Enslaved: The Lost History of the Transatlantic Slave Trade
In-person discussion of Enslaved: Episode 2: “Rationalization”
4 October 2022, 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. EDT
The United Nations Department of Global Communications organized a film screening - at United Nations Headquarters in New York on 4 October 2022 - of the second episode of the six-part series “Enslaved: The Lost History of the Transatlantic Slave Trade”. The episode, entitled “Rationalization”, follows the journey of enslaved Africans and was shot on location in Ghana, Spain and the United Kingdom. It examines how the brutal 400-year transatlantic trade in enslaved Africans was justified at the time and how the ideology of racism started. This event was organized by the United Nations Outreach Programme on the Transatlantic Slave Trade and Slavery, in the context of the International Decade for People of African Descent (2015-2024), and in collaboration with the Most Influential People of African Descent (MIPAD). It was made possible with support from Associate Producers Ltd., Cornelia Street Productions and Fremantle.
Opening remarks were delivered by Maher Nasser, Director of the Department of Global Communications’ Outreach Division, and Kamil Olufowobi, CEO of the Most Influential People of African Descent (MIPAD). A post-screening discussion with award-winning writer Afua Hirsch was moderated by Maher Nasser.
From March through August 2021, the Outreach Programme, together with the International Decade for People of African Descent, and with the support of Fremantle/ and Associated Producers Ltd./Cornelia Street Productions, hosted screenings and discussions of the six-part series Enslaved: The Lost History of the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
of Enslaved: Episode 1: “Cultures Left Behind”
24 March 2021, 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. EDT
This discussion examines the series and the first episode, “Cultures left behind”. Panellists include: Simcha Jacobovici, series director;Afua Hirsch, journalist and documentary maker; and Kramer Wimberly, Lead Diver, Diving With A Purpose.
Online Discussion of Enslaved: Episode 2: “Rationalization”
28 April 2021, 12:00 p.m. to 1:20 p.m. EDT
This episode examines how the brutal transatlantic slave trade was rationalized and justified. Panellists include Simcha Jacobovici, series director; Kramer Wimberley, Lead Diver, Diving With A Purpose; and Wilhelmina Donkoh, a professor of history at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana.
of Enslaved: “Episode 3 – “Follow the Money”
26 May 2021, 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. EDT
This episode examines the economics of the slave trade. Panellists include: Ric Bienstock, series producer; James Walvin, Professor Emeritus of History, University of York; Leo Balai, historian; and Kramer Wimberley, Lead Diver, Diving with a Purpose.
of Enslaved: “Episode 4: New World Cultures”
11 June 2021, 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. EDT
This episode reveals how those enslaved have impacted our global culture – from mathematical fractals, to food, to music. Panellists include: Kramer Wimberley, Lead Diver, Diving with a Purpose; Joe’l Billingsley, Associate Professor of Instructional Design and Development at University of South Alabama; Ron Eglash, Professor of information at University of Michigan; Maria Suarez Toro, academic and coordinator of the Community Center Diving Ambassadors of the South Caribbean Sea; Marianita Harvey Chavarria, head of the project El Mar y sus Beneficios at the University of Costa Rica and Kevin Rodriguez Brown, youth diver.
of Enslaved: “Episode 5: Resistance".
29 July 2021, 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. EDT
This episode explores how Africans resisted enslavement and risked their lives to help each other escape. The episode includes an examination of the Underground Railroad.
Panelists include: Peter Flegel, Executive Director of the Department of Canadian Heritage; Yarin Niski, Executive Director of the Enslaved series; Simcha Jacobovici, Enslaved series director; Saladin Allah, a descendant of a survivor who found freedom in Canada; Wilhelmina Donkoh, a professor of history at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology; John Polasek, an expert on sunken slave ships in the Great Lakes; Reverend Kelley, Vicar of St. John’s Episcopal Church in Ohio City; and Kramer Wimberley, lead dive instructor with Diving With A Purpose.
of Enslaved: “Episode 6: Abolition”
26 August 2021, 12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. EDT
This episode explores the circumstances that brought the transatlantic slave trade to an end.
Panelists include: Ric Bienstock, Executive Producer of the Enslaved series; Christopher Bonner, Associate Professor of History, University of Maryland, College Park; Michael Moore, founding president and CEO of the International African American Museum in Charleston, South Carolina; Kramer Wimberley, lead dive instructor with Diving With A Purpose; and Alannah Vellacott, marine ecologist and diver with Diving With A Purpose.