British MP Calls For Emancipation Day Holiday
Noting that “in many of Britain’s former colonies” Emancipation Day is celebrated with a “holiday or a day of cultural activities,” British MP Claudia Webbe said that it is ”long overdue that Britain joins this global trend, and commemorates August 1 as a bank holiday.”
In an article titled ‘Emancipation Day, August 1, should be an official British bank holiday,’ Ms Webbe — the Independent MP for Leicester East – said, “We are approaching a monumental day in British and world history, yet one which is barely recognised or commemorated in Britain. On August 1 1834, decades of anti-slavery campaigning culminated in the passage of the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833.
“In many of Britain’s former colonies this date is celebrated as Emancipation Day with either a bank holiday or a day of cultural activities. Antigua and Barbuda, Anguilla, the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, Canada, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines all have an official commemoration of Emancipation Day.
“It is long overdue that Britain joins this global trend, and commemorates August 1 as a bank holiday.
“This is a proud history that must be commemorated and celebrated. The stories of brave fighters for emancipation, such as Mary Prince, an enslaved Bermudian who escaped from her owners shortly after her arrival in London in 1828, must be rescued from the anonymity of history.
“Rebellions against slavery, in Barbados in 1816, Demerara [later a part of British Guiana] in 1823 and Jamaica in 1831-32 forced Parliament toward granting emancipation. By 1824 there were more than 200 branches of the Anti-Slavery Society in Britain.
“In August 1833, the Slave Emancipation Act was passed, giving all slaves in the British empire their freedom, albeit after a set period of years. Plantation owners received compensation for the “loss of their slaves” in the form of a government grant set at £20,000,000. In contrast, enslaved people received no compensation and continued to face considerable hardship.
“Present-day injustices are inseparable from the historical origins of racism and oppression. In order to overcome them, we must challenge how we remember our past. It is therefore vital that Emancipation Day finally receives the national commemoration that it deserves with a bank holiday on August 1.”
You can read the full article here.
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