UN Remember Slavery Programme opens "Slavery in New York" exhibit
21 March 2019 - Diplomats, visitors to the United Nations, and staff members gathered in the Visitors Lobby of the Secretariat Building at United Nations Headquarters today for the opening of the exhibit ”From Africa to the New World: Slavery in New York”. The opening was one of several events organized by the United Nations Remember Slavery Programme to mark the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade. The theme of this year's commemoration is "Remember Slavery: The Power of the Arts for Justice".
Opening the exhibit was Alison Smale, the United Nations' Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications, who emphasized that the transatlantic slave trade was one of the gravest crimes ever committed. “From the early 1400s to the middle of the 1800s, an estimated 17 million Africans were forcibly displaced from Africa to the Americas”, she said. “The legacies of this shameful era include racism, which continues to harm our societies today.”
Speaking on behalf of the Permanent Mission of the African Union to the United Nations was Senior Political Affairs Officer Louise Bailey. She noted that the exhibit was very timely because the first enslaved African set foot in Virginia 400 years ago. She added, "The African diaspora living in the five boroughs continues to play an important role in the growth and development of New York."
Slavery in New York City is a little-known chapter of the dark saga of the transatlantic slave trade. Both free and enslaved people lived side by side, which created unique circumstances and allowed the African community to push for freedom.
The rediscovery of the African Burial Ground changed the intellectual paradigm of enslavement for New York. Speaking on behalf of the African Burial Ground National Monument, historian Michael Frazier said, "By 1703, New York had the largest colonial slave population outside of Charleston, South Carolina, and by 1756, Africans made up 25% of the population of the city". The National Monument contains human skeletal remains that date from 1627 to 1790, and is the final resting place of between 10 to 15,000 human skeletons. Each grave tells an interesting story.
It is noted in the exhibit that the African Burial Ground was one of the few places where enslaved Africans could find tranquility. The African community living in New York City was allowed to practice traditional African burial ceremonies there. It was one of the few places where enslaved Africans could escape surveillance because white people would never venture there.
The exhibit was created by the New-York Historical Society. Representing the museum was historian Dominique Jean-Louis who said the New-York Historical Society had been telling the history of the city since 1804. She said, "Among all of the stories, telling the story of slavery in New York was one that stood out." Few people know that 42% of the residents of New York City owned slaves, or that Wall Street is named after a wall built in 1703 by enslaved Africans. She concluded, "New York was shaped by the brutal realities of the slave trade. Let us hope that bringing justice will come with confronting a difficult past."
© UN Photo/Loey Felipe
From left to right: Dominique Jean-Louis, Curator, New-York Historical Society; Alison Smale, UN Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications; Louise Bailey, Senior Political Advisor, African Union Mission to the UN; Michael Frazier, Historian, African Burial Ground National Monument
© Bo Li
From left to right: Maher Nasser, Director, Outreach Division, UN Department of Global Communications; Dominique Jean-Louis, Curator, New-York Historical Society; Michael Frazier, Historian, African Burial Ground National Monument; Alison Smale, UN Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications; Louise Bailey, Senior Political Advisor, Permanent Observer Mission of the African Union to the UN
© Bo Li
From left to right: Dominique Jean-Louis, Curator, New-York Historical Society; Alison Smale, UN Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications; Michael Frazier, Historian, African Burial Ground National Monument; H.E. A. Missouri Sherman-Peter, Permanent Observer of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to the UN
© UN Photo/Loey Felipe