International Day of Remembrance of Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade

 

Student Videoconference at UN
25 March 2009

United Nations Headquarters
New York City

The transatlantic slave trade is a major element of global history.  The forced movement of West African people across the Atlantic resulted in unprecedented forms of cruelty and subjugation, racism, inequality, shifts in cultural identity, a marked decline in the West African population and significant economic and agricultural developments in the Caribbean, Europe and the Americas.

Little is known about the 400-year long transatlantic slave trade and its lasting consequences felt throughout the world, or of the contribution of slaves to the building of the societies that enslaved them.  This lack of knowledge of history has had multiple negative effects. Most importantly, it has served to marginalize people of African descent across Europe and North and South America, as well as to normalize notions of superiority among some populations.

Amistad America partners for the second consecutive year with UN for activities in remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. A year ago the Freedom Schooner Amistad's crew joined the videoconference from the Atlantic Ocean while retracing the infamous Middle Passage on her way from Africa to America.

The Freedom Schooner Amistad is an icon that represents the ideals behind the UN remembrance program. It serves as a vehicle for involving young people throughout the world with the issues of slavery, racism, and the universal quest for freedom and justice.

On 25 March 2009, high school students assembled at UNHQ will have the opportunity to interact with peers around the world who have been studying the Transatlantic Slave Trade.  Students from the following regions will be participating in the 25 March videoconference:

• North America

• Africa

• Europe

• Caribbean

The entire videoconference event will be webcast and students around the world will be able to participate 'live' by sending comments and questions to United Nations Headquarters in New York during the videoconference.

After the event students in New York will be able to visit an exhibit in the public Lobby of the United Nations where they will be able to view drums from Cameroon and other parts of Africa and learn about the socio-cultural impact of drums throughout the Slave Trade.

Check The Activities Program and Learn More

The connection between drumming and slavery is very strong. Here is a short vignette you can have your students read to understand the connection: 

On April 12, 1865 as the Confederates were leaving Mobile, Alabama, a group of youngsters decided to do something “African” to celebrate their regained freedom. They carved a drum, beat it and its powerful throbbing took them back home. As one of them, Cudjo Lewis, told famous author Zora Neale Hurston, “After dey free us, you understand me, we so glad, we makee de drum and beat it lak in de Affica soil.”

Five years earlier, on July 8, 1860, he and his 109 companions had arrived in Alabama after forty-five harrowing days on the slave ship Clotilda. They were the last of the half million Africans the Transatlantic Slave Trade had brought to the United States.

As their drum symbolized, freedom to them was directly linked to Africa and their first wish was to return to their families in Benin and Nigeria. Unable to do so, they established a settlement north of Mobile, called it African Town, ruled it according to customary laws, and there raised their children, some of whom spoke African languages well into the 1950s. Cudjo Lewis, the last survivor, passed away in 1935 and people who knew him are still alive today. Renamed Africatown, the young Africans’ settlement is still home to their descendants.

Visit the following websites to learn more about the Transatlantic Slave Trade in preparation for the 25 March videoconference. Lead discussions on its causes and consequences as we commemorate the International Day for Remembrance of Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade: 

Breaking The Silence – Learning About the Transatlantic Slave Trade
The Transatlantic Slave Trade Education Project
Slave Routes
Lest We Forget – The Triumph Over Slavery

Tentative Programme

• 9 am                       Students in New York arrive at UN Headquarters

• 9:30 am                     Link to all videoconference sites

• 9:30-11:45 am         Interaction between students in difference locations (approximately 5 schools from distant sites)

• 11:45 am                   Students in New York move to Drumming Event location at UN Headquarters

• 12 Noon                     Drumming event broadcast to students at videoconference sites over the Internet

• 12:30 pm                   Event concludes, students return to school or visit Drum Exhibit

Comments (0)