The Abolition Of Slave Trade

Fr. John Damian Adizie, International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition is an official observance established to commemorate the tragedy of the transatlantic slave trade and honor those who fought against it. It is a day of freedom and advocacy for liberation from all forms of slavery. A slave is defined as a person held in bondage, wholly subject to another’s will, with no freedom of action. The slave trade refers to the historic commercial enterprise of capturing, buying, and selling human beings as property. The most devastating form was the transatlantic slave trade, forcibly transporting between 10 million and 13 million Africans to the Americas between the 16th and 19th centuries. The abolition of the slave trade was a multi-decade international movement in the late 18th and 19th centuries, including key milestones like Denmark’s ban in 1802, Britain’s Abolition of the Slave Trade Act of 1807, and the U.S. prohibition in 1808. August 23rd was designated as the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition, established by UNESCO to honor victims and fighters, marking the 1791 uprising in Saint-Domingue (now Haiti). Biblical references, such as John 8:34-35 and Luke 4:18-19, define slavery as sin and describe Jesus Christ’s mission to liberate captives. Paul’s letter to the Galatians (3:26-29) declares all believers free in Christ, affirming that truth brings freedom (John 8:32).