Exactly 180 years ago today, descendants of the Africans brought to these shores rejoiced and sounded the trumpets and beat the drums of freedom. That's because in 1838, the British Act of Abolition of Slavery took effect in Belize and other territories in the Anglo-Caribbean. Today the UBAD Foundation is holding several events on their 5th annual commemoration of this day of Emancipation in Belize. We took a look back at a bit of history as it relates to African heritage in Belize and spoke to UBAD's guest of honour for this year's Emancipation Day.
Slave Bunks and Slave Auctions, more than 200 years ago these and other inhumane practices were imported to Belize as a result of the growing logwood industry in old British Honduras. And with it came elements of the vibrant African culture
That today are reflected in society and on the faces of former slaves' great great-great grandchildren.
But although history has painted our colourful present, it did so with the blood of our past. For this reason the UBAD foundation has taken it upon themselves to remember it.
The event began last night with a mass and drum call at the Queen Street Baptist Church and continued this morning with the releasing of petals on the deck at Marine Parade; this in honour of those who perished during the perilous voyage of the transatlantic slave trade.
Taking part on the events is Haitian professor, historian and author Bayyinah Bellos who is in country as the honoured guest for this year's Emancipation Day in Belize.
She told us why it remains critical today to remember our wretched history or as she calls, using the more gender inclusive term, our "our-stry".
Bayyinah Bellos - Guest Speaker for Emancipation Day
"There is no part of our-stry that we need to be neither proud nor ashamed of but we must know it. So 400 years into a horrific, horrendous, veracious slavery system, established by the Euro-Christians is an important part to us today to a degree but it's even more important to understand that as Africans, we have over 30,000 thousand years of our history behind us and so 400 years is like a moment within a 30,000 year our-stry span but it's an important moment to understand because it had made us what we are today."
"It's not remembering, it's about knowing. You have to know what happened if you want to determine what will happen. So it is vital for any people, it doesn't have to be, we don't even need to talk about Haitians or Belizeans or anyone else because any people who do know what has brought them to here is bound to repeat the same mistakes."
Only through knowing and acknowledging, according to Bellos, will descendants of African slaves be able to break the chains that bind their minds and continue to make them a product of their own past.
Hence the reason for this year's Emancipation Day theme- "Free Your Mind!"
As part of the commemoration of Emancipation Day in Belize, Bayyinah Bello will be giving a speech at the Gateway Youth Center in Belize City this evening.
Email
Print