anniversary of the abolition of the Slave Trade

[KarenS]

ROSEAU, Dominica: On Sunday, March 25, 2007, on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, a ceremony will be held n Roseau, the capital of Dominica.

President of Dominica, Dr Nicholas Liverpool and Prime Minister, Roosevelt Skerrit will attend the event.

A Minute of Silence will be observed in memory of the slaves who died during the “Middle Passage” and those who died on the plantations.

The ceremony on Sunday will also feature an art exhibition and a staged Tableaux Vivants’ which will show slaves arriving in Dominica and also their entrance into the Barracoon Building.

Musical Renditions are expected from the Genesis Steel Orchestra, a solo performance by Claudia Henderson and choral presentations by the River Song Choir.

For the full article go <a href="http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/news-640--31-31--.html">here.</a>

[jomar]

I think it's important to remember that it was not slavery that the British abolished 200 years ago. What was abolished in 1807 was the commercial transatlantic trade in slavery. Slavery remained fully legal and commercially important in the British Caribbean until 1834. Emancipation Day, still observed in some places, although frequently renamed, is August 1st. Slavery was partially abolished on that date in 1834, and fully abolished in British colonies on August 1st, 1838. It's also interesting to note that slavery remained legal for much longer in the United States (1864), and for many years beyond that in Spanish and Portugese possessions. Gabriel Garcia Marquez writes that when he was a boy in the 1920s and 1930s in Colombia, there were still a few old men and women to be seen on the streets whose bodies were marked by the faded remnants of slave brands, burned into their skin when they were children.

Emancipation Day, August 1st, is still a day heavy with meaning for many of us who remember its significance. Contemporary observers described gatherings of thousands of people on mountain tops so they could see the sun rise as early as possible on that first great "freedom morning".