Migrants: The Story of Us All

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The Migration Museum was part of the welcome for Little Amal, a giant puppet of a Syrian refugee, to Lewisham on Friday 22 October 2021. The two judgements – the purity of their origin and the perfection of their politics – weren’t unrelated. In seeking to reset what has become a toxic debate about migration in many countries, Sam Miller, readily admits his latest book has been a hugely ambitious and daunting undertaking. They would seem an ideal example of the mobile life which Miller extols – and a good example, too, of how persecuted mobile populations often are.

Departures: 400 Years of Emigration from Britain – Partner Stories is a national series to accompany the Migration Museum’s Departures exhibition and podcast series.The Migration Museum is looking for up to 8 people to take part in an exciting project that highlights the extraordinary role that people with migrant heritage have played in shaping and sustaining the NHS – and caring for us throughout our lives. Every page is somber and dark, which reinforces the seriousness of the animals’ predicament, but also throws their colorful feathers and fur into sharp relief…The amount of detail is astounding and the quality of the artwork is very high. British emigration is one of the largest mass movements of people in modern history – and emigration stories resonate across the UK. The prose is evocative, effectively conveying the characters' emotions and immersing the reader in their world.

It continues through ancient history, exploring the Bible, Babylon and the Romans, and then on to the present day.What really upsets settled people is the reminder that, long ago, their kind chose to live an urban life and became less as a consequence: less wily, less tough, less resilient. Nennius, meanwhile, was hardly unique in his invention: principalities across early medieval Europe, among them Brabant, Burgundy and Corsica, all claimed Trojan migrants as their founders. And his story “is another reminder of how normal it once was to eulogise rather than deny one’s migrant past”. Houses and permanent settlements are a relatively late development - dating back little more than twelve thousand years.

One of the key strengths of this book is the way in which it challenges commonly-held perceptions of migration. this is one of those amazingly simple yet powerful children’s books that adults and children alike can appreciate. Staring at the wall and shrugging his shoulders, he sighs and says, "I am the oldest son and my responsibility is to support my family.Sam Miller’s new book, Migrants: The Story of Us All, comes when vilification of migrants and refugees is at the top of the Tory government’s and media’s agenda.

In the early 17th century shiploads of young women were despatched to America by the Virginia Company of London. the two World Wars, the Cold War close Cold War The political tension and competition for power that existed between the communist East and the democratic West after World War Two. Over the past year, young people from across Lewisham have been designing exhibits responding to what migration means to them as part of Moving Stories: Lewisham, a creative competition we ran during Borough of Culture, supported by Landsec. Listen to the conversation between Samir and Adlane, a father and son, who explain what it means to migrate.Miller argues against something he terms “the tyranny of sedentarism”, an ideology that normalises the idea that we are meant to stay put. In Migrants: The Story of Us All, Miller’s enjoyable, provocative and timely new book, he emphasises the other side of the coin: how our history looks “through a prism in which migration is a normal activity”.