Django Unchained (2012) 1

Neither today’s non-holiday nor the accompanying “funny” book are pleasant topics.

Slavery Remembrance Day – or, International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition – is observed on August 23 worldwide. Today has been chosen by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to remember the transatlantic slave trade.

Django Unchained (2012) 1

Today is a day to commemorate the over 15 million men, women and children uprooted from Africa to be abused as slaves in a practice that lasted over 400 years. The slave trade began in the 15^th century with the Portuguese as the first slave traders. Slaves were supplied to America from Africa and paid for by Europe.

Slaves first arrived in what would become the 13 colonies in 1619 in Jamestown, VA.

The first Slavery Remembrance Day was celebrated in Haiti in 1998.

August 23 was chosen due to its importance in deposing the trade. On August 22 to August 23, 1791, the first major slave uprising during the transatlantic slave trade happened in Saint Domingue in modern-day Haiti.

Dubbed the Haitian Revolution, it became a 13-year struggle lasting until 1804 when the natives wrested control of their island from French colonists.

America’s slave trade would not end until 1865 with the War Between the States.

Director Quentin Tarantino turned his eye to the old west in 2012 with Django Unchained. His Oscar winning movie focused on escaped slave and title character played by Jamie Foxx.

Django and bounty hunter cum savior Dr. King Schultz would spend the remainder of the movie searching for Django’s still enslaved wife.

Django Unchained would earn five Golden Globe Award nominations, but would go on to earn the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.

The movie would earn $425 million on a $100 million budget and be Tarantino’s highest grossing movie to date.

DC’s seven-issue comic book adaptation was released to compliment the film, running through September of the following year.

Slavery continues to this day with an estimated 40 million people affected worldwide. Modern slavery is most prevalent in Africa, Asia and the Pacific.