Multiple exhibitions commemorate end of slave trade
It’s a subject that figures prominently in the historical observations of many Caribbean nations but in Belize the issue of slavery is often glossed over by Belizeans of all races. That failure to confront our past, however, may be changing … as News Five’s Marion Ali reports from the Belize City House of Culture.
Marion Ali, Reporting
The displays fall under the universal theme “Free Again” and coincide with the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. They include the Free Again exhibit, a display of African Influence in Art, the unveiling of a commemorative postage stamp, and the launch of “Family and People All Well”, a first person account of life in the mahogany and logwood industries in 1789. President of the National Institute of Culture and History, Yasser Musa, says while the events relate to the era of the slave trade, de facto slavery has yet to be eradicated.
Yasser Musa, President, NICH
“Our reason for putting forward this stamp is to show a sign of respect for this important part of our heritage and to show that we will never forget and it cannot ever be forgotten—the atrocities, the holocaust of slavery—and because it continues today. When we talk about child labour, human trafficking, all of these things are pervasive in our world today.”
These displays make up the presentation called African Influence in Art. The wide-ranging exhibit deals with depictions of all aspects of the slave trade using carvings, paintings, and video images.
Meanwhile, Roy Murray’s journal, “Family and People All Well” got rave reviews from Director of the Belize Archives and Records Service, Charles Gibson.
Charles Gibson, Director of Belize Archives and Records Service
“Apart from acquiring valuable information on the condition of slavery in Belize Roy Murray was also able to glean the day-to-day description of logwood processes during this era. This created a major picturesque backdrop. This book to my mind is extremely important because what it does, particularly for the records we have at the Belize archives and Records Service that deals with slavery, it sort of supplements and complements what we have.”
Free Again is a series of events that researcher Ritamae Hyde feels should be experienced not just by people of African origin.
Ritamae Hyde, Researcher, Ins. Soc. & Cultural Research
“We are talking about a period of over 400 years and its impact on not only black people or people of African descent but the entire world, world history, humanity. We cannot over-exaggerate the impact. So this isn’t a part of just my history or your history, or somebody else’s history; its all of our history. And we should know our history and we should know that contrary to popular opinion, that black people, African people, are people of a great civilization. So I think when we realize and when we learn these things we can end all of the stereotypes, the xenophobia and all of these things.
The journal, Family and People All Well is available for sale at bookstores around the country for twenty-five dollars a copy, while the exhibition continues for the next two months at the House of Culture before travelling to the Banquitas House of Culture in Orange Walk Town for a month. Reporting for News Five, I’m Marion Ali.
Tonight NICH will also introduce the last in its series of events. This one is entitled “Ann in Kenya” and highlights a recent trip that Ann-Marie Williams made to Nairobi.
