A VOLUNTARY group has accused a museum of “still trying to make more money out of slavery”.

Brighton and Hove Black History is being charged £50 per image by the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, to use images of enslaved Africans in an educational video.

The group has created an online petition to request the museum make the images available to it free.

Ebou Touray, chairman of Brighton and Hove Black History, said: “These images are of our forefathers and mothers and I think we have all rights to them, whenever and wherever we want to use them.

“Our people have been enslaved and we are trying to build bridges, yet still the system is trying to make more money out of slavery in a more civilised way. When will it ever end?

“I feel very frustrated as an African and, to be honest, it’s an insult.

“I find this whole issue a little bit disturbing as we are a voluntary organisation.

“All of us are working as volunteers to help to spread a more cohesive community through learning and sharing, and we are caught up in a complex and shambolic administrative tangle.”

The educational video is about Thomas Highflyer, an enslaved African boy who lived in Brighton in the 1870s, and will be distributed free in Brighton schools.

Royal Museums Greenwich, which owns the Maritime Museum, said: “RMG provides access to thousands of collections records and images free of charge for non-commercial use.

“We encourage individuals and organisations to download and share these images from our website, but there is a charge for commercial use of this material.

“We receive less than half of its operating costs from the Government and need to cover the cost of photographing, digitising, storing and making images of the collections available.”

It is now working with Brighton and Hove Black History to provide the images.