INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY REMEMBRANCE OF MIDDLE PASSAGE

TO BE OBSERVED IN KEY WEST

The 2022 International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and Its Abolition will be observed in South Florida by residents, community leaders, and visitors alike on Sunday, August 21, from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the Key West African Cemetery memorial, 1094 Atlantic Boulevard at Higgs Beach (between White Street and the West Martello Tower brick fort) in the history-laden southernmost city.

With traditional and modern rituals and prayers, live music, performances, open “Village Talk” for participants to share additional thoughts and meditations, and culminating with a candlelight procession and flower offerings carried to the sacred waters of the nearby ocean, the annual observance, which continues a local practice begun in the early 2000s, honors the memory of the millions who perished in the four-centuries-long human trafficking known as the Middle Passage, or so-called African “slave trade,” and of those who survived the crossing, and slavery itself, to give life to future generations of New African peoples throughout th­­e Americas.

The Remembrance begins with honoring and fiving thanks to the original First Nations of Indigenous Peoples their preservation of the sacred land.

A Special Place

Few places in the United States can be more appropriate for a public observance of this International Day than Key West, Florida, strategically located where the Atlantic meets the Gulf of Mexico, and the closest point to the predominant human trafficking routes of the “slave trade,” and with numerous connections to that history, including the discovery of the first wreck of a slave ship in North American waters to be identified and seriously studied, yielding a host of compelling artifacts, including iron shackles, that have comprised a national touring exhibition.

Rather than a port of entry of Africans who were sold on auction blocks, Key West proved to be a haven for refugees rescued from illegal slave ships, including the 1827 wreck of the Guerrero  off Key Largo, and, more famously, the arrival of 1,432 Africans aboard three ships captured by the US Navy in 1860, who were welcomed and cared for by the local community, but of whom 295, mostly children and youth, tragically died before they could be returned to Africa and were buried at today’s Key West African Cemetery. 

Global Solidarity

The International Day was declared by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) Slave Route Project, which was launched in 1994, in Benin, West Africa, co-sponsored by Haiti, as a global call to all nations, particularly those that were touched by the history of the “slave trade,” to identify and conserve all evidence within their borders – historic landmarks, artifacts, archives, oral memories, and other sources of knowledge — of that chapter of human history, so that it would be more widely known and never forgotten.

The International Day provides an occasion for nations around the world to pause and reflect; to remember, learn, and teach; and to resolve both to heal the painful legacies of this horrific chapter of human history that still haunt us today, and to prevent the recurrence of any such horrors in the future.

It is notable that the August 23 date was chosen to emphasize the fact that the first and most important Abolitionists were the Africans themselves.

It marks the anniversary of the start of the world-changing Haitian Revolution in 1791, which liberated the richest colony in the hemisphere, thus becoming a beacon of hope that inspired and supported other freedom and independence struggles; and forced Napoleon to sell the vast Louisiana territory which doubled the size of the United States at the time.

It is also significant that this year’s observance is the first under the new name of the former Slave Route Project, which is the UNESCO “Routes of Enslaved Peoples: Resistance, Liberty and Heritage” Project, reflecting its growth, advancement, and expansion over the years.

All Are Invited

As with all International Day observances, the event is free and open to the public.  Church congregations, organizations, and institutions are specially invited, as well as individuals and cultural performers.

For further information, please call 305-766-4922, 305-469-1157, or 305-904-7620.

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