REMEMBER SLAVERY - United Nations Exhibit… · REMEMBER SLAVERY The Remember Slavery Programme, managed by the United Nations Department of Public Information, was established by

REMEMBER SLAVERY

The Remember Slavery Programme, managed by the United Nations Department of Public Information, was established by the General Assembly in 2007 to honour the memory of the victims of slavery and the transatlantic slave trade. It also aims to raise awareness of the dangers of racism and prejudice today.

Each year, the Programme commemorates the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade on 25 March at United Nations Headquarters in New York City and organises a series of activities throughout the year. Those activities include roundtable discussions, film screenings, an exhibit, a briefing for non-governmental organizations and a global video conference with students living in countries affected by the transatlantic slave trade.

The United Nations Information Centres also organise a number of commemorative activities around the world. In 2015, these activities will be held under the theme, “Women and Slavery”.

The Programme works with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, educational institutions and civil society groups to help students learn about the causes, consequences and lessons of the transatlantic slave trade.

A memorial, The Ark of Return, will be unveiled at United Nations Headquarters on 25 March 2015. The memorial is designed by Rodney Leon, a United States architect of Haitian descent. The memorial represents a vessel to acknowledge the millions of African people 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 tragedy, consider its legacy and never forget.For more information on the programme please visit

our website: http://rememberslavery.un.org or contact us at [email protected]

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. This injustice underscores the need to remember the victims of slavery and acknowledge their humanity.

W stands for Woman, c. 1864 The gospel of slavery: a primer of freedomSchomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York City

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 19th century.

WOMEN AND SLAVERYTelling Their Stories

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.

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.

Slave caravans from East AfricaSchomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York City

Overview of the Transatlantic Slave Trade 1501-1867, Atlas of the Transatlantic Slave Trade(New Haven, Connecticut, Yale University Press 2010)

SENEGAMBIA

SIERRA LEONE WINDWARDCOAST GOLD

COAST

BIGHTOF

BENIN

BRAZIL

RÍO DE LA PLATA

CARIBBEAN

BARBADOS

CARTAGENA

VERACRUZ

JAMAICA

ST.-DOMINGUE

CUBA

NORTHAMERICANMAINLAND

EGYPT

INDIA

YEMEN

ARABIA

LIBYA

TUNISIAALGERIA

MOROCCO

BIGHT OFBIAFRA

MA

DA

GA

SCA

R

MASCARENEISLANDS

SWA

HIL

I C

OA

ST

SOU

THEA

ST A

FR

ICA

WESTCENTRALAFRICA

12,570,000 (1501–1867)

111,000

(1700–1900)

511,000

(1700–1900)

147,

000

(170

0–19

00)

1,07

5,00

0

359,000

50,000

1,322,000

892,000

533,

000

280,

000

143,000

65,000

151,000

200,000

A F R I C A

S O U T HA M E R I C A

A S I A

N O R T HA M E R I C A

E U R O P E

EquatorEquator

A T L A N T I CO C E A N

A T L A N T I CO C E A N

P A C I F I CO C E A N

I N D I A NO C E A N

ArabianSea

Bay ofBengal

Black Sea

M e d i t e r r a n e a n S e a

Caspian Sea

Red Sea

Persian Gulf

0 400 800 miles

0 800 kilometers 400

4,000,000

8,000,000

2,000,000

1,000,000

Number of Captives

Width of routes indicatesnumber of captives transported

Map 1: The Trade in Slaves from Africa, 1501–1900

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 between 1501 and 1900 as left Africa by all other routes combined from the end of the Roman Empire to 1900.

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.

Anti-slavery society public noticeSchomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York City

Celebration of the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia by the African-American people in Washington, D.C., April 19, 1866Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York City

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.

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.

THE IMPACT ON WOMEN

Fugitive slaves/Emily runs away Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York City

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.

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.

QUEEN ANN ZINGHAAn African Queen who resisted Portuguese colonial rule to protect her people from slavery

1582 – 1664Angola

Ann Zingha, Queen of MatambaSchomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York City

Queen Ann Zingha was the daughter of the eighth king of Matamba, in central Africa. She ruled the kingdom with an iron will until her death at the age of 82. Her long reign was marked by countless internal battles and a turbulent relationship with the Portuguese.

She was horrified to observe the enslavement of a portion of her people. Slaves were packed at the port of Luanda like animals and nearly half of them died of malnutrition and abuse before they were even transferred to slave ships. Luanda had the reputation of being one of the largest slave trade ports and one of the most brutal. According to statistics on slave expeditions, nearly 40 per cent of the enslaved Africans were from Angola or the Congo.

Queen Zingha succeeded in convincing the Portuguese to withdraw their troops behind previously recognized borders and respect the sovereignty of Matamba. At the conclusion of the negotiations, the Portuguese proposed that the queen’s free territory would be placed under the protection of the king of Portugal. This proposal was to include the delivery of 12,000 to 13,000 slaves every year in lieu of taxes.

Queen Zingha staunchly refused to go along with this proposal. Her will eventually prevailed and she ruled over the country’s last remaining free territory until her death. Queen Zingha was the last sovereign ruler of Angola. The Portuguese abolished the slave trade in 1836.

Excerpt from the Dix Femmes Puissantes exhibitCourtesy of the Memorial to the Abolition of Slavery in Nantes, France

CLAIREMaroon (runaway slave) who died fighting to keep her freedom

18th centuryFrench Guyana

Antoine Lamoraille, Na dede poi sani (Death alone destroys the bonds between things), 1998 Collection Mama Bobi © All rights reserved

The history of French Guyana is marked by the story of runaway slaves. Those who managed to escape permanently formed groups to survive in the forest and defend themselves against expeditions led by the authorities. Their encampments looked like actual villages where subsistence activities (hunting, fishing, agriculture) developed. The names of the major Maroon figures – Adome, Jérôme, Simon, Pompée and Linval – have gone down in history.

Around 1742, the Maroon runaway slave community of Montagne Plomb was formed. The 1685 Black Code already prescribed severe punishment for runaway slaves, but the colonists obtained further authorization to shoot them on sight.

In September 1749, a detachment of Amerindian and colonist soldiers was dispatched to attack Montagne Plomb. In a fresh attack, runaway slave Copéna and his wife Claire were captured. Accused of looting and inciting slaves to flee, Copéna was sentenced to death by torture on the wheel. Claire was strangled and then hanged. Their children were ordered to attend the executions.

The work on display is an example of “art tembé,” the art created by runaway slaves of French Guyana and Suriname.


DANDARAMaroon (runaway slave), wife and mother who became a national symbol of resistance

17th centuryBrazil

Johann Moritz Rugendas, San Salvador, 19th century © DACO-VERLAG, Stuttgart, Germany 2013

All that survived of Dandara, a Brazilian runaway slave, in the history books is her name. She was a companion to Zumbi Dos Palmares, one of the most important warlords of the Maroon region of Palmares. Together, they had three children.

Runaway slaves settled in Palmares, which had 6,000 inhabitants by 1643. Maroon communities, known as mocambos or quilombos, were well organised and fortified. They were made up of Maroon slaves, Africans and Creoles, but also Amerindians, mestizos and free whites.

After the expulsion of the Dutch colonists from the north of Brazil, the destruction of Palmares became the primary concern of the Portuguese colonial power. They had to organise several offensives before succeeding.

The quilombo had nearly 30,000 Maroons when it was finally destroyed in 1695. Zumbi was eventually captured and decapitated on 20 November of that year. No one knows what became of Dandara.

Zumbi and Dandara became the leading symbols of anti-slavery and anti-colonial resistance and heroes of the Afro-Brazilian community. The anniversary of the death of Zumbi is associated with Afro-Brazilian awareness and resistance. The quilombos have lived on in history as communities that opposed the colonial system.


QUEEN NANNYMaroon (runaway slave), rebel leader and military strategist who established a Maroon colony

Around 1686 – 1733Jamaica

500 bill with the effigy of Queen Nanny, issued on the 50th anniversary of the independence of Jamaica in 2012 © Daniel Denis

Queen Nanny, an Ashanti born in Ghana around 1686, was brought to Jamaica as a child and was sold in Saint Thomas Parish, where slaves worked day and night on sugar cane plantations.

After fleeing the plantation with one of her brothers, Quao, Queen Nanny formed a Maroon community. They gained control of the Blue Mountain region, naming it Nanny Town, around 1720. There, Queen Nanny met her future husband, Adou.

Nanny Town occupied a strategic position which made any attack difficult for the British. In order to protect her warriors from any imminent danger, Nanny sounded the famous horn known as the abeng.

Queen Nanny was an important spiritual figure and a great military strategist. She adopted guerrilla tactics and ordered her warriors to disguise themselves as trees and bushes in order to ambush unsuspecting British soldiers. Queen Nanny also organised a barter system to sustain her community.

Between 1728 and 1734, Nanny Town and other Maroon communities were brutally attacked by British forces. Queen Nanny is thought to have been killed during one of the battles in 1733. Slavery was abolished in Jamaica in 1833 after massive slave uprisings.


SANITÉ BÉLAIRRebel and soldier who fought for the Haitian revolution with her husband, Charles Bélair

Around 1781 – 1802Haiti

10 Haitian Gourdes bill with the effigy of Sanité Bélair, issued on the bicentennial of the independence of Haiti in 2004 © Daniel Denis

Few history books mention the various ways in which women contributed to the Haitian revolution, which culminated in the establishment of the Republic of Haiti on 1 January 1804. But in August 1791, during the slave uprising in Saint-Domingue, some of the women took part in the insurrection and armed combat led by Toussaint Louverture. Some of them were central to his strategy of organising guerrillas against the French in the island’s interior.

Alongside Sanité Bélair, numerous women, including Défilée (also known as Dédée Bazile) and Claire Heureuse, the wife of Jean Jacques Dessalines, distinguished themselves by their bravery and their courage.

Sanité, who was also known as Suzanne, was a young, freed slave. In 1796, she married Charles Bélair, the nephew, aide-de-camp and lieutenant of Toussaint Louverture. She fought at her husband’s side in the 1802 battles.

During a surprise attack on Bélair’s troops, many of whom had gone out in search of supplies and ammunition, Sanité was taken prisoner. Charles surrendered in despair and the couple was found guilty. The colonial tribunal, considering Charles’ military rank and the gender of his wife Sanité, sentenced Charles’ to a firing squad and Sanité to decapitation.


OLYMPE DE GOUGESPlaywright, political activist and feminist, condemned to death for her ideas

1748 – 1793France

Marie-Olympe de Gouges, pastel attributed to Kucharski, c. 1787 Private collection © All rights reserved

In the early 1780s, Olympe de Gouges wrote the first play in French theatre to denounce the economic system of slavery. The author openly criticized the Black Code governing the lives of slaves.

Considered very daring for the time, this work almost landed Olympe in the Bastille prison. The play tells the story of a Maroon couple who took refuge on a desert island to escape poor treatment. Two young Frenchmen come to their aid. It is the first drama to portray black slaves as actual characters, which advocated the reconciliation of the races.

Olympe continued writing and publishing plays against the injustice of slavery and in favour of abolitionism.

Being part of the origin of legal divorce (the first and only right granted to women during the French Revolution of 1789), Olympe drafted the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the [Female] Citizen in 1791.

Sentenced to death for supporting the Girondins (a party of the French Revolution), Olympe was decapitated on 3 November 1793.


ANNE KNIGHTBritish feminist, who advocated the abolition of slavery

1781 – 1862England

Anne Knight (1781-1862), photograph by Victor Franck, c. 1855 © Religious Society of Friends in Britain

Born in 1781 into a family of pacifists, Anne Knight became involved in the anti-slavery movement as early as 1830. She circulated petitions, distributed leaflets and organised public meetings. She also established a branch of the Women’s Anti-Slavery Society and closely collaborated with abolitionist Thomas Clarkson.

In 1834, Anne set out on a tour of France, where she delivered lectures on the immorality of slavery, advocating its abolition. Alongside Anne, Lucy Townsend, Sarah Wedgwood, Mary Lloyd, Sophie Sturge and Elizabeth Coltman were all very active in promoting the immediate abolition of slavery.

They submitted a petition signed by 350,000 women in 1833 and for the first time, used a boycott as a political tool. They went door-to-door to explain the link between the consumption of sugar and slavery and succeeded in significantly reducing sugar consumption.

In 1840, the attitude of the male leaders of the World Anti-Slavery Convention encouraged Anne to launch a campaign in favour of equal rights for women.

Anne died on 4 November 1862. Her contribution to the anti-slavery campaign would be recognized by freed Jamaican slaves, who named the town of Knightsville after her.


SOJOURNER TRUTHFreed slave and feminist, first to link women’s rights with civil rights

1787 – 1883United States

I sell the shadow to support the substance, Sojourner Truth. Portrait of Sojourner Truth, 1864, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York City

Sojourner Truth, born Isabelle Baumfree, was separated from her family as a little girl and sold several times.

The state of New York abolished slavery on 4 July 1827 after Sojourner had already escaped with her daughter. Learning that her son, then 5 years old, had been sold to the South, she filed a complaint in court that led to his return. It was the first trial in which a black woman won a victory over a white man in a United States court.

On 1 June 1843, Isabelle Baumfree changed her name to Sojourner Truth. Deeply religious, she wished to affirm her role as a sojourner who showed others the path to the truth.

Meeting William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass, Olive Gilbert and David Ruggles, through a Utopian community, marked a turning point. She participated in debates on slavery and

was the first to link the oppression of women and that of slaves. She travelled across the United States to denounce slavery.

In 1851, she spoke at the first National Women’s Rights Convention. She delivered her most famous speech, “Ain’t I a Woman?”. Sojourner drew no distinction between women’s rights and civil rights.

During the American Civil War, Sojourner met President Lincoln. She actively participated in campaigns to recruit black soldiers to fight with Union troops. In 1865, Sojourner launched a campaign against the segregation of tramways in Washington, D.C. by boarding tramways reserved for whites.

In the last years of her life, Sojourner actively campaigned for the rights of former slaves to own private property, particularly land. She also protested against the death penalty and continued to fight for the emancipation of slaves in the Americas and the Caribbean.Excerpt from the Dix Femmes Puissantes exhibit

Courtesy of the Memorial to the Abolition of Slavery in Nantes, France

HARRIET TUBMANFreedom fighter, army leader and Underground Railroad activist

1822 – 1923United States

Harriet Tubman, “Moses” of the Gospel TrainSchomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York City

Harriet Tubman embodied the anti-slavery movement and was known as a Moses figure to her people. Given the covert nature of the Underground Railroad and the challenge of documenting it, her story might have been lost except for her extraordinary accomplishments.

Because enslaved women were largely responsible for raising their children, the vast majority of runaway slaves were men. Harriet, who made her own daring escape when 27 years old, was an exception.

With a $300 reward offered for her capture, she made at least 12 roundtrips to the antebellum slave-holding South, funded by her abolitionist network. While seeking to liberate her family and friends, she

guided an estimated 70 slaves to freedom. Her last trip was in the fall of 1860 on the eve of the American Civil War.

During the Civil War (1861 - 1865), she served with the northern Union Army – the anti-slavery faction – as a spy, a nurse and a cook.

She became the first woman in the United States to lead troops into combat. This campaign resulted in the liberation of 750 slaves. Harriet’s success stemmed from her courage and strong ties to the abolitionist community in the North.

After the war, she worked with suffragists Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan Anthony for women’s rights.

Excerpt from the 2013 Remember Slavery exhibit

MARGARET GARNER

Runaway slave who killed her daughter rather than returning her to a life of slavery

Around 1833 – 1858United States

The Modern Medea - The Story of Margaret Garner, 1867 Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York City

Margaret Garner’s life is a tragic example of female resistance against the brutality of slavery. The story later inspired the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Beloved by Toni Morrison.

In 1856, a group of eight slaves – including Margaret, her four children, her husband and his parents – escaped towards the free state of Ohio. They took refuge in the home of family members where they were eventually confronted by the master’s posse, sent to return the family to Kentucky. Margaret killed her youngest child rather than see her return to slavery.

What followed became one of the longest and costliest fugitive slave cases in history, pitting the federal Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 against state law. In the end, Margaret was never tried for murder, as she and her daughter were considered to be possessions. The Garners were returned to their owners. The case of Margaret Garner illustrates the burdens enslaved women faced that included forced labour and sexual exploitation. The light skin colour of her children raised speculation that her master was their father. The mulatto’s light skin became a social stigma as an unspoken symbol of the sexual violence against enslaved women.

Sources: Mary E. Frederickson and Delores M. Walters, editors, Gendered Resistance: Women, Slavery, and the Legacy of Margaret Garner, The New Black Studies Series, (Champaign, Illinois, University of Illinois Press 2013)

Mark Reinhardt, Who Speaks for Margaret Garner?, (Minneapolis, Minnesota, University of Minnesota Press 2010)

JOSEFA DIAGOEnslaved African woman who passed on her rich cultural heritage to her descendants

Mid–1800sSierra Leone

Josefa’s legacy lives on as Elvira Fumero participates in Menda dancesCourtesy of Sergio Leyva Seiglie, They Are We project

Josefa Diago, known on the plantation manifest as Josefa Gangá, was captured from the Upper Banta Chiefdom in Sierra Leone while in her mid-teens. She had just been initiated into the Menda society, which encouraged the use of traditional herbal healing remedies.

Josefa survived the “Middle Passage”, during which millions of Africans were shipped across the Atlantic Ocean to the New World, and was enslaved in the Matanzas province in Cuba. She was liberated at a very old age when slavery in Cuba ended.

Josefa taught her Menda songs, dance and initiation rites to her family, who passed these traditions to succeeding generations without the knowledge of Josefa’s origins. Today, her descendants are herbal healers and leaders of Gangá culture in the Matanzas province.

In 2013, Josefa’s descendants in Cuba were finally reunited with their distant relatives in Upper Banta, Sierra Leone. These relatives still recognized many of the Menda rituals that had been preserved in Cuba.

As a result of this reunification, the people of Upper Banta have been inspired to preserve their heritage. Josefa Diago, whose African name is not known, is still changing lives on both sides of the Atlantic.

This extraordinary journey of a Cuban community group to discover their African roots is researched and retold by Emma Christopher in her award-winning documentary film They Are We.

Emma Christopher, University of Sydney, Australia They Are We documentary film

Copy of the plantation manifest bearing Josefa’s nameCourtesy of Sergio Leyva Seiglie, They Are We project

This exhibition is presented by the United Nations Remember Slavery Programme, managed by the Outreach Division of the United Nations Department of Public Information, in partnership with the Memorial to the Abolition of Slavery in Nantes, France.

The text is based on the exhibition Dix Femmes Puissantes, designed by the Memorial to the Abolition of Slavery in Nantes, France, under the direction of Francoise Vergès. The Department also acknowledges the support provided by Diane Miller, National Programme Manager, National Underground Railroad Network to Freedom, U.S. National Park Service.

rememberslavery.un.org - memorial.nantes.fr - www.nps.gov

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REMEMBER SLAVERY - United Nations Exhibit… · REMEMBER SLAVERY The Remember Slavery Programme, managed by the United Nations Department of Public Information, was established by