Worldwide Tour Of Rijksmuseum’s Exhibition On The History Of Slavery Kicks Off At United Nations

The Rijksmuseum, the Netherlands’ national museum of art and history, is sending a special version of its 2021 exhibition on slavery on a world tour, kicking it off in the visitors lobby of the United Nations’ headquarters in New York.

On display at the UN through March 30, the exhibition, Slavery. Ten True Stories of Dutch Colonial Slavery, focuses on slavery in Brazil, Suriname, the Caribbean, South Africa, Asia and the Netherlands from the 17th to the 19th centuries. According to the museum, it “presents ten true personal stories of people who were enslaved, people who profited from the system of slavery and people who raised their voices against it.”

In New York, these stories are presented around wooden foot stocks known as a “tronco,” a name derived from the Portuguese word for tree trunk. According to the museum, “several enslaved people at a time would be forced to have their ankles clamped in the (foot stocks’) holes to constrain them, to subject them to corporal punishment and to prevent them from escaping. This object symbolizes the suppression of more than one million people who were shipped in from around the world and forced to work, whether on plantations, as craftspeople, in mines, in transportation or on military expeditions.”

Describing the colonial era, which stretched from 1600 to 1900, the Rijksmuseum said, “under European rule, parts of the Americas, Africa and Asia were colonized or used as trading posts. Millions of women, men and children were enslaved and shipped from Africa and Asia to distant destinations. They, their children and the many generations that followed were subjected to a system of forced labor that dehumanized, objectified and often subjected them to violence on the basis of their skin color or religion. Colonial slavery was a legalized system in which people were reduced to tradable property. This form of slavery was abolished worldwide in the 19th century. Since then, successive international declarations have defined slavery as a crime against humanity.”

The New York exhibition is hosted by the United Nations as part of its outreach program on the transatlantic slave trade and slavery; the program’s goal is to raise awareness of this trade, its legacies and impact on the modern world. The exhibition also will feature talks on March 29 and 30 by speakers from the United States, the Caribbean and Europe who will discuss “the relationship between museums, colonial history, societies and the future.”

The Netherlands’ national museum of art and history, the Rijksmuseum provides an overview of Dutch art and history from the Middle Ages to the present day, aiming to shed light on all aspects of this history, including slavery. The museum’s 2021, first-ever exhibition dedicated to slavery “rethinks the larger narrative of history,” said Dr. Valika Smeulders, head of history at the museum and a curator of the exhibition, in an interview at the UN.

The Rijksmuseum was encouraged to explore this subject, she added, by UNESCO’s earlier call for museums to “speak about their social history and statehood,” which it believes can connect countries together.

A special poster version of the exhibition is being offered to other UN offices and embassies worldwide for display through 2024; a Rijksmuseum spokeswoman said so far interest in this has been expressed in Paris, Geneva and Jakarta.

An online version of the Rijksmuseum’s original exhibition is also available on the museum’s website.