1873 Button

The 1873 button was designed by the late Perez Jong Loy (1954-2019)

Slavery was officially abolished in 1863, but did not end until ten years later

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'.