contribute to collective awareness against racism

The National Maritime Museum wants to contribute to a growing collective awareness against all forms of racism

Recent worldwide protests against racism make it painfully clear how urgent the fight against inequality and discrimination is. We recognise that as a museum we can and must commit ourselves more actively to combating (institutional) racism; as an institution, in our collection, in our programming, together with our audience and with our current and future social partners.

The National Maritime Museum's mission is to show how strongly the maritime world and society are connected and what impact this has on the lives of so many individuals. Using our collection and knowledge of Dutch maritime history, we consider it our core task to draw attention to stories from history from which we collectively closed our eyes in the past. This includes the far-reaching consequences of slavery, slave trade, overseas warfare and colonialism.

No one can change the past, but as a museum we can provide context and try to give as complete a picture as possible in order to contribute to a growing collective awareness against all forms of racism, both institutional and private.