Vicky Avery

Keeper, European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, at the Fitzwilliam Museum


Professor Victoria Avery is Keeper of European Sculpture and Applied Arts at the Fitzwilliam Museum. She was Co-Curator of 'Black Atlantic: Power, People, Resistance' (Sept 2023-Jan 24) and Lead Curator of 'Rise Up: Resistance, Revolution and Abolition' (Feb-June 2025). These two Legacies-themed exhibitions were the catalyst for Vicky’s ongoing research into Black Cambridge history, including the family life of abolitionist Olaudah Equiano.

Celebrating Equiano’s Cambridge connections

by | 29.10.25

This Black History Month blog shares our recent work to explore and celebrate the Cambridge connections of Olaudah Equiano, Britain’s most important Black Abolitionist. Within his 52-year lifespan, the time that Olaudah Equiano spent in Cambridgeshire might appear insignificant. His documented associations lasted less than seven years from summer 1789 until spring 1796. And yet the people whom Equiano met… Read full article

The recently rediscovered footstone marking the grave of Anna Maria Vassa, inscribed ‘A M V / 1797’ in St Andrew’s Churchyard, Chesterton.

Rediscovering Anna Maria Vassa’s Grave

by | 29.10.25

We have always known that Anna Maria, the eldest daughter of Black British abolitionist Olaudah Equiano, died on 31 July 1797 and was buried in Chesterton. However, the exact site of her grave had long been forgotten. This Black History Month blog is the story of our rediscovery of Anna Maria’s grave. This discovery builds on research initially conducted by… Read full article

Meet Our ‘Celebrating Black History in Cambridge’ Interns

by , and | 14.04.23

Jade Pollard-Crowe and Selena Scott spent February and March 2023 working on a project called Celebrating Black History in Cambridge as part of the University of Cambridge Museums’ (UCM) ongoing work connected to the forthcoming exhibition, Black Atlantic: Power, People, Resistance (Fitzwilliam Museum: 8 September 2023 – 7 January 2024). Funded by Arts Council England and Legacies project funds, they… Read full article