“Today, millions of men, women and children say ‘no’ to extreme poverty and shame because yesterday people, treated as slaves by the powerful, in their hearts asserted that they were human beings. Countless people have died over three centuries so that this should never be forgotten”.
The message written in November 1987 by Father Joseph Wresinski in the Visitors Book of the House of Slaves museum on the Island of Gorée, off the coast of Senegal, near Dakar. This is a memorial to the Atlantic slave trade and was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1978. The chief conservationist of the museum had this message inscribed on a plaque that is displayed in the entrance to the museum.
