Mass Movement and Recognition

Globally cultural

Photo by Oladimeji Odunsi on Unsplash

Do you know October is Black Achievement Month in the Netherlands and that:

• It recognizes Black culture and contributions with events;

• It was one of the last European countries to abolish slavery;

• It transported enslaved Africans to plantations in the Caribbean and Suriname.;

• It abolished the Atlantic slave trade in 1814, but slavery continued in the Dutch colonies until 1863;

• The Dutch government officially marked the 1863 abolition of slavery with a memorial year from July 1, 2023, to July 1, 2024; and

• Initial Black migration to the Netherlands began as early as the 17th century after Portuguese forces expelled the Dutch from Brazil. A second wave arrived in the 1970s onwards, and recent migrants are political refugees or escapees of regional conflicts.

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The United Kingdom recognizes October as Black History Month where there is evidence that:

• Africans emigrated as early as the 3rd century AD;

• The African trumpeter, John Blanke, played Westminster Tournament (1511);

• Jacques Francis became the first African to testify in an English court (1546);

• Black Americans who fought for the Crown during the American Revolutionary War immigrated (1775 – 1783);

• Black soldiers and seamen settled after the Napoleonic Wars (1792 – 1815);

• It passed The Slavery Abolition Act (1833);

• John Archer became the first Black mayor of London (1913);

• An influx of people from the Caribbean and West Africa joined the British military (1939 – 1945);

• The Windrush Generation moved to the UK from Caribbean Commonwealth countries by invitation of the British government to help with post-war reconstruction. (1948 – 1973);

• It passed The Race Relations Act and the Commission for Racial Equality is established (1976);

• The first black members of parliament were elected (1987);

• It passed The Asylum and Immigration Appeals Act (1993);

• It passed The Race Relations Amendment Act requiring all public services to actively promote racial equality (2000);

• It passed The Racial and Religious Hatred Act making it illegal to stir up hatred based on race or religion (2006); and

• The Windrush Scandal broke and it became evident that Black immigrants were wrongly detained, denied legal rights, threatened with deportation, and at least 83 were wrongly deported by the Home Office (2018).