1873 pop

in memory or mister

Perez Jong Loy

TEN YEARS AFTER THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY, ENSLAVED PEOPLE STILL WORKED ON DUTCH PLANTATIONS.

1873 is the fair date

You would think that after the formal abolition of slavery in 1863, people no longer worked as slaves. But for the first ten years after this abolition, enslaved people were still working on the Dutch plantations in Suriname and the Netherlands Antilles: under duress they signed a contract that stated that they had to 'earn' their freedom for ten years by keep working. They were 'under State supervision'.

At the beginning of 2011, Perez Jong Loy first heard about the State Supervision period between 1863 and 1873. “I was very angry about that. I was 7 years old when I was dragged here by my mother. So I have had all my education from the third year of primary school in the Netherlands. I was exposed to very little in my Dutch history lessons, but the fact that such a shameful, crucial fact was so deliberately concealed made me furious. Especially when you look at the socio-economic situation of the descendants.”