‘Women and Slavery: Telling Their Stories’ an Exhibition on Transatlantic Slave Trade Opens at United Nations

An exhibition to mark the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade will open in the United Nations Visitors’ Lobby on Thursday, 12 March at 6 p.m. and remain on display until 9 April.  The opening is one of the side events planned during the current session of the Commission on the Status of Women.

The exhibition features the stories of enslaved women who endured the harsh conditions of forced labour and sexual exploitation, yet found the courage to fight for freedom.  These women also succeeded in transmitting their African culture and heritage to their descendants, despite the many abuses that they had to bear.  In addition, it shines a light on free women who fought for abolition of the slavery system.

Cristina Gallach, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information; A. Missouri Sherman-Peter, Permanent Observer of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) to the United Nations; and Michele Mitchell, Associate Professor of History at New York University, will make statements.  A representative of the African Union will also speak.

Activities planned by the Department of Public Information’s Remember Slavery Programme in 2015 will be held under the theme “Women and Slavery” to help raise awareness of the tragedies and triumphs of these brave women.  In the words of United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, “This observance forces us to confront human beings at their worst.  But in those who opposed slavery then and now, we also celebrate people at their best.”

This exhibition is produced by the Remember Slavery Programme in partnership with the Memorial to the Abolition of Slavery in Nantes, France, which published an extensive account of women and slavery in its exhibition Dix Femmes Puissantes.  Other activities for the annual observance include the unveiling of the Permanent Memorial to Honour the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, a commemorative meeting of the General Assembly and a culinary and cultural event on 25 March.  A briefing for non-governmental organizations will be held on 26 March and a global student videoconference on 27 March.

For more information on the observance, please contact Laurence Gerard at tel.:  +1 212 963 0629 or e-mail:  gerardl@un.org; or visit www.un.org/en/events/slaveryremembranceday/.

For more information on United Nations exhibitions, please contact Renata Morteo at tel.:  +1 212 963 5455 or e-mail:  morteo@un.org.