Slave Trade Remembrance Day - Why it Matters
Next Monday the 23rd of August marks International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition. Slave Trade Remembrance Day is observed by the United Nations and is mainly celebrated in countries such as Haiti, Senegal, and the Dominican Republic where rebellions happened to weaken the colonial system in the Caribbean, leading to the dismantling of the transatlantic slave trade system. This day also pays tribute and commemorates those who worked to abolish slavery around the world.
Historical Background
According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, the Transatlantic Slave Trade was connected between North America and its Caribbean islands, Europe, and West Africa in the formation of a triangle, exchanging raw materials, manufactured goods, and enslaved Africans for labor.
The slave trade began around the 1500s when Spain, Portugal, and other European countries established colonies in the New World (Modern-day America). In the 1600s, the Dutch, English, and French also established colonies and these European countries became major participants in the slave trade. Most enslaved Africans were taken as human cargo from West Africa around the Senegal region. They suffered horrific and inhumane conditions in slave ships bounded by shackles as they were transported to the New World where the system of chattel slavery began. The enslaved were used and exploited as a labor source to grow labor-intensive crops such as sugar, tobacco, and rice.
Around the 1780s, the transatlantic slave trade reached its peak with up to 78,000 captives being taken and enslaved each year for the decade. Even though the importation of slaves was banned in America in 1808, this only popularized domestically traded slaves. Those domestically traded were forced to breed and then be separated from their families. The transatlantic slave trade and its horrors have shown a lasting impact on our world. Remembering the suffering of those taken from their homes tells us how our world was built - upon capitalism, colonialism, and the exploitation of the enslaved.
This remembrance day is not just about remembering what the slave trade is but also examining the impact it has made on our world. The slave trade shaped not only America’s economy but the world’s by exploiting the people of Africa for free labor.
In America, sugar was the leading commodity being produced, and then cotton became the next biggest. The American financial and shipping industries were also dependent on the slave produced-goods, particularly cotton. The production process of these industries within America was part of a larger national and international political economy which allowed for the United States to be able to compete for economic leadership on a global scale. The success of so many nations today was built on the exploitation and enslavement of countries such as Africa and created lasting effects on the African diaspora around the world. We see systemic racism and colorism against African Americans to this day.
The Effects of the Slave Trade on Black Women
One of the many lasting effects of the slave trade is its direct impact on the descendants of the enslaved. The topic of the effects of the slave trade on Black woman is not discussed widely enough but deserve our attention and discussion.
Black women are one of the most marginalized groups amongst all others in the United States, sitting at the intersection of racism and sexism. This form of intersectional discrimination places Black women in the lower pay scale within our society, with Black women being paid only 63% of what non-Hispanic white men were paid according to the 2019 U.S Census.
Decades of racism, sexism, and oppression in our country have led to Black women being subjected to occupational segregation, with Black women being more likely than any other racial group to work in low-paying servicing jobs. According to The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Black women make up the highest group of minimum wage workers, and only 1-3% of high-paying job sectors such as engineering and computer science are occupied by Black women.
All the above statistics contribute to the immense wealth gap with white households having 13 times the wealth of the Black household:
- American Association of University Women (AAUW)
Here’s what you can do:
Help pass the Paycheck Fairness Act which supports pay equity and addresses the discriminatory practices in wages based on sex.
Take two minutes to fill this out with your email address and AAUW will send a letter to congress for you!
Reparations for Chattel Slavery
Reparations for slavery in the United States have been made in scattered forms of payments to a select few cases. While some reparations have been given to individuals to a small extent, the majority of those affected still suffer from the lingering damages of the slave trade and have not received any form of reparations. The conversation around reparations for the transatlantic slave trade has been muddy, with slave-trading countries acknowledging its horrors but no official apologies or well-developed plans of reparations. This is precisely why Slave Trade Remembrance day should be commemorated each year to facilitate the conversation in what the U.S. must recognize and support with prompt action. In the last year, Congress introduced a bill to establish a commission specializing in studying and developing reparation proposals for African Americans.
One of the most recent cases of reparations just this past April accounted for the destruction of the Black Linnentown Community in Athens, Georgia in 1969, where fifty Black families were forcibly removed from their homes to provide dormitories for the students of the University of Georgia. Another case from last March addressed the Black community in Evanston, Chicago, where the city prepares to fund reparations for its Black residents. However, some residents point out an important aspect that reparations should not simply include financial legislatures but also the removal of anti-Black policies within our government practices such as zoning, a practice in the early 1900s that segregated neighborhoods along racial lines, which still affects the suburb today.
The brutality imposed upon the people of African countries in the name of colonialism has projected lasting effects beyond the time of the 1600s, with discriminatory behavior still displayed against the African diaspora within the United States every day. As discussed in the book Reparations for Africa by Rhoda E. Howard-Hassmann, governments of countries who have participated in the transatlantic slave trade in the past should acknowledge their governments’ previous involvement and take on its responsibilities as well as its benefits.
We fully support this notion and believe that the transatlantic slave trade should not be ignored or erased. Rather, it should be addressed and brought to the forefront of conversations by our government to showcase the lingering negative effects it has imposed upon African Americans within our society and ways to provide reparations. This means supporting Black-owned businesses. Even though August is the National Black Businesses month, we should support Black-owned businesses all year round!
Here are a few ways to discover Black-owned businesses to shop from:
We Buy Black—One of the largest online markets to shop from Black-owned businesses
Support Black Owned—Database, where you can search for Black, owned businesses near you
Eat Okra—A mobile app used to discover black-owned eateries and restaurants near you
I Am Black Business—Platform for promoting and connecting Black-owned businesses around the country
Instagram—Using hashtags such as #BlackBusinesses or#SupportBlackBusinesses is a great way to find smaller Black-owned businesses to shop from.
No time to search? Check out 181 Black-owned businesses you can shop from! All categories from Beauty to Homeware and everything in between!
Other ways you can learn more:
These works of Historical Fiction are simultaneously beautifully written works that depict the horrors of slavery
Remember, the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition is not just a day for all of us to commemorate the enslaved and those who have helped fight and abolish slavery. It is also a reminder to reflect and find ways in which we can show our support and solidarity to the Black community who has been deeply affected by decades of systemic racism and injustice caused by the history of the slave trade every single day.
