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2016 Theme: " Remember Slavery: Celebrating the Heritage and Culture of the African Diaspora and its Roots"

This theme draws attention to the rich African culture and traditions that have impacted life in countries that were involved in the slave trade and where the African Diaspora continues to make major contribution in all aspects of life. It also highlights the cultural linkages that exist among people of African descent throughout the world.

2016 Commemorative Programme of Activities

Download the Programme of Events PDF document

Tuesday, 16 February

Private Screening of RACE, AMC Loews 34th Street, New York 
Directed by Stephen Hopkins, RACE is a film about courage, determination, tolerance, and friendship. It is an inspiring drama about Jesse Owen's fight to become a legend at the 1936 Olympics, where he faces off against Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party’s vision of white supremacy. A Q & A follows film.

Wednesday, 17 February

6:00 p.m. Exhibit Opening - Africans in India: From Slaves to Generals and Rulers, Visitors Lobby, United Nations, New York

The exhibition, which was on display at United Nations Headquarters in New York through 30 March 2016, was created by The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture of The New York Public Library. The curators are Dr. Sylviane A. Diouf, Director of the Lapidus Center for the Historical Analysis of Transatlantic Slavery at The Schomburg Center, and Dr. Kenneth X. Robbins, collector and expert in Indian art.

The exhibit tells the fascinating history of enslaved East Africans in India, known as Sidis and Habshis, who rose to positions of military and political authority.  Through colourful photographs and texts, the exhibit conveys that their success was also a testimony of the open-mindedness of Indian society in which they were a small religious and ethnic minority, originally of low status.  It also sheds light on the slave trade in the Indian Ocean and the history of Africa and its Diaspora in India. 

The Remember Slavery Programme is producing a  travelling version of the exhibition in Arabic, English, French, Portuguese and Spanish and displayed by the United Nations Information Centres around the world in observance of the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade.

Thursday 24 March

1:15 p.m. - 2:45 p.m. - Panel Discussion and Performance: “The Transatlantic Slave Trade: Constructing New Amistad, Bunce Island, Gullah, Maroon and Nova Scotia Bridges” ECOSOC Chamber, United Nations, New York

Download the invitation.

Tuesday, 29 March

International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade (Observed)

3:00 p.m. General Assembly Commemorative Meeting, GA Hall, United Nations, New York

Watch the archived webcast of the meeting video

Statements:

6:30 p.m. Culinary & Cultural Experience, Visitors Lobby, United Nations, New York

Download the invitation.

Thursday, 31 March

25th Anniversary of African Burial Ground

9:30 a.m. Student Event (4th grade): Film Screening /Art /Tour
6:15 p.m. Screening of documentary and panel discussion – “Then I'll Be Free to Travel Home: The Legacy of the New York African Burial Ground” featuring Lena Horne, African Burial Ground, 290 Broadway, New York

Thursday, 14 April

11:00 a.m. - NGO Briefing: The Musical Journey of the African Diaspora – Conference Room 11, United Nations, New York

Photos of Special Commemorative Meetings and Events

Leonardo DiCaprio visits UN’s slavery memorial

Actor and producer Leonardo DiCaprio, a United Nations Messenger of Peace, visited The Ark of Return, the Permanent Memorial to Honour the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, at United Nations Headquarters in New York on 22 April 2016, as he exited the official signing ceremony for the Paris Agreement on climate change. During his speech at that ceremony, Mr. DiCaprio compared climate change to slavery, declaring that both were defining crises of their times.


Leonardo DiCaprio at Slavery Memorial Leonardo DiCaprio at slavery memorial

2016 Global Student Video Conference

The 8th Annual United Nations 'Remember Slavery' Global Student Video Conference will be held at United Nations Headquarters in New York on 13 May 2016 from 9:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. (New York time).The theme will be "Celebrating the Heritage and Culture of the African Diaspora and its Roots".

Students will have the opportunity to learn about the rich African culture and traditions that have impacted life in countries that were involved in the slave trade and where the African Diaspora continues to make major contributions to all aspects of life. The event will promote a greater knowledge of and respect for the diverse heritage, culture and contribution of people of African descent to the development of societies.

There will be an expert presentation on African heritage and culture by Dr. Sheila S. Walker, Executive Director of Afrodiaspora, Inc., as well as an artistic performance by students. Participants will learn about the Ark of Return, the Permanent Memorial at United Nations Headquarters to Honour the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, from the architect who designed it, Rodney Leon. H.E. Ms. A. Missouri Sherman-Peter, Permanent Observer of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to the United Nations, will lead the students in an activity. Efforts are also underway to involve African and Caribbean schools through videoconference links through the UNESCO Associated Schools Project Network (ASPnet). Teachers will receive a study guide that will help prepare students for the event.

Registration is now closed as the venue is at capacity. Please email education-outreach@un.org to request to be placed on a waiting list in case of cancellations. Requests will be processed in the order of receipt. The event can also be watched live at webtv.un.org.

Contact: Brenden Varma, Department of Public Information, United Nations, New York, +1-212-963-7238.

Lecture on resistance to and impact of Transatlantic Slave Trade

NEW YORK – The Education Outreach Section of the United Nations Department of Public Information’s Outreach Division – in partnership with the United Nations Dag Hammarskjöld Library – will host a lecture as part of its Remember Slavery Programme on 31 August 2016 from 1:15 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. at United Nations Headquarters in Conference Room 11 in New York. Titled “Resistance to and the Impact of the Transatlantic Slave Trade”, the event will be held under the umbrella of “The Birth of a Nation: Slavery, Resistance & Abolition” lecture series.

The United Nations Remember Slavery Programme joins the Office for Diversity, Literacy and Outreach Services at the American Library Association (ALA); Fox Searchlight Pictures; and BazanED in this nationwide knowledge- and community-building initiative

Natasha Lightfoot, Associate Professor of History at Columbia University, will deliver the lecture and lead a discussion on the historic struggle against slavery and the lasting legacy of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Opening remarks will be delivered by Maher Nasser, Director of the Outreach Division of the United Nations Department of Public Information. There will also be a statement by Marie Paule Roudil, Director of the Liaison Office of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in New York.

The lecture series, inspired by Nate Parker’s film “The Birth of a Nation”, will run throughout the United States from 21 August through 30 October, commemorating the duration of the history-changing slave rebellion launched by the film’s subject, Nat Turner, on 21 August 1831. It will mark the 185th anniversary of Turner’s rebellion, as well as the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition, observed annually by UNESCO on 23 August.

To attend, please register.

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