Lecture on Transatlantic Slave Trade to Be Held at United Nations Headquarters, 31 August
The United Nations Department of Public Information joins the American Library Association, Fox Searchlight Pictures and BazanED in a nationwide knowledge- and community-building initiative to examine the lasting effects of the injustices of the transatlantic slave trade.
The initiative will engage students across the United States in a lecture series on slavery and its impact. The United Nations Dag Hammarskjöld Library and the Remember Slavery Programme will host one of the lectures from 1:15 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. in conference Room 11 at New York Headquarters on Wednesday, 31 August.
Natasha Lightfoot, Associate Professor of History at Columbia University, will deliver the lecture and lead a discussion on the historic struggle against slavery and the lasting legacy of the transatlantic slave trade. Ms. Lightfoot will explain how examination of this history can help to clarify key precedents for some of today’s current problems, including racial, gender and class hierarchies. Opening remarks will be delivered by Maher Nasser, Director of the Outreach Division of the United Nations Department of Public Information. There will also be a statement by Marie Paule Roudil, Director of the Liaison Office of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in New York.
The American Library Association lecture series, inspired by Nate Parker’s film The Birth of a Nation, will run throughout the United States from 21 August to 30 October, commemorating the duration of the history-changing slave rebellion launched by the film’s subject, Nat Turner, on 21 August 1831. It will mark the 185th anniversary of Turner’s rebellion, as well as the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition, observed annually by UNESCO on 23 August.
The United Nations Remember Slavery Programme was established by the General Assembly in 2007 to collaborate with and build upon UNESCO’s Slave Route Project to further education on the causes, consequences and lessons of the transatlantic slave trade. It also aims at raising awareness of the dangers of racism and prejudice today with activities held and educational materials produced throughout the year.
To attend, please register at: http://bit.ly/29BL4Eo.
For more information, please contact Kimberly Mann, Chief, Education Outreach Section, at e-mail: mann@un.org.