The enormous and continuing impact of different forms of Slavery and, in particular, the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade during which many millions of African people were brutalised, maimed for life and/or killed, has given rise to several International Days of Remembrance.
Most recently, on Monday 25th March, the World marked the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade and you can read more about this year’s remembrance programme here, which was held under the theme Creating Global Freedom: Countering Racism with Justice in Societies and Among Nations. Amongst the activities this year, two new exhibitions were launched; the first of these focuses on Cape Town and those who were enslaved in South Africa, which you can read about here. The second focuses on the so-called “Igbo Landing” site in Georgia, USA, where many enslaved Igbo people were forcibly “landed”. Please read the UN press release about both exhibitions here, as well as the remarks of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, which you can read here.
August 23rd marks the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition in remembrance of the beginning of the uprising in Haiti (then known as Saint Domingue) in the night of 22-23 August 1791 that sparked the Haitian Revolution and the establishment of the first Black Republic in the world.
Among many resources developed, you can also learn more here about the UN outreach programme on the Transatlantic Slave Trade and Slavery, whilst the campaign for Reparations for Slavery has been gaining momentum in recent years. This has led to the creation of a Global Reparations Fund by African and Caribbean nations in November 2023, which you can read about here, as well as accessing a Reparations Now toolkit here, which was developed by Black Lives Matter.
For several decades and since 1999, Black communities in London and elsewhere have led the Annual Slave Trade Remembrance Day on August 23rd which has, in recent years, been hosted by London’s National Maritime Museum. You can read more about last year’s events here, which included The World Reimagined Globes that are featured in the picture above. Below is a short video from the 2021 events that also features the symbolic and deeply moving Emancipation Ceremony that always takes place on this day at the River Thames in London, which is in the heart of where the slave trade was conducted and financed from:
We would also like to highlight the important work of Stella Dadzie, an activist, historian and writer, who has extensively studied and written about the role of women in the slave trade, including in her book shown above called A Kick in the Belly: Women, Slavery and Resistance. You can also listen to a Conversation about the book here with Dadzie and Karima Ali, which forms part of the Black Women Radicals you tube series.
The island of Gorée (above) is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site and was the largest slave-trading centre on the African Coast from the 15th to the 19th century. Ruled in succession by the Portuguese, Dutch, English and French, its architecture is characterized by the contrast between the grim slave-quarters and the elegant houses of the slave traders. Today it continues to serve as a reminder of human exploitation. Renowned Senegalese Musician Youssou N’Dour made an epic film called “Retour à Gorée / Return to Gorée”, a musical journey exploring the roots of Jazz, Gospel and Soul music through the Slave Journey. You can watch a trailer of the film here and the concert held at the Gorée House of Slaves at the end of the Journey here.
From the 2015 International Slavery Remembrance Day, the Dorothy Kuya Slavery Remembrance Lecture given by historian David Olusoga at the International Slavery Museum in Liverpool, UK, please also watch a few of the key highlights from the video below:
On December 2nd, the world marks the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery, recognised by the UN since 1986. This day also acts as a focus for Modern Slavery which, in recent years, has risen exponentially and an estimated 50 million people are currently living in slavery, of which women and children are disproportionately represented and vulnerable. The UN page here also explores different forms of Modern Slavery, particularly Forced Labour, Child Labour and Trafficking of People. For more about Modern Slavery, please see here for more information from Anti-Slavery International.
Finally, we would like to highlight here a Guardian ‘Long Read’ article written by historian, film-maker and author Vincent Brown, which is an in-depth exploration of the legacy of slavery under the title Is there a right way to remember slavery? Brown is also the author of the book Tacky’s Revolt: The Story of an Atlantic Slave War, which you can read a review of here. Please also learn more here about Tacky’s Revolt, a widespread fight for freedom in Jamaica in the 1760s.
embrace everyone 