This is a week to celebrate some triumphs in the long struggle for Universal Human Rights, but also a time to recognize the evil and cruelty of the past, and to rip off the masks of all of Evil’s present-day guises. And for me, it’s a week of remembrance for two of my personal heroes: William Wilberforce and Alice Paul.
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August 23 –International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade & its Abolition
On the night of 22 to 23 August 1791, in Saint Domingue (now the Republic of Haiti), the uprising began that would play a crucial role in the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade. It is against this background that the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition is commemorated each year. This International Day is intended to inscribe the tragedy of the slave trade in the memory of all peoples. – UNESCO
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August 24 – William Wilberforce Day
“Sir, the nature and all the circumstances of this trade are now laid open to us; we can no longer plead ignorance, we can not evade it; it is now an object placed before us, we can not pass it; we may spurn it, we may kick it out of our way, but we can not turn aside so as to avoid seeing it; for it is brought directly before our eyes that this House must decide, and must justify to all the world, and to their own consciences, the rectitude of the grounds and principles of their decision.”
“You may choose to look the other way but you can never say again that you did not know.”
–William Wilberforce, head of the English parliamentary campaign to abolish the slave trade. Small in stature, but with a fine speaking voice and a sharp wit, he tirelessly advocated for ending the slave trade, in spite of his numerous health problems, from 1789 until the passage of Abolition of the Slave Trade bill in 1807. William Wilberforce Day honors his persistence.
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August 26 – U.S. Women’s Equality Day: In 1920, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was officially certified as ratified. “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.”
“To me, it was shocking that a government of men could look with such extreme contempt on a movement that was asking nothing except such a simple thing as the right to vote.”
“I think if we get freedom for women, then they are probably going to do a lot of things that I wish they wouldn't do. But it seems to me that it isn't our business to say what they should do with it. It is our business to see that they get it.”
–Alice Paul, chief strategist for the passage and ratification of the 19th Amendment, and author of the Equal Rights Amendment. The ERA was first introduced in Congress in 1923, then reintroduced in every session thereafter until it finally passed both houses in 1972 – in 1982, the ERA was stopped just three states short of ratification in very close votes. From 1985 to 1992, it was reintroduced in each session of Congress, but never got out of committee.