Key West will commemorate the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition with events on Sunday, Aug. 23 at William Weech American Legion, 803 Emma St., and at the Key West African Cemetery at Higgs Beach.
The international recognition commemorates the day, in August 1791, when a slave uprising in what is now Haiti marked the beginning of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade.
William Weech American Legion Post 168, 803 Emma St., will host an informal gathering
on Sunday, Aug. 23 from 12:30 to 2 p.m., including a panel discussion featuring Tara Roberts, a National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, who will read from her book “Written in the Waters.” Arida Wright, poet laureate of Key West, will read a poem, and professor Dinizulu Gene Tinnie will offer remarks, before filmmaker Rod Putnam introduces his documentary, “The Journey Home.” Attendees can then visit the Mel Fisher Maritime Museum to view the exhibits that were prompted by the museum’s marine archaeologists’ excavation and research of the slave ship Henrietta Marie, which wrecked off Key West in the 1700s.
On the evening of Aug. 23 at 6:30 p.m., the annual Remembrance Ceremony will take place at the Key West African Cemetery at Higgs Beach. Events are free and open to the public.
More information is available at 305-766-4922, 615-730-4906 or 305-904-7620.
