United Nations hosts exhibit on racism and transatlantic slave trade
An exhibit entitled “Us and Them: From Prejudice to Racism” is on display in the United Nations Visitors Lobby in New York from 21 February until 4 May 2020.
It highlights the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, which is observed annually on 25 March. The International Day’s 2020 theme is: “Confronting Slavery’s Legacy of Racism Together”.
The exhibit examines the science behind the concept of race; shows how racism flourished during the transatlantic slave trade and continues to divide societies today; and teaches that racism is a social construct that is not inevitable and can be fought at multiple levels.
Produced by the French National Museum of Natural History in cooperation with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the exhibit uses anthropology, biology, economics, history and sociology, to explore this pertinent and timely topic.
In addition to showing the exhibit in English at United Nations Headquarters, the United Nations Remember Slavery Programme created traveling versions in Arabic, French, Kiswahili, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish, for use by the global network of United Nations Information Centres and Resident Coordinator Offices in their activities to commemorate the International Day.
Martin Luther King III, human rights advocate and son of US civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., visited the exhibit on 4 March 2020, with his wife, Arndrea Waters King, and daughter, Yolanda Renee.
