August 23rd is the day marked by UNESCO to commemorate the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade. On March 2, 1807, the U.S. Congress approved an act to abolish the importation of slaves effective January 1, 1808. Thus, this year marks the 200th anniversary of that event.
Here are a number of useful resources available related to the anniversary celebration:
- The Global Slavery Rememberance website
- The U.S.National Commission Rememberance website
- UNESCO's Slave Trade Archives
- The Breaking the Silence project website. The project was created to help educators break the silence about the slave trade.
- ASPNet Breaking the Silence, a website created for the Associated Schools Project Network to facilitate teaching about the slave trade in those schools.