Historic Sotterley, as a UNESCO Slave
Route Site of Memory, will participate in the global launch of the UNESCO
publication entitled “Legacies of Slavery: A Resource Book for Managers of
Sites and Itineraries of Memory” on
Tuesday, May 21, 2019. The launch of this Resource book will
be organized the same day and simultaneously in different countries of the
world, in collaboration with our partners. On this occasion, the online version
of “Legacies of Slavery” will be made available in three languages (English,
French and Spanish) in free access on the UNESCO website.
This Resource
book is the fruit of the intensive work that was achieved by UNESCO’s Slave
Route Project: Resistance, Liberty, Heritage, in order to develop a tool that
can be used by professionals involved in the safeguarding and promotion of
sites related to the slave trade and slavery. Designed in two parts, it
contains conceptual and practical information for managers of sites of memory.
It also provides a comparative analysis of best experiences and practices
across regions, through 40 examples of sites, itineraries and museums
implementing particular strategies for the preservation, promotion and interpretation
of heritage related to slavery. Moreover, it offers advice and recommendations
for the development of memory tourism, responding to the ethical exigencies of
this sensitive subject.
This event also
coincides with the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and
Development. It will be an opportunity to engage in a reflection on the stakes
of the preservation of the memory of slavery, and mostly to question how this
history can be integrated on memory policies.
Historic
Sotterley will be participating with the following activities for this global
launch:
10:00 a.m. - Organizational
announcement of Sotterley’s UNESCO Slave Route Site
of Memory designation and purpose for this event.
10:30 a.m. to
noon - Exhibition: Re-discovering
Historic Sotterley’s Land, Lives, and Labor
exhibit and Slave Cabin
exhibit.
1:00 p.m. - Our
Stories: A presentation and training of the
interpretation of Sotterley’s manor house through diverse perspectives.
2:30 p.m. 4:00
pm. - Public Roundtable:
Front-line Sotterley, staff, volunteers, and leadership discuss the duty to
remember and the right to history: issues and challenges. Public audience
input and comment.