Ark of Return: UN erects memorial to victims of transatlantic slave trade

25 March 2015

The bravery of millions of victims of the transatlantic slave trade, who suffered unspeakable injustice and finally rose up to end the oppressive practice, was permanently enshrined today as the United Nations unveiled a memorial at its New York headquarters, on the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Entitled the Ark of Return, and designed by American architect Rodney Leon, of Haitian descent, the memorial aims to underscore the tragic legacy of the slave trade, which for over four centuries abused and robbed 15 million Africans of their human rights and dignity, and to inspire the world in the battle against modern forms of slavery, such as forced labour and human trafficking.

The bravery of millions of victims of the transatlantic slave trade, who suffered unspeakable injustice and finally rose up to end the oppressive practice, was permanently enshrined today as the United Nations unveiled a memorial at its New York headquarters, on the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Entitled the Ark of Return, and designed by American architect Rodney Leon, of Haitian descent, the memorial aims to underscore the tragic legacy of the slave trade, which for over four centuries abused and robbed 15 million Africans of their human rights and dignity, and to inspire the world in the battle against modern forms of slavery, such as forced labour and human trafficking.

General Assembly kicks off process to build memorial

In December 2007, the UN General Assembly agreed to establish a permanent memorial to the memory of the victims of the transatlantic slave trade on the grounds of UN headquarters in New York City. Above, then UN Ambassador Paulette Bethel of the Bahamas, addressing the Assembly on behalf of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), introduces the draft resolution that launched the process. The resolution was adopted without a vote. UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

Launch of global design competition

As financial backing for the memorial grew, in September 2011 the committee tasked with building the permanent memorial launched an international competition to design the monument, administered by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Members of the Permanent Memorial Committee and countries of CARICOM and of the African group who participated in the negotiations were “supremely confident that UNESCO will manage a transparent, inclusive and politically impartial selection process,” UN Ambassador Raymond Wolfe of Jamaica (second from left), the chair of the committee, told the press at a UN briefing. UN Photo/JC McIlwaine

And the winner is...

Two years after the competition was announced the UN revealed the winning design, selected from among 310 proposals from 83 countries, on 23 September 2013. The winning entry was entitled the Ark of Return by a Manhattan-based designer and architect of Haitian descent, Rodney Leon (left), who is also the architect of the African Burial Ground National Monument in lower Manhattan, where 15,000 people of African origin were buried over a period of 100 years, from the 1690s until 1794. Congratulating Mr. Leon, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the memorial would “serve as a reminder of the bravery of those slaves, abolitionists and unsung heroes who managed to rise up against an oppressive system, fight for their freedom and end the practice.”

Closing the funding gap - More countries join effort to finance memorial

The design was set but more financing was needed to construct the memorial, which was backed by voluntary contributions from Member States, complemented by funding from foundations and private individuals. At a high-level ceremony on the margins of the UN General Assembly, in September 2014, the representatives of six nations – The Netherlands, New Zealand, Qatar, Senegal, Jamaica and Spain – shown, above, with UNESCO chief Irina Bokova (fourth from left), added their financial support to that of over 70 countries that had already backed the memorial. The Permanent Memorial Committee appealed to others to join the group of contributors in order to bring the project to completion. UN/Bob Krasner

Permanent memorial arrives, assembly begins

Finally, on a cold February day in 2015, following years of work by architect Rodney Leon and his team to construct the monument, the stainless steel frame for the Ark of Return was rolled into place on the UN Visitor’s Plaza, and assembly of the permanent memorial began. Here, Mr. Leon discusses the project with manager Terrence Kehayas of Precision Stone. UN/Mary Ferreira

Team effort

Construction of the monument involved a complex cast of professionals including structural, mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineers, sculptors, fabricators of stone and steel, lighting designers and experts in water features, architect Leon told the UN Department of Public Information in an interview. Shown, construction workers mount a marble slab serving as a wall of the memorial. UN/Mary Ferreira

A spiritual place of return

The monument’s name, Ark of Return, was inspired by maps of the triangular slave trade (shown, above, in a detail of the structure) and by the story of a slave castle on Gorée Island in Senegal, where slaves were held in captivity before being shipped away, architect Leon told the UN News Service. A door at the castle was known ominously as the ‘door of no return.’ “We felt it would be a good counterpoint to establish a spiritual space of return, an ‘Ark of Return,’ a vessel where we can begin to create a counter-narrative and undo some of that experience,” he added.

UN Photo/Devra Berkowitz

Suffering the voyage

Inspired by research into the time of the slave trade, Mr. Leon included in the design depictions of actual slave ships showing cross-sections of vessels packed with as much “human cargo” as possible. “We felt that that experience was very much something that needed to be visually described,” he said, referring to the human forms, stacked horizontally in three levels, barely able to sit-up. “I think they lost at least 15 per cent or more of the ‘cargo’ on a typical slave journey,” the architect added. UN Photo/Devra Berkowitz

Spirit of the victims

A key element of the memorial is that of a deliberately androgynous human sculpture, called ‘the trinity figure,’ representing the human spirit and the spirit of the men, women and children of African descent whose deaths resulted from the Transatlantic Slave Trade, the architect explained. UN Photo/Devra Berkowitz

"Acknowledge the tragedy, consider the legacy, lest we forget”

The aim of the memorial is not only to document and remember the past but also to look beyond it and move forward into the future, the architect explained, allowing people to experience the tragedy and simultaneously to communicate and heal. Its three essential themes, carved into its walls - "Acknowledge the tragedy, consider the legacy, lest we forget” - represent with the past, present and future. A triangular waterfall, which is the aspect of “lest we forget,” extending out towards the front of the monument, is about cleansing, passing through the space, rejuvenation. It is about looking and thinking forward, he said. UN Photo/Devra Berkowitz

Place of pilgrimage

Architect Leon, shown at the unveiling ceremony on 25 March 2015 - the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade - said he hoped the monument would become both a place of pilgrimage for the public and a symbol for leaders visiting the UN, reminding them, as they deal with global issues on a daily basis, of mistakes made in the past, "lest we forget." UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe. Credit

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