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‘It’s about recognising our role in history’: Bradford exhibition to revisit live Somali display
UK NewsEntertainment•May 9, 2026 at 2:00 PMNational

‘It’s about recognising our role in history’: Bradford exhibition to revisit live Somali display

By Sundus Abdi•The Guardian - UK News

At the city’s Great Exhibition of 1904, 57 Somali men, women and children cooked, weaved and danced for visitorsIt was, the posters said, a rare chance to see a “little known but interesting people”: a live display of 57 Somali men, women and children who cooked, weaved and danced for the entertainment of hundreds of thousands of Edwardians who flocked to Yorkshire to see them.More than 120 years later, this controversial – and, in its time, incredibly popular – show will be revisited in a new exhibition in Bradford that will put Britain’s colonial legacy under the spotlight. Continue reading...

At the city’s Great Exhibition of 1904, 57 Somali men, women and children cooked, weaved and danced for visitors

It was, the posters said, a rare chance to see a “little known but interesting people”: a live display of 57 Somali men, women and children who cooked, weaved and danced for the entertainment of hundreds of thousands of Edwardians who flocked to Yorkshire to see them.

More than 120 years later, this controversial – and, in its time, incredibly popular – show will be revisited in a new exhibition in Bradford that will put Britain’s colonial legacy under the spotlight.

Continue reading...