Former Juventus and Barcelona defender Lilian Thuram has curated a museum exhibition show to help explain the background of racist ideas.
The show, named ‘Human Zoos: The Invention of the Savage’, demonstrates how African and American villagers were once shipped to colonisers in order to go on public display as a form of colonial propaganda, while further emphasising race hierarchy theory, during the early 19th and 20th centuries.
Thuram, who was born in Guadeloupe and saw his footballing career cut short in 2008 due to health problems, has been campaigning against race discrimination ever since retirement.
“You have to have the courage to say that each of us has prejudices, and these prejudices have a history,” Thuram told The Associated Press.
However, despite many of the subjects being forgotten in history, some have since been identified, including those of an ex-World Cup winner.
The great-grandparents of Thuram’s former team-mate Christian Karembeu were moved to Paris from the French territory of New Caledonia in the Pacific Ocean, before being branded cannibals.
