Slavery Rememberance Day was commemorated at Liverpool’s Pier Head today. The event was attended by leaders of Liverpool’s black community, members of the public and council dignitaries.
Chief Angus Chukuemeka opened proceedings with a speech which explained the significance of August 23 to the history of the slave trade and which called for a minute’s silence to remember the victims of the African holocaust.
August 23 was chosen for rememberance because on this day in 1791, slaves rose up against French, British and Spanish armies to abolish slavery and create the first black republic, declaring Haiti an independent state in 1804. Chief Chukuemeka thanked Liverpool City Council and National Museums Liverpool for sponsoring the event and for ‘opening the way’ to a more meaningful civic engagement with the history of the slave trade. He pointed to the enormous wealth which flowed into the city because of slavery, a city which would not have been built without profits from the trade in African people. He described how slavery is not just something to be remembered as an historical fact but also something which, through the racist realities of our society, is to be acknowledged as having powerful effects today. He called for atonement.
A libation, a traditional African act of rememberance, was then performed.
The Council is to be applauded for supporting this event. It could now consider building on the opportunity it has to reclaim a missing part of civic history by promoting with enthusiasm honest education about the slave trade. Because it is everyone’s history.
August 23 was chosen for rememberance because on this day in 1791, slaves rose up against French, British and Spanish armies to abolish slavery and create the first black republic, declaring Haiti an independent state in 1804. Chief Chukuemeka thanked Liverpool City Council and National Museums Liverpool for sponsoring the event and for ‘opening the way’ to a more meaningful civic engagement with the history of the slave trade. He pointed to the enormous wealth which flowed into the city because of slavery, a city which would not have been built without profits from the trade in African people. He described how slavery is not just something to be remembered as an historical fact but also something which, through the racist realities of our society, is to be acknowledged as having powerful effects today. He called for atonement.
A libation, a traditional African act of rememberance, was then performed.
The Council is to be applauded for supporting this event. It could now consider building on the opportunity it has to reclaim a missing part of civic history by promoting with enthusiasm honest education about the slave trade. Because it is everyone’s history.