BLACK History Month will officially be launched in Haringey this evening at a Tottenham museum.

The invite-only event will take place at Bruce Castle Museum, off Lordship Lane, where guests will preview two key exhibitions on show at the heritage hotspot.

Speakers include Tottenham MP David Lammy, Haringey mayor Councillor Eddie Griffith, Councillor Bernice Vanier and Sharon Grant, widow of late Tottenham MP Bernie Grant. The 2010 celebration carries the theme Black History Month Now with a special focus on former Tottenham MP Bernie Grant as the tenth anniversary of his death is marked.

His life and legacy has inspired several events and exhibitions that will be held at the Bernie Grant Arts Centre.

Mr Grant became the first black man to lead a council before going on to become one of Britain's first black MPs.

One of the exhibitions comes from respected artist Nicola Green, who is married to Mr Lammy, and aims to explore the contiunued struggle against slavery in the current day through a series of paintings from 2007.

House Slave, Field Slave will then move to a permanent home at the International Slavery Museum in Liverpool next year.

A second exhibition, Black Sporting Heroes, shines a spotlight on local black role models involved in sport to engage primary school children studying Olympic issues in the build-up to the 2012 London Games.