[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 71 (Wednesday, May 2, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E932-E933]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      COMMEMORATING THE 200TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE ABOLITION OF THE 
                       TRANSATLANTIC SLAVE TRADE

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                             HON. AL GREEN

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                          Tuesday, May 1, 2007

  Mr. AL GREEN of Texas. Madam Speaker, I am proud to be a cosponsor of 
H. Res. 272, a resolution commemorating the 200th anniversary of the 
abolition of the transatlantic slave trade. The transatlantic slave 
trade was a crime against the humanity of Africans, mostly from 
Western, Central, and Eastern Africa, who were kidnapped and sent to 
the United States and the colonies that became the United States which 
occurred between the 15th and late 19th centuries. Millions of Africans 
were literally kidnapped and shipped like chattels to the Americas. In 
the process many were physically abused and raped. Many perished as a 
result of torture, malnutrition, disease and resistance in transit. 
Those who survived were forced into slavery. Slavery in the United 
States during and after British colonial rule included the sale and 
acquisition of Africans as chattel property in interstate and 
intrastate commerce.
  Humans of African origin here in the United States were robbed of 
their homes, family, language, culture, religion, and above all their 
freedom. The transatlantic slave trade is characterized as the largest 
forced migration in world history. What made the institution of slavery 
in the United States unique was that this particular form of slavery 
was in fact race based with `black' or `Negro' becoming synonymous with 
the word `slave'. Slaves were

[[Page E933]]

prevented by law from learning to read and marriage between two slaves 
was not recognized by the state. It is argued that the effects of 
slavery have affected African-Americans and American society to this 
very day.
  In 1807, Britain became the first European nation to ban the slave 
trade. France, Holland, and the United States soon thereafter passed 
legislation banning the trade. However, since Spain and Portugal did 
not follow this example, African slaves continued to be sent to 
countries in South America until near the end of the 19th century. Even 
with the end of the slave trade slavery would still be legal across a 
large part of the United States until the end of the Civil War.
  I am compelled to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the abolition 
of the transatlantic slave trade because we as a country cannot ever 
forget this legalized horror and crime against humanity that was 
allowed to exist in our Nation. A horror that made our American union a 
less perfect one than it was initially set out to be. Mr. Speaker, I 
urge my colleagues to support and commemorate the 200th anniversary of 
the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade.

                          ____________________