Afro-Dominican Action reclaims February 9 as key date in anti-slavery history

Santo Domingo.- On the 204th anniversary of the abolition of slavery in Spanish Santo Domingo, Afro-Dominican Action launched a series of video statements on social media as part of a day of historical remembrance and political denunciation. The organization criticized the continued official silence surrounding February 9, a date it considers essential to the country’s anti-colonial and emancipatory history and to the wider Caribbean context.

The initiative follows a proclamation issued on February 9, in which Afro-Dominican Action denounced what it describes as the minimization and distortion of the 1822 abolition by political and intellectual elites. According to the group, this has led to the imposition of a Hispanophile and racist national narrative that obscures the role of Afro-descendant resistance and the transformative impact of abolition. The organization reaffirmed February 9 as a cornerstone of anti-slavery struggle and Afro-Dominican dignity.

The video series features contributions from Dominican writer and researcher Diógenes Abreu, historian María Cecilia Ulrickson, and U.S. historian Andrew Walker. Abreu highlighted the Palm of Liberty planted by Jean-Pierre Boyer as a deliberately hidden symbol of abolition, while Ulrickson challenged the notion of a “benign” or declining slavery prior to 1822, arguing that abolition marked the first effective emancipation on the island. Walker provided a regional perspective, documenting how Santo Domingo became a refuge for enslaved people across the Caribbean following abolition.

Afro-Dominican Action emphasized that the legacy of abolition remains a contested and living memory, particularly in the face of ongoing racism and rights violations. The organization renewed its call for February 9 to be officially recognized as the National Day of the Abolition of Slavery, a demand echoed by intellectual Miguel Solano, who has urged President Luis Abinader to issue a decree formally honoring the date as an act of historical justice.