All articles tagged with #slavery
Ghana is at the forefront of the global reparations debate for the transatlantic slave trade, pushing UN recognition, debt relief, and accountability from Western powers and institutions such as the Church of England, while advocating reparatory funding for education, entrepreneurship and health research, and promoting diaspora outreach — though critics warn against commercialising healing and say local needs must not be sidelined.
On a visit to Cape Coast Castle, Archbishop Dame Sarah Mullally renewed the Church of England's commitment to a £100m reparations fund tied to its historic role in the transatlantic slave trade, noting that repentance must translate into action through investment, research and community engagement in affected areas. She described the castle’s dungeons and the “door of no return” as stark reminders of the past. The plan has faced opposition over historical accuracy, legal concerns and ideological objections, but Ghana’s foreign minister praised the move as a signal of accountability for the church’s legacy.
The Trump administration quietly replaced the President’s House slavery exhibit in Philadelphia with new panels that soften George Washington's role as an enslaver and broaden the focus to general slavery history, after a long legal battle with the city over control of the site. The changes follow a federal appeals court ruling that Philadelphia could not dictate the content at a federally owned memorial; officials and activists vow to pursue remedies and keep the full history alive, while some observers view the shift as a whitewash. The site has seen protests, readings of the original panels, and a vandalism-related fine, all amid continuing debate over how best to tell America’s history.
The National Park Service replaced panels about slavery and George Washington’s ownership of enslaved people at Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia with a version critics say sanitizes history, installing the changes overnight and prompting controversy and legal action; the site’s President’s House excavation continues to highlight the stories of nine enslaved individuals who lived with Washington.
In Montgomery, Alabama, Bryan Stevenson’s Equal Justice Initiative has built the Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice to confront America’s history of slavery and racial terror. The episode details markers and a county-by-county layout, a Kwame Akoto-Bamfo sculpture, and a water wall that acknowledges thousands more lynching victims than can be documented. Stevenson argues that the nation’s history cannot be erased, that modern racial injustice grows from a dangerous white supremacist narrative, and that truth-telling and repair are essential to moving forward. As the U.S. marks its 250th anniversary, he emphasizes memory, education, and persistent justice work, and frames his American identity as inseparable from the enslaved ancestors who helped build the country.
At a three-day Accra conference, African and Caribbean leaders called for full, unconditional apologies and support for a 19-point plan to establish a global reparations fund, debt relief, and restitution of looted cultural property, building on a UN resolution that labeled the transatlantic slave trade the gravest crime against humanity. The gathering highlighted 12-15 million Africans trafficked to the Americas; Macron urged reparations beyond cash, while the UK and US cautioned against creating a legal right to reparations, noting the UN vote is non-binding.
Jimmy Kimmel Live! featured Larry David's surprising connection to slaveholding revealed by Henry Louis Gates Jr. on Finding Your Roots, prompting Kimmel to poke fun at his guest while Gates adds historical context; David explains his family didn’t own slaves, and the moment unfolds amid chatter about Knicks fandom and the show’s HBO debut.
Barbados PM Mia Mottley announced an updated Caricom reparations manifesto at a Ghana conference, urging monetary compensation and other redress from former colonial powers for slavery’s harms, including gender-based violence; the plan ties reparations to climate justice and Indigenous rights, seeks a formal apology and education initiatives, and awaits endorsement by Caribbean governments, while stressing that crimes against humanity are not subject to statute of limitations.
A federal appeals court ruled that the Trump administration may replace a slavery exhibit in Philadelphia, allowing the planned exhibit swap to proceed despite ongoing legal questions surrounding the display.
A federal judge in Boston ordered the Interior Department to reinstate signs and exhibits about slavery, climate change and other topics removed from national parks, ruling the removals undermine park integrity and amount to censorship; the exhibits must be restored within 21 days ahead of the 250th anniversary. Plaintiffs argued removals violated congressional mandates and lacked rational justification, while the Interior maintained the policy aimed to tell the full, accurate history; the decision follows President Trump’s March 2025 executive order referencing revisionist history.
An Australian court in Melbourne is hearing bail arguments for Zeinab Ahmad, who, along with Kawsar Abbas, faces charges of enslaving a Yazidi teenager in Syria and related terrorism offenses after returning home; the proceedings focus on whether Ahmad should be released pending further investigation.
At a New York reparations hearing, activists urged cash compensation for Black residents, with some callers demanding $800,000 per person; the NY State Community Commission on Reparations Remedies is weighing eligibility criteria— including lineage-based approaches—alongside broader remedies as Hochul's 2023 legislation spurs the study of slavery's legacy.
France's National Assembly unanimously repealed the 1685 Code Noir, which treated enslaved people as property, in a rare bipartisanship move that ends a legal remnant of slavery; Macron said reparations should be considered but warned against false promises, and the debate underscored enduring inequalities in France's overseas territories tied to its colonial past.
France announced plans to repeal the 1685 Code Noir, the slavery-era law that remained on the books in some former colonies, as part of a broader effort to address colonial history and racial justice by modernizing its legal framework.
Ghana welcomed Pope Leo XIV’s apology for the Catholic Church’s historic role in slavery, calling it a moral step toward truth, healing and reparations; the encyclical Magnifica Humanitas—published in the pope’s first major teaching document and addressing AI—acknowledges past complicity, while Ghana pushes for reparative justice through UN-backed efforts to address the enduring impacts of slavery.