One of the world’s leading scholars in African and African-American Studies will give a keynote lecture in Aberdeen tonight on the legacies of the Atlantic slave trade.
Between 1600 and 1800, around 12 million men, women and children were transported from Africa to produce crops on plantations in America and the Caribbean. Millions suffered and died under conditions of unimaginable humiliation and brutality.
But following the work of anti-slavery campaigners in the UK – including Aberdeen philosopher James Beattie and Fraserburgh-born clergyman James Ramsay – the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act was passed on March 25, 1807.
A series of events have already been held in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire this year to mark the 200th anniversary of the Act, which saw the beginning of the end of legal slavery of Africans in British colonies.
Tonight, Professor Emmanuel Akyeampong, from Harvard University, will reflect on the legacy of the slave trade at a symposium being held at the University of Aberdeen.
Professor Akyeampong is Professor of History of African and African American Studies at Harvard University in the USA. The title of his lecture is ''The Legacies of Slavery and the Slave Trade: Africa and its Diaspora in the 21st Century''
"The lecture will reflect on how this year has witnessed both the commemoration of the bicentenary of the abolition of the African export slave trade and Ghana's 50th independence anniversary, "said Professor Akyeampong, who is also President of the African Public Broadcasting Foundation.
His talk will highlight the complex historic links between abolition, enforcing abolition and the carving out of spheres of European influence in Africa.
Added Professor Akyeampong, "I'll be examining the genesis of the African export slave trade and its main contours, interrogating the emergence of the plantation complex and the relationship between slavery and race. The lecture will also briefly review abolition, Britain's role, African responses, and the impact of abolition in Africa."
The symposium will include additional contributions from Professor Andrew Walls, a leading authority on African Christianity, and noted North-east historian, Professor Roy Bridges.
The event has been organised by a Bicentenary committee comprising representatives from Aberdeen City Council, Aberdeenshire Council, the University of Aberdeen, the Robert Gordon University, and the African and African-Caribbean community.
Dr Philip Muinde, chair of the Bicentenary Planning committee, said, "We're absolutely thrilled and delighted to have such an esteemed historian and speaker as Professor Akyeampong visit Aberdeen. This symposium is the first of a series of high profile conferences the committee is planning for this year, and we would encourage as many people as possible to spare the time to attend and reflect on the legacy of the African slave trade."
The Abolition of the Slave Trade symposium will take place at 7pm on Monday, May 28 at King's College Conference Centre. All are welcome.