Mayor of London Joins Accra Leaders to Announce ‘Historic’ Memorial to Victims of Transatlantic Slavery

Sadiq Khan (left) in a handshake with John Dramani Mahama (right) in Accra on Thursday, July 17, 2025

Source: Africa Publicity

In a powerful moment of remembrance and international unity, the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, on Thursday, July 17, 2025, joined the Mayor of Accra, Michael Kpakpo Allotey, to unveil plans for a new memorial honouring the victims of the Transatlantic Slave Trade.

The announcement marks the creation of the first international partner site in a new global network of memorials, linked to the landmark sculpture planned for London.

The new memorial will stand just outside Accra’s City Hall and serve as a permanent tribute to the more than one million people trafficked from the Gold Coast — modern-day Ghana — as part of the transatlantic slave trade. It is the first in a series of international sites that will be connected to The Wake, a major new sculpture being developed in London’s Docklands. Designed by American artist Khaleb Brooks, The Wake will feature a seven-metre-tall bronze cowrie shell inscribed with the names of enslaved individuals, accompanied by a haunting wind-chime soundscape.

“This historic artwork will directly connect to the landmark memorial we are creating in London,” said Mayor Khan during the announcement. “It will provide a place to educate people about the capital’s role in this terrible episode in human history. It’s now more important than ever that we confront these difficult parts of our past, to remember the millions of lives changed forever — and to learn from them.”

Mayor Khan is in Accra as part of a five-day trade mission across Africa, aimed at deepening relationships and trade ties with cities that have strong historical and cultural links to London’s growing African diaspora. Earlier on Thursday, he met with Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama to discuss economic cooperation, including Ghana’s new legal migration partnerships with Germany and Middle Eastern countries — designed to curb irregular migration by creating safe, fixed-term work opportunities abroad for young Ghanaians.

The memorial in Accra will be designed in collaboration with local communities and leaders and will feature a smaller version of Brooks’ cowrie shell artwork. Freetown, Sierra Leone, has also been confirmed as a future location for a partner memorial. Each site will form part of a global conversation about slavery’s enduring legacy and the ways it continues to shape modern societies.

“London played a central role in the transatlantic slave trade, and while we have statues and buildings that reflect the wealth it created, we lack sufficient memorials to the people who were enslaved,” Khan said. “This is about honouring those lives, recognising the pain, and educating future generations.”

The planned memorial in London, funded by £500,000 from the Mayor’s office, is set to be installed at West India Quay in 2026. Smaller linked artworks will be placed at historically significant sites around London, as part of a broader programme to explore and expose the city’s involvement in the slave trade.

The new network of memorials represents a shared international commitment to remembering the past and confronting its ongoing consequences. By rooting the initiative in both London and cities like Accra and Freetown, the project aims to build a bridge of collective memory and mutual education that spans continents.