The annual International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition is celebrated on August 23 around the world. This year, with a conference and community discussion at the University of Maryland, the Nottingham Middle Passage Remembrance Project (NMPR) is sponsoring "Uncharted Waters: Dimensions of the TransAtlantic Slave Trade & Prince George's County, MD."  The conference and community conversation will focus on the history and ramifications of the transatlantic human trade, specifically in Prince George's County.

Most enslaved humans who arrived in Maryland, including Kunta Kinte, were transported as cargo to Annapolis. Kinte arrived on the Lord Ligonier in 1767.

However, the NMPRP recently retrieved evidence from the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database and other sources that document twelve human-trading vessels that docked at Nottingham, Selby's Landing, and Digges' Landing in southern Prince George's County, Maryland between 1751 and 1771. The ship's "cargo" included more than 2,000 humans; however, the Atlantic Ocean became the grave for more than 307 men, women, and children who boarded those ships and left Africa alive.

NMPRP is part of the Middle Passage Ceremonies and Port Markers Project (MPCPMP). Since 2011, MPCPMP has been honoring the two million captive Africans who perished during the transatlantic crossing known as the Middle Passage and the ten million who survived to build the Americas. MPCPMP places markers and holds remembrance ceremonies at all ports of entry for Africans during the 350 years of the transatlantic human trade.

The Maryland conference will feature more than 16 diverse discussions and community conversations, as well as a continental breakfast, plated lunch, and reception hors d'oeuvres. "UNESCO designated August 23 to memorialize the transatlantic human trade, and these findings give Prince George's County, the state of Maryland, and the Metro Washington area another reason to join the world in observing and reflecting on the TransAtlantic Human Trade," added researcher and organizer of the one-day conference, Janis Hagey.

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College Park, MD
Sankofa IMPACT
“Unchartered Waters:  Dimensions of the
TransAtlantic Slave Trade and  Prince George’s County,
Maryland – Conference and Community Conversation”
University of Maryland
Stamps Student Union
3972 Campus Drive
Sat, Aug 23