The year 2013 marks the 150th anniversary of both the Emancipation Proclamation and the end of slavery in the Dutch colonies. The John Adams Institute is partnering with the Stichting Herdenking Slavernijverleden to commemorate this dual landmark with two events:
– On June 30th, Emily Raboteau, author of Searching for Zion, gave a talk about the influence of slavery on reggae music at the symposium Cultural Trauma Transatlantic Slavery in Perspective.
– On July 1st, Elizabeth Alexander, poet and chair of the African American Studies Department at Yale University, who read her poem “Praise Song for the Day” at Barack Obama’s inauguration in 2008, recited a poem at the official commemoration at the slavery monument in the Oosterpark Amsterdam.
