Today is International Slavery Day …
… or, to give it the full official name, International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition.
For over 400 years, more than 15 million men, women and children were the victims of the tragic trans-Atlantic slave trade, one of the darkest chapters in human history.
23 August of each year is the day designated by UNESCO to memorialise the transatlantic slave trade. This date was chosen because, during the night of 22/23 August 1791, on the island of Saint Domingue (now known as Haiti), an uprising began which set forth events which were a major factor in the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade.
So UNESCO Member States organise events every year on this date, inviting participation from young people, educators, artists and intellectuals. As part of the goals of the intercultural UNESCO project, “The Slave Route“, it is an opportunity for collective recognition and focus on the “historic causes, the methods and the consequences” of slavery.
Here in the UK, three cities are especially associated with the trans-Atlantic slave trade: Liverpool, Bristol and London. It was in Liverpool last week that I first visited the International Slavery Museum and first learned of International Slavery Day.