African heritage took centre stage at the Diplomatic Centre on Thursday as the Office of the Prime Minister marked African Emancipation Day 2026 with a vibrant fashion showcase and a luncheon.

Rich vocal harmonies, pulsating African drums, and captivating folk dance filled the Diplomatic Centre as government officials and OPM staff, all donned in their African attire, joined Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar SC as she paid homage to the millions of Africans who were torn from their homelands by the horrific Transatlantic Slave Trade.

“They arrived stripped of their freedom. They arrived separated from their families. They were denied their names. They were denied their languages. They were even denied their humanity. Yet those ships carried more than human suffering across the Middle East Passage. Those ships carry an unconquerable spirit that no whip could silence, no chain could have imprisoned, and no cruelty could ever extinguish.”