Ottawa Conference on Bicentenary of Slave Trade Abolition

The University of Ottawa is holding a commemoration of the 200th Anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade on March 14-16.

The international conference, entitled Routes to Freedom: Reflections on the Bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade, features academics, historians, political economists, and international writers who will speak on the historic realities of the transatlantic slave trade and its legacy.

Registration deadline is March 7, 2008.

Earlier Library Boy posts about the slave trade include:

• UK Bicentennial of Abolition of the Slave Trade - But Canada Was First! (March 20, 2007): "The year 2007 marks the 200th anniversary of the British legislation that banned the transatlantic trade in slaves. The Abolition of the Slave Trade Act was passed in the Westminster Parliament on 25 March 1807 (...) What is not well known, even in Canada, is that one of the first moves towards the abolition of the slave trade took place right here. The colony of Upper Canada, now the province of Ontario, was the pioneer in this movement. In 1793, colonial Governor John Graves Simcoe, the founder of York (later to become Toronto), passed An Act to prevent the further introduction of slaves, and to limit the Term of Contracts for servitude within this Province (...) The law freed slaves aged 25 and over and made it illegal to bring slaves into Upper Canada, which became a safe haven for runaway slaves. Simcoe’s law also made Upper Canada the first jurisdiction in the British Empire to move toward the abolition of slavery."
• More on Bicentennial of the Abolition of the Slave Trade (March 26, 2007): "The OpenDemocracy website has an interesting commentary on the history of the abolition struggle and on the repercussions of the transatlantic slave trade. It is entitled Slaves and slavery, 1807-2007: the past in the present, by Marika Sherwood, researcher at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies."
• Quiz on History of Slavery (March 30, 2007): "This week's Friday Brain-teaser from Xrefer on Peter Scott's Library Blog is about the history of slavery (...) Xrefer is a major provider of online reference resources."
• Select Bibliography on the Transatlantic Slave Trade (August 30, 2007): "To mark the 200th anniversary of the passing of a law in the UK Parliament that banned the transatlantic slave trade, the National Library of Jamaica has published a select bibliography on the topic... The bibliography includes sections on books and abolitionist pamphlets; periodical articles; newspaper references; illustrations; manuscripts; prints; and audio-visual materials."