It was intended to engrave the tragedy and horror of the slave trade in the ‘memory of all people’.
The transatlantic slave trade was the transportation of African people by slave traders, usually to the Americas. It began in the 16th century by the Portuguese, completing their first voyage in 1526 to Brazil. The date of August 23rd was chosen because during the night of August 22-23, 1791 there was an uprising on Santo Domingo, known as the Haitian Revolution, that helped set in motion events that would be influential in the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade.
In a 2010 message from the Director-General of UNESCO, she stated “[It] prompts us to reflect on possible ways of alleviating and overcoming such painful memories…[and] has afforded us the opportunity every year to pay tribute to the struggle led by the slaves themselves to recover their dignity and freedom.”
The day was first celebrated by multiple countries, in particular in Haiti (August 1998) and Goree in Senegal (August 1999).
