Ceremony of Remembrance - 6th May 2007

Cape Town, April 26 2007 - Iziko Museums of Cape Town, in collaboration with the national Department of Arts and Culture and St George's Cathedral, will host a Ceremony of Remembrance on 6 May at St George's Cathedral (Wale Street, Cape Town) at 16h00, to commemorate the abolition of the slave trade in the British Empire in 1807.

Dr Allan Boesak will speak on the subject of the abolition, as well as the relevance of slavery to contemporary human rights issues.

Participants in the commemoration will also attend a walkabout of the nearby Iziko Slave Lodge Museum, where thousands of slaves lived and died between the late 17th and early 19th centuries. The Slave Lodge hosts a Memory Centre that evocatively describes the slaves' passage to the Cape, and memorialises the names of the slaves, many of whom were the progenitors of South African families. We encourage the public to visit this site to deepen their understanding of the legacy of slavery in South Africa, and to remember the millions of African and Asian people who were bought and sold in the name of economic progress and 'civilisation' not so long ago.

For information about the event, email Vivienne Carelse at publicprogs@iziko.org.za or Tel. 021 481 3814.

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