The Making of Black Britain | London Transport Museum

May Half Term: Routes and Roundels

Fuel your imagination at our Festival of Curiosity this half term as your family enjoy curious and creative problem-solving challenges and meet real-world engineers. Follow our STEAM-inspired family trail, join an interactive workshop or storytelling session, and much more!

Down Street: Churchill's secret station

Experience the Railway Executive Committee’s bomb-proof headquarters during World War II, the warren of tunnels where Churchill sheltered.

Plan your school visit

Find the information you need to plan and book your visit to London Transport Museum in Covent Garden or the London Transport Museum Depot in Acton, west London.

We will be working in partnership with The Making of Black Britain (MOBB), an oral history and digital storytelling project headed by broadcaster Diane Louise Jordan of Blue Peter, to develop a series of exciting events in 2023.

MOBB’s mission is to create a living public oral history archive which documents the transformation of mainland Britain from the start of mass migration from Commonwealth nations post-war. It takes the British Nationality Act of 1948 as its anchor point, which recognized Commonwealth subjects as British citizens and recognized their right to work and reside in the UK on an equal status to other British residents.

What will we be doing?

The London Transport Museum and Making of Black Britain partnership will offer primary school teachers the opportunity take part in a Continual Professional Development (CPD) programme enabling them to train their students as story collectors and to collect stories within their school and local community. As part of this programme, MOBB and the Museum will support teachers to better embed Black histories into the curriculum using the Museum’s collections and stories from the MOBB archive.

The Museum has also invited MOBB to partner with London Transport Museum’s Young People’s Skills Programme training young people (aged 16-25) in oral history and digital storytelling skills enabling them to become story collectors for the MOBB archive. These young people will collect stories from schools, businesses and other walks of life.

MOBB, with the support of London Transport Museum, plans to create an Advisory Board of key stakeholders from diverse backgrounds to provide ideas and advice for an annual teacher Continuous Professional Development (CPD) programme and story collection project for schools.

In addition, we will be collaborating with MOBB on a Museum Late and Depot Open Days later in the year.

Museum Late: Voices of London

Friday 14 July 2023

Join us and The Making of Black Britain to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the British Nationality Act, with talks and activities reflecting on its effects on our city and transport system, and oral histories from people from London’s past and present.