Ruth Leon recommends…Slavery – Rijksmuseum

Slavery – Rijksmuseum
 Click here to watch
 Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum, whose videos are always worth watching, has an exhibition detailing the history of slavery perpetrated by the Dutch in Africa, in Brazil and in the Netherlands themselves. They have made a series of short videos based on this exhibition, most are about individual slaves. This one is about a slave-owner, Oopjen, and is narrated by the Rijksmuseum’s Director, Taco Dibbits.

Slavery, he tells us, is not only about the people who were enslaved or the slave owners, but also about people who benefited from the system in many ways, whether consciously or not. Oopjen was such a person. This is her story. There are ten more stories which you can access via the Rijksmuseum’s website.

Read more