International Slavery Remembrance Day

Essential Information

Type	Events and festivals
Location	National Maritime Museum Queen's House
Date and Times	Saturday 23 August 2025 \| 11am-5pm
Prices	Free

On 23 August 1791, enslaved people on the island of Saint Domingue (modern-day Haiti and the Dominican Republic) rose up against French colonial rule.

The uprising played a crucial role in the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade.

That's why, on 23 August each year, Royal Museums Greenwich commemorates International Slavery Remembrance Day and the long struggle for emancipation throughout the world.

2025 in focus

This year's programme focuses on themes of resistance, care and collective memory, while we bear witness to the resilience of the enslaved and their descendants.

Activities will be in conversation with the newly installed artwork, Jacqueline Bishop’s The Keeper of All The Secrets at the Queen’s House.

A delicate-looking tea service featuring teapot and matching cups. The central motif features a Black woman with a child on her back, handing an item to a bare-chested figure — Contemporary ceramic artwork *The Keeper of all the Secrets* has inspired this year's programme. Watch an interview with artist Jacqueline Bishop here

The day features workshops, screenings, sonic performances and more, and concludes with an emancipation ceremony at the River Thames where guests are invited to join in a collective act of remembrance.

Keep an eye on this page for more details about the 2025 event, and find more stories, resources and information below.

Keynote speaker: Dr Aleema Gray

Dr Aleema Gray is an award winning Jamaican-born curator, researcher and public historian based in London.

She was awarded the Yesu Persaud Scholarship for her PhD entitled Bun Babylon: a community-engaged history of Rastafari in Britain.

Aleema’s practice is driven by a concern for more historically contingent ways of understanding the present, especially in relation to notions of belonging, memory and contested heritage in the African and Caribbean diaspora. She was the Lead Curator for Beyond the Bassline: 500 years of Black British Music at the British Library and the founder of HOUSE OF DREAD, an anti-disciplinary heritage studio dedicated to the preservation and activation of African and Caribbean histories.

A procession from the National Maritime Museum to the River Thames during Slavery Remembrance Day

What is International Slavery Remembrance Day?

Between the 1400s and 1800s, 12-15 million men, women and children were forcibly transported from Africa to the Americas.

This day stands as a reminder of the bravery, courage, resilience and determination of enslaved African people who continuously fought for their freedom.

It is a time to remember that people fought and died to establish their own freedom and liberation from the tyranny of enslavement.

The day also raises the contemporary legacies of transatlantic slavery, which are manifested in the continued racism and prejudice against Black and Caribbean communities.

UNESCO selected the 23 August to mark the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition. 23 August was the day that self-liberated enslaved people on the island of Saint Domingue (today Haiti and the Dominican Republic) rose up against French colonial rule, and played a crucial role in the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade.