ASALH’s Abolition Day Calls For Reparations Now

Despite a smaller-than-expected turnout, this year’s Abolition Commemoration Day Program delivered a powerful message of remembrance, education, and action as community leaders, scholars, elected officials, and activists gathered under the theme, “A Century of Black History Commemorations.” Organized by the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), the annual observance reflected on the enduring legacy of abolition while challenging attendees to continue the unfinished work of achieving freedom, equity, and justice.

Bridget Smith, Program Chair and emcee for the event, acknowledged that attendance fell short of expectations but expressed gratitude that ASALH was once again able to host the annual commemoration. “I am grateful that everyone was able to come out to mark the occasion and share their stories and their quest in this abolition movement, our education for our freedom,” Smith said in an interview following the program. “I just hope everyone is in community so we can all work together towards the goals that we need to sustain ourselves as an African Diaspora.”

Smith said she hopes the day’s presentations provided an educational experience for those in attendance and inspired at least one person to become more actively engaged in advancing the movement.

Among the featured speakers was Marc Morial, President and CEO of the National Urban League, who highlighted Brooklyn’s critical role in the Underground Railroad. He noted that the borough’s proximity to the East River docks, coupled with its network of abolitionist churches, made it an important center of resistance against slavery.

Morial also announced that the nation’s first Urban Civil Rights Museum is scheduled to open in Harlem on Saturday, November 14, further expanding opportunities to preserve and share the history of the modern civil rights movement.

Assemblywoman Stefani Zinerman praised ASALH for its more than century-long commitment to preserving and promoting Black history. “It is an honor to stand with an organization that has spent more than a century ensuring that Black history is studied, preserved, and shared, not as a collection of dates and names, but as a blueprint for understanding who we are and where we must go,” she said.

Zinerman reminded the audience that abolition represented the beginning, not the end, of the struggle for justice. “Today is not simply about commemorating the end of slavery. It is about recommitting ourselves to the unfinished work of freedom,” she said. “When New York abolished slavery in 1827, freedom did not suddenly arrive. The chains were broken, but the barriers remained. The struggle simply changed. Abolition was never an ending. It was a beginning. A beginning that calls every generation to ask: What does freedom require of us now?”

The Assemblywoman also highlighted ongoing efforts throughout New York State and New York City to examine reparations and racial equity, emphasizing that meaningful progress requires an honest reckoning with history. “That work matters because we cannot repair what we refuse to acknowledge,” Zinerman stated. “But reparations are bigger than compensation. Reparations are about repair: repairing wealth, opportunity, neighborhoods, institutions, history, and the ability of Black communities to determine their own future.”

She argued that abolition and reparations must remain interconnected conversations.
“If we are serious about reparations, we must also protect Black homeownership, invest in Black-led institutions, preserve Black history, expand Black land ownership, strengthen community land trusts, and build community wealth,” she said.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and creator of The 1619 Project, Nikole Hannah-Jones, delivered one of the afternoon’s most compelling addresses, offering a historical perspective on emancipation while examining the continuing struggle for racial justice.

She discussed both the New York City and New York State reparations commissions, noting that efforts have often been met with resistance from those who argue that descendants of enslaved people are seeking benefits they do not deserve.

While acknowledging the significance of legal emancipation, Hannah-Jones urged attendees to confront the broader question of whether true emancipation has ever been achieved. “We must reckon with the fact that the afterlives of slavery have created the vastly unequal society that we see here in New York, here in the United States,” she said. “Our unwillingness to confront the truth of our history and its consequences, to make repairs for these crimes against humanity that existed not in some distant South but right here in the city and state, continues to shape our present.”

Hannah-Jones also spoke forcefully against ongoing efforts to erase Black history from classrooms and public discourse. “We stand here in honor of our ancestors who suffered and in commemoration of the emancipation that moved us closer to society,” she said.

Closing with a call to action that drew sustained applause, the Bed-Stuy-based journalist urged those gathered to move beyond remembrance and commit themselves to transformative change. “Let us not be content with contemplation or flowery words and affirmations,” Hannah-Jones charged. “We must be accountable to the present and commit to building a future of actual equity, one that requires deeds, actual change, as well as real and material action.”

Although attendance may have been modest, the program’s message was unmistakable: abolition is not merely a historical milestone but an ongoing call to confront injustice, preserve Black history, pursue reparative justice, and build a future grounded in equity for generations to come.

More Caribbean News