March 25, 2007

Abolition

Today marks the Bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade (1807 -2007) in the United Kingdom. This BBC web page, Abolition, gives an overview of the history, legacy, radio and TV broadcast. There is also the UK government site that is very informative and includes its involvement with the activities for this bicentenary.

Interesting, the US Congress passed a bill on March 2, 1807 to become effective Jan 8 Jan 1, 1808 to abolish the slave trade. It only affected the importation of slaves, but not between the states.

H/T A.

2 comments:

A. said...

I'm glad you found those links interesting Hathor. We had some very moving and thought-provoking progammes yesterday.

Hathor said...

This is the few times I would have liked to have cable or satellite TV. We have so little programming like that and it is usually during
February, Black History Month. Last month Public Television ran a series about slavery and some slave stories. I found those very informative, but it happens so seldom. I have found myself lately, reading slave narratives. What is really weird, I didn't become aware of them until my son was telling what he had read while in college. It seemed like when I was young black people never spoke of slavery even though my generation was only three generations out of slavery. I got the impression that they were ashamed, because my grandmother would never say much when I asked. Her mother was born a slave. I never heard anyone else's stories either. Roots surprised me.
I think the older I have gotten, I have began to understand its legacy more clearly.