United Nations to Host Two New Exhibits Highlighting Slavery, Acts of Resistance, 19 March-25 April; 25-28 March

In observance of the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade (25 March), as well as the final year of the International Decade for People of African Descent (2015-2024), the United Nations will host two new exhibits highlighting the horrors of slavery and acts of resistance:  “Who were the enslaved?  Commemorating lives under enslavement at the Cape of Good Hope”, 19 March-25 April, Visitors’ Lobby, United Nations Headquarters, and “Ibo Landing”, 25-28 March, Vienna Café, United Nations Headquarters.

The United Nations Outreach Programme on the Transatlantic Slave Trade and Slavery in collaboration with the Iziko Museums of South Africa will display an adaptation of the exhibit “Who were the enslaved? Commemorating lives under enslavement at the Cape of Good Hope”.  Originally shown at the Iziko Slave Lodge in Cape Town in 2022, the exhibit examines slavery in South Africa and highlights stories of individuals enslaved at the Slave Lodge in the 132 years it served this purpose at the turn of the seventeenth century.

According to United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, “This powerful exhibit reflects on untold stories and reveals acts that demonstrate the courage, resistance, and resilience of enslaved peoples — and their profound contributions to humanity.”  The exhibition will be on display in the Visitors’ Lobby at United Nations Headquarters in New York from 19 March to 25 April.  It can be accessed by the public Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.,  excluding holidays.

For more information about this exhibit, please contact Brenden Varma: varmab@un.org.  Click here for more information about how to access the United Nations.

Meanwhile, from 25 March to 28 March, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), with support from the United Nations Outreach Programme on the Transatlantic Slave Trade and Slavery, will display a new exhibit entitled “Ibo Landing”.  The Ibo, also referred to as Igbo, are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa.  In 1803, a group of enslaved people from this region committed one of history’s most storied and tragic acts of resistance in defiance of enslavement. This exhibit captures the sorrow and horrors of this historic event that took place in the United States state of Georgia, through original drawings by Jamaican-American artist Donovan Nelson.  The exhibit will be on display near the Vienna Café at United Nations Headquarters in New York.

For more information about this exhibit, please contact Omyma David: odavid@unfpa.org.