Wider commemoration

The slave trade and its legacies are today being acknowledged by countries around the world. It is also true that slavery continues, in different forms, in many countries around the world. August 1st is celebrated in many places as Emancipation Day. It was on August 1st 1838 that slaves in British territories became legally free.

UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, is involved with several projects about the slave trade. It has been working with students from Africa, the Caribbean and Britain on a project called ‘Breaking the Silence’. This was an education project which brought students together to discuss the slave trade from their different perspectives. UNESCO has also named August 23rd as the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition. In Britain, the campaigning charity Anti-Slavery International organises events to mark the day, and other groups and museums around the country also mark the day through politics and culture.