Freedom
Is Mine
By FAYIDA JAILLER
T
Denmark
he population of Denmark is almost six million, of which reportedly less than 2% are black. That’s less than 120,000 people. Denmark was the seventh-largest trading nation during the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Denmark had three colonial territories in the Caribbean which were the islands of St Croix, St John and St Thomas. These islands were occupied by Europeans from 1666 to 1917, when Denmark sold them to the United States and they became known as the US Virgin Islands. During the slavery era Denmark trafficked over 100,000 enslaved Africans to those islands, which at the time were referred to as the Danish West Indies. This came to an end in 1848 when Denmark abolished slavery. One of the most famous Afro-Danish figures from history is Hans Jonathon. He was born in 1784 on the Caribbean island of St Croix. When Hans Jonathan was seven, his masters took him to Copenhagen where he fought with the Danish navy. When his masters tried to reclaim him and take him back to St Croix, Hans Jonathan took his masters to court. Sadly, the court ruled against him and ordered him to return to St Croix. Instead he fled to Iceland where he settled in the small village of Djupivogur, married a local woman, had children, and lived as a free man until his death in 1827. Victor Cornelins was born on the island of Saint Croix in 1898. Along with a little girl, Alberta Roberts, Victor was transported to Denmark in 1905, when he was seven years old and Alberta was just four, to participate in a colonial exhibition in Copenhagen.
Victor Cornelins and Alberta Roberts by BT
Black Lives Matter Denmark Protest by Thomas Birkekaer
After the exhibition, the children were sent to a school for orphans. Albert sadly died of tuberculosis in 1917. Victor remained in Denmark and went on to embark on an illustrious 55-year career as a music teacher. In 2018 Denmark the unveiled the first statue in the country to commemorate a black woman. The statue is called ‘I am Queen Mary’ and honours Mary Thomas, who, in the 19th century, led the largest labour revolt in Danish colonial history on the island of St Croix. The sculpture was created by the Danish artist Jeannette Ehlers and Virgin Islander La d’s Painting of Otto Marstran Vaughn Belle. Mary’s pose y, nn na daughters and their was inspired by the 1967 Justina 1857. photograph of Huey P Newton, by Wilhelm Marstrand the founder of the Black Panther Party. Black Live Matter Denmark was founded in 2016 by activist Bwalya Sørensen. The movement gained traction in 2020 following the murder of AfricanAmerican George Floyd which sparked protests worldwide. The largest protest was held on June 7th in the capital Copenhagen, which drew a crowd of 15,000 people.
I am Queen Mary by Tripadvisor
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