Catherine Ross (Museumand)
{{Short description|British educator and museum director (born 1951)}}
Catherine Ross (born 1951) is a British educator and museum director. Originally from Saint Kitts, Ross founded Museumand, a "museum without walls" celebrating British African-Caribbean people's contributions to the United Kingdom, in 2015.
Biography
Catherine Ross was born on Saint Kitts in 1951.{{Cite web |last=Grace |first=Aisling |date=2023-06-21 |title=Mother and daughter launch podcast bringing Caribbean culture to new generation |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/caribbean-mother-britain-england-st-kitts-b2361961.html |access-date=2025-01-02 |website=The Independent |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Wilson |first=Jared |last2=Powell |first2=Curtis |date=2023-10-09 |title=Catherine Ross: Voices from Nottingham's Windrush Generation |url=https://leftlion.co.uk/features/2023/10/windrush-75-catherine-ross-museumand-interview-black-history-st-kitts-voices-from-nottinghams-windrush-generation/ |access-date=2025-01-02 |website=LeftLion}}{{Cite web |last= |date=2018-05-29 |title=I am... a Windrush generation immigrant |url=https://www.reform-magazine.co.uk/2018/05/i-am-a-windrush-generation-immigrant/ |access-date=2025-01-02 |website=Reform Magazine |language=en-GB}} At age 7, in 1958, she came to the United Kingdom as a member of the Windrush generation, and settled with her family in Nottingham.{{Cite web |last=Pochin |first=Courtney |date=2023-06-22 |title='I have to hide my true self - but on Windrush Day I can be unashamedly ethnic' |url=https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/i-hide-true-self-most-30288342 |access-date=2025-01-02 |website=The Mirror |language=en}}{{Cite news |date=2018-08-25 |title=St Ann's riot: The changing face of race relations, 60 years on |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-45207246 |access-date=2025-01-02 |language=en-GB}}
After a career as an English teacher, Ross became involved in working to educate British descendants of her fellow Windrush generation members about their Caribbean heritage.{{Cite web |last=Lewis |first=Jeremy |date=2017-05-30 |title=How Nottingham is keeping Caribbean heritage alive |url=https://www.nottinghampost.com/news/local-news/how-nottingham-keeping-caribbean-heritage-548143 |access-date=2025-01-02 |website=Nottinghamshire Live |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=McCarthy |first=Jeanette |date=2016-07-09 |title=Mother and daughter create homage to Caribbean culture |url=https://archive.voice-online.co.uk/article/mother-and-daughter-create-homage-caribbean-culture |access-date=2025-01-02 |website=The Voice Online}} She was inspired after seeing her students struggling with their identities and dealing with low self-esteem.
In 2015, she founded SKN Heritage Museum, now renamed Museumand: The National Caribbean Heritage Museum.{{Cite web |last=Hubbard |first=Emma |date=2015-07-16 |title=Nottingham's first Caribbean heritage museum is here |url=https://nottstv.com/nottinghams-first-caribbean-heritage-museum-comes-to-the-city/ |access-date=2025-01-02 |website=Notts TV News |language=en-GB}} She works as the director of the Nottingham-based "museum without walls," the first in the U.K. to celebrate Caribbean heritage. The museum's collection in based on artifacts that Ross compiled relating to Caribbean culture and the Windrush history.{{Cite news |date=2015-08-22 |title=Nottingham group opens lid on Windrush generation |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-nottinghamshire-34021188 |access-date=2025-01-02 |work=BBC News |language=en-GB}}
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Ross and her daughter, Lynda-Louise Burrell, wrote the book 70 Objeks, which shared knowledge from the Windrush generation for future generations.{{Cite web |date=2020-06-22 |title=Museumand, The National Caribbean Heritage Museum launches new book for Windrush Day 2020 on the 22 June |url=https://www.windrushday.org.uk/news/museumand-the-national-caribbean-heritage-museum-launches-new-book-for-windrush-day-2020-on-the-22-june/ |access-date=2025-01-02 |website=Windrush Day 2020 |language=en-US}} In 2023, the two women started a podcast called Objeks & Tings, aiming to share Caribbean culture and stories. Ross has also hosted similar dialogues on the local TV show Caribbean Conversations.
References
External links
- [https://www.museumand.org/ Museumand website]
- [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRJst66PwxA&list=PLDkly3xprDIQvXemSZcCGNcusV0D2U-ej&index=3 Video interview with Catherine Ross] (LeftLion, 2023)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ross, Catherine}}
Category:Black British activists
Category:British women educators
Category:Directors of museums in the United Kingdom
Category:People from Nottingham
Category:Saint Kitts and Nevis emigrants to the United Kingdom