2021 — The UN's Day for People of African Descent

On August 31, 2021, the United Nations marked the first-ever International Day for People of African Descent. The day celebrates the enormous contributions of the African diaspora — more than two hundred million people in the Americas alone — while confronting racism and the living legacy of slavery and colonialism that still shapes their lives.

From Accra to Bahia to Brixton, it is now the world's annual moment to honor African heritage everywhere it has traveled, and to demand the equality still owed. A single day cannot settle that debt, but it names both the gift and the unfinished work.