Aug. 23: UNESCO International Day for Remembrance of the Slave Trade and It's Abolition

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carmenjonze
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Aug. 23: UNESCO International Day for Remembrance of the Slave Trade and It's Abolition

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International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition - UNESCO
This International Day is intended to inscribe the tragedy of the slave trade in the memory of all peoples. In accordance with the goals of the intercultural project "The Routes of Enslaved Peoples", it should offer an opportunity for collective consideration of the historic causes, the methods and the consequences of this tragedy, and for an analysis of the interactions to which it has given rise between Africa, Europe, the Americas and the Caribbean.
"It is time to abolish human exploitation once and for all, and to recognize the equal and unconditional dignity of each and every individual. Today, let us remember the victims and freedom fighters of the past so that they may inspire future generations to build just societies."
-- Audrey Azoulay
Director-General of UNESCO
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The way to right wrongs is to
Shine the light of truth on them.

~ Ida B. Wells
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carmenjonze
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Re: Aug. 23: UNESCO International Day for Remembrance of the Slave Trade and It's Abolition

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Routes of Enslaved Peoples - UNESCO
Since its launch in 1994, the UNESCO "Routes of Enslaved Peoples: Resistance, Liberty and Heritage" Project has contributed to the production of innovative knowledge, the development of high-level scientific networks and the support of memory initiatives on the theme of slavery, its abolition and the resistance it generated.

At the international level, the project has thus played a major role in "breaking" the silence surrounding the history of slavery and placing this tragedy that has shaped the modern world in the universal memory.

Today, among its major objectives, the project contributes to "de-racialising" our vision and "decolonising" our imaginations of the world by

• deconstructing the discourses based on the concept of race that justified these systems of exploitation,
• promoting the contributions of people of African descent to the general progress of humanity, and
• questioning the social, cultural and economic inequalities inherited from this traged [sic]
[VIDEO]
________________________________

The way to right wrongs is to
Shine the light of truth on them.

~ Ida B. Wells
________________________________
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carmenjonze
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Re: Aug. 23: UNESCO International Day for Remembrance of the Slave Trade and It's Abolition

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HeritageMadeDigital
@BL_MadeDigital

Abolition of the slave trade & slavery in Britain "Prof. John Oldfield traces the road to abolition from the 1780s to the 1830s, highlighting the impacts of grass-roots organisation, leadership, Black resistance and pro-slavery interests."
https://bl.uk/restoration-18th-century- ... in-britain #RememberSlavery

Image

https://twitter.com/BL_MadeDigital/stat ... 5238161410
________________________________

The way to right wrongs is to
Shine the light of truth on them.

~ Ida B. Wells
________________________________
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carmenjonze
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Re: Aug. 23: UNESCO International Day for Remembrance of the Slave Trade and It's Abolition

Post by carmenjonze »

Project Syndicate
@ProSyn

Texas schools’ continued mythification of the “heroic” 1836 Battle of the Alamo ignores what the Alamo’s defenders were fighting for: an independent republic where they would have the right to own slaves, noted @JorgeGCastaneda in 2020. https://bit.ly/3wnlgG4 #RememberSlavery

[LINK: The History Behind America’s History Wars - Project-Syndicate]

https://twitter.com/ProSyn/status/1562047028049285121
________________________________

The way to right wrongs is to
Shine the light of truth on them.

~ Ida B. Wells
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bird
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Re: Aug. 23: UNESCO International Day for Remembrance of the Slave Trade and It's Abolition

Post by bird »

But, but, but, that is going to make white people feel bad.

Where the hell is my sarcasm button?
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Re: Aug. 23: UNESCO International Day for Remembrance of the Slave Trade and It's Abolition

Post by ZoWie »

I usually use a tag that got left out of HTML for that.

<sarcasm>White folks might get nervous or feel offended if we retell historical truth.</sarcasm>
"We must remember that we cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation." --Liz Cheney, Republican, 7/21/22
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carmenjonze
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Re: Aug. 23: UNESCO International Day for Remembrance of the Slave Trade and It's Abolition

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Threshold Podcast
@ThrshldPodcast

We spoke to historian @ProfLMH about what she called “the largest coerced migration in human history,” and how that history is inseparable from the growth of the industrial economies whose emissions are now jeopardizing the Earth’s climate. #RememberSlavery

[VIDEO]

https://twitter.com/i/status/1562185488903143425
________________________________

The way to right wrongs is to
Shine the light of truth on them.

~ Ida B. Wells
________________________________
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carmenjonze
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Re: Aug. 23: UNESCO International Day for Remembrance of the Slave Trade and It's Abolition

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An Enduring Legacy: The Role of Financial Institutions in the Horrors of Slavery and the Need for Atonement - Beacon [Press] Broadside
On April 5, 2022, Daina Ramey Berry testified before the US House Financial Services Committee on the role of banks and insurers in US slavery. Her testimony cites her research and her book, The Price for Their Pound of Flesh. It is now part of the Congressional record.

~~~

Good afternoon, Chairman Green, Chairwoman Waters, Vice Chair Williams and members of the Committee. It is an honor to come before this body to share my testimony on the legacies of slavery and connections to financial institutions. I have been studying this history for thirty years and I appreciate the invitation.

Enslaved people were valuable financial investments. So valuable that financial institutions, municipalities, universities and private citizens bought, sold, gifted, deeded, traded, mortgaged, leased and transferred enslaved people as a form legal tender. Human chattel were foundational to western economies from the fifteenth to nineteenth centuries. They were one of the most unique commodities and assets because they were human beings. Defined as chattel, a movable form of property, we have records confirming their value at every stage of their lives from preconception to postmortem.[1] We also have documents that clearly outline the connections between enslaved people and specific financial institutions, such as insurance companies and banks. Those records can be traced from slavery to the present.[2] Such legacies reverberate throughout our society today and are reflected in all kinds of disparities. The wealth gap is so wide that most of us will not see it narrow in any appreciable way in our lifetimes.

Turning to insurance agencies, the Southern Mutual Life Insurance Company, founded in 1848 under the name Georgia/Southern Mutual, shows evidence of profits generated from insuring the bodies and lives of enslaved people. During its second year offering policies to enslavers, the company saw growth from twenty-eight to 239 policies. It reported that most of those who purchased policies were modest enslavers who had “a small number of slaves, on who they are dependent” thus they secured their income “by taking policies on the lives” of human property.[3] Looking at policies from 1856 to 1863, we learn that the company insured enslaved people from age one to sixty. Some policies were for a month or two, others for as long as five years. Regardless of the length, each enslaved person underwent a medical examination to determine their value, and the company set premiums and rates based on their value. Although this company originated in Georgia, Southern Mutual Life Insurance Company had agents throughout the South.

In addition to individual policies, some states, including Maryland, passed legislation that encouraged people to purchase policies on the enslaved. Here, the state supported policies that helped enslavers search for self-liberated individuals (runaways) in order to recover the cost of those who absconded and had been away for “a reasonable time.” That enslavers could make money off of those who escaped is remarkable. They also made money off of “elderly” enslaved people like forty-two-year-old Ellick, who was valued at $2,000 for a one-year premium at $80, with a four percent rate on the policy. What do these numbers reflect in contemporary times? Fifty-one-year-old Charlotte, valued at $800 in 1860, was equivalent to nearly $23,500 in 2014.[4] Insurance policies alone help explain why some enslavers keep elderly enslaved people—many would not command the insured value in the market. However, they could be replaced with someone younger at death.
More in link.
________________________________

The way to right wrongs is to
Shine the light of truth on them.

~ Ida B. Wells
________________________________
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