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The Remember Slavery Programme, Managed by the United Nations

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The Remember Slavery Programme, Managed by the United Nations REMEMBER SLAVERY The Remember Slavery Programme, managed by The United Nations Information Centres also organise the United Nations Department of Public Information, a number of commemorative activities around the was established by the General Assembly in 2007 to world. In 2015, these activities will be held under the honour the memory of the victims of slavery and the theme, “Women and Slavery”. transatlantic slave trade. It also aims to raise awareness of the dangers of racism and prejudice today. The Programme works with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Each year, the Programme commemorates the educational institutions and civil society groups to help International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of students learn about the causes, consequences and Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade on 25 March lessons of the transatlantic slave trade. at United Nations Headquarters in New York City and organises a series of activities throughout the year. A memorial, The Ark of Return, will be unveiled at Those activities include roundtable discussions, film United Nations Headquarters on 25 March 2015. The screenings, an exhibit, a briefing for non-governmental memorial is designed by Rodney Leon, a United States organizations and a global video conference with architect of Haitian descent. The memorial represents students living in countries affected by the transatlantic a vessel to acknowledge the millions of African people slave trade. transported under severely harsh conditions on slave ships during the “Middle Passage”. Visitors are meant to pass through The Ark of Return to intimately experience three main elements: acknowledge the For more information on the programme please visit our website: http://rememberslavery.un.org tragedy, consider its legacy and never forget. or contact us at [email protected] WOMEN AND SLAVERY Telling Their Stories This exhibition pays tribute to the many enslaved women who endured unbearable hardships, including sexual exploitation, as well as those who fought for freedom from slavery and advocated for its abolition. It also celebrates the strength of enslaved women, many of whom successfully transmitted their African culture to their descendants despite the many abuses they endured. It is no surprise that their fight for freedom from slavery also influenced the fight for women’s rights that started in the th19 century. It is estimated that one-third of the more than 15 million people who were sold as slaves from Africa through the transatlantic slave trade were women. Enslaved women carried a triple burden. In addition to enduring the harsh conditions of forced labour as a slave, they experienced extremely cruel forms of discrimination and sexual exploitation because of their gender and skin colour. Enslaved women from different nations Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York City Women resisted slavery in many different ways. They developed skills and tried to preserve the dignity and unity of their communities. Some of them became the concubines of their masters or married a free man in the hope of gaining freedom for themselves and their children. Others became spiritual leaders or participated in revolts or fought for their freedom through the legal system. They had to endure prostitution, sexual exploitation, rape, torture and even death. In many places, they participated in the fight against the brutal slavery system, which considered slaves as “movable property”. They paid a heavy price but their stories remain relatively unknown. Enslaved women were subjected against their will to a slavery system that intended to make all slaves anonymous, voiceless and cultureless. W stands for Woman, c. 1864 This injustice underscores the need to remember the The gospel of slavery: a primer of freedom Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York City victims of slavery and acknowledge their humanity. THE TRANSATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE For more than 400 years, more than 15 million men, women and children were the victims of the tragic transatlantic slave trade, one of the darkest chapters in human history. Slave caravans from East Africa Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York City As a direct result, the greatest movement of Africans was to the Americas. From 1501 to 1830, four Africans crossed the Atlantic Ocean for every one European, making the demographics of the Americas in that era more of an extension of the African diaspora than an European one. The legacy of this migration is still evident today with large populations of people of African descent living throughout the Americas. Two systems of slave trading developed: a northern trade dominated by the British and the French and a southern trade system in the South Atlantic, dominated by the Portuguese and Brazilians. In what became known as the “triangular trade” of the northern system, vessels sailed from Europe to West Africa with goods traded for captives who were then traded and transported to the Caribbean. The ships were then emptied of their human cargo and their holds were filled with New World products to sell once they returned to Europe. Map 1: The Trade in Slaves from Africa, 1501–1900 Number of Captives EUROPE 8,000,000 C a Black Sea sp ia n 4,000,000 S NORTH e a 2,000,000 NORTH M e d i t AMERICA e r AMERICAN r 1,000,000 MAINLAND TUNISIA a ALGERIA n e 50,000 a n ASIA S e ) a Width of routes indicates MOROCCO 0 A TLANTIC 0 number of captives transported ( 1 9 1 7 1 LIBYA 1 0 – 1 OCEAN 0 0 EGYPT , 5 – 0 0 P ( 1 1 1 0 7 R e 1 9 7 1 0 e r , ( 0 0 s 0 d 0 i – 0 0 a 0 S 1 0 ) n 0 0 e 9 G 0 0 0 a , 0 u 0 , 7 l ) f 5 4 1 7 CUBA 1 , 0 3 , 2 1 2 ARABIA INDIA VERACRUZ , ST.-DOMINGUE 0 0 0 JAMAICA Bay of YEMEN Arabian CARIBBEAN Bengal BARBADOS SENEGAMBIA Sea 8 9 CARTAGENA 2 AFRICA ,0 BIGHT 0 SIERRA LEONE WINDWARD OF 0 COAST GOLD BENIN COAST BIGHT OF BIAFRA 0 0 0 0 0 , ,0 0 3 8 3 2 5 Equator Equator T S 12 A , O 570,0 (1 00 C 501 –186 I 7) L WEST I H 6 SOUTH CENTRAL A 5, 00 AFRICA W 0 AMERICA S INDIAN PACIFIC OCEAN A OCEAN IC R BRAZIL F A 143 T 200,000 ,000 S A E MASCARENE H ISLANDS T MADAGASCAR U 359,000 O S 1 51,000 A TLANTIC OCEAN RÍO DE LA PLATA Of the many routes that captive Africans followed from their homeland to other parts of the world, the route across the Atlantic was taken by far the largest number after 1500. About the same number of captives traveled across the Atlantic Ocean 0 400 800 kilometers between 1501 and 1900 as left Africa by all other routes combined 0 400 800 miles from the end of the Roman Empire to 1900. Overview of the Transatlantic Slave Trade 1501-1867, Atlas of the Transatlantic Slave Trade (New Haven, Connecticut, Yale University Press 2010) THE ABOLITIONIST MOVEMENT The transatlantic slave trade lasted for four centuries. Through much of the early modern era people accepted slavery and the slave trade as legitimate and moral. By the early nineteenth century it was becoming clear to the international community that the trade of enslaved people was no longer tolerable. The initial momentum to overturn the formerly accepted view began with the early Anglo- American abolitionist movement. Individuals and organizations corresponded, advocated, and published books, pamphlets and newspapers as part of an effort to raise awareness of the cause. This was the beginning of one of the largest humanitarian movements ever seen. A global effort was also building with many nations becoming signatories to international treaties on the issue. By 1807 Great Britain and the United States had legally abolished the transatlantic slave trade. These actions however did not end slavery within the countries and territories that participated in the slave trade. Decades later, the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 ended slavery in Canada, the British West Indies and the Cape of Good Hope. Anti-slavery society public notice Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York City The Indian Slavery Act, signed in 1843, outlawed slavery within British India, which was governed by the East India Company. Slavery was also abolished in 1848 in France, 1853 in Argentina, 1863 in the Dutch colonies, 1865 in the United States, and 1888 in Brazil. This year marks the 150th anniversary of the ratification of the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which formally abolished slavery throughout the United States. Celebration of the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia by the African- American people in Washington, D.C., April 19, 1866 Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York City THE IMPACT ON WOMEN As the abolition of the slave trade in 1807 approached, the import of slaves from Africa soared. However, after the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act entered into force in 1807 in the British Empire, the population of slaves declined. This led to increased labour demands on the enslaved populations. A woman with iron horns and bells on, to keep her from running away Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York City Although the pressure to increase the productivity of enslaved labour impacted men and women, slave holders in some locations started to develop practices regarding female slaves to increase the slave population. This led to the sexual exploitation of enslaved women and became an important element that motivated the resistance of female slaves.
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