down and Eric, with his imposing stature, confidently moving between the communities and explaining their histories, seems to be a natural ambassador. If you don't know where you come from you can't know where you are going to. This aphorism pertinent to individuals, is also relevant to cities. Without knowing about the past we will not be able to shape the future and those who are ignorant of their past remain in a fog of misunderstanding. How many of us walk around our cities, towns, communities or localities and never give a thought to how history has shaped our lives and destinies? How many of us, so busy with the every day trials and tribulations of living life in the fast lane, are so preoccupied that we seldom raise our eyes from the ground, both physically and metaphorically? If you take the time out to visit Liverpool in the company of Eric Lynch you will have your sights lifted, you see the world in an entirely new way. In his company you will be taken on a journey of discovery, rivalling that of Dr Who's Tardis. From the 17th century you will be carried along over three hundred years, from Liverpool, a sleepy fishing village, to the coasts of Africa, the Caribbean , South America and the United States of America. You will mix with the lowest and the highest of classes. In their company you will marvel at the disparities of wealth. You will rub shoulders with those who are considered to be the great and good of this country. But above all you will gain an insight into how the wealth of Liverpool and the great empires was assembled. In short you will view history through the eyes of the oppressed - the slaves.