EVENT DETAILS:
International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade & Abolition
The International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition is an international day celebrated on August 23 of each year, designated by UNESCO to memorialize the transatlantic slave trade.
That date was chosen by adopting resolution 29 C/40 by the Organization's General Conference at its 29th session. Circular CL/3494 of July 29, 1998, from the Director-General invited Ministers of Culture to promote the day.
The date is significant because, during the night of August 22 to August 23, 1791, on the island of Saint Domingue (now known as Haiti), an uprising began which set forth events that were a significant factor in the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade.