The U.S. rejected a U.N. resolution condemning slavery
The “no” vote reflects some of the American public’s views on the past.
On March 25th, the International Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Slavery and the International Slave Trade, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) adopted a resolution declaring the slave trade and the enslavement of Africans and their descendants “the gravest crime against humanity.”
On this historic resolution, 123 countries voted in favor, while 52 countries abstained. The United States, Israel, and Argentina were the only three countries that voted against the resolution. The U.S Mission to the United Nations also rejected the resolution’s recommendation about reparations, arguing that the country “does not recognize a legal right to reparations for historical wrongs that were not illegal under international law at the time they occurred.”
While out of step with most of the international community, the U.S. vote on these issues reflects some of the American public’s views, our research finds.
“Crimes against humanity,” by definition, are widespread or systematic attacks against civilians that are part of a government’s or an organization’s policies. Examples include slavery, extermination, torture, and forced displacement. A key part of the U.N. resolution recommended “truth, remembrance, education and historical justice as essential components of reconciliation and sustainable peace.” This idea appears at odds with many of the Trump administration’s policies. The current administration, alongside many U.S. state and local governments, has sought to censor educational curricula on U.S. history, erase museum exhibits, and eliminate memorials related to America’s history of slavery.
What this U.N. resolution says
It’s not often that international bodies compare or rank serious international crimes like crimes against humanity. Establishing a hierarchy of suffering can be controversial and, consequently, unproductive to pursue in a large organization with many members. However, the UNGA resolution reasoned that slavery was particularly notable “by reason of the definitive break in world history, scale, duration, systemic nature, brutality and enduring consequences that continue to structure the lives of all people through racialized regimes of labour, property and capital.”
The focus on slavery’s enduring consequences is a key point in this U.N. resolution. This provides a basis for reparative justice for people of African descent, including formal apologies, compensation, and guarantees of non-repetition. Other remedies would include changes to laws, programs, and services to address racism and systemic discrimination – including education on the history of slavery and its present-day consequences.
UNGA resolutions are not legally binding, unlike U.N. Security Council resolutions. That makes the 52 abstentions – not just the U.S. vote against the resolution – particularly striking. More than half of the abstentions came from countries in the European Union. Canada and the United Kingdom also abstained.
Like the United States, many of these countries were responsible for trafficking and enslaving Africans and their descendants. Yet they declined to recognize slavery as the most serious crime against humanity in history, expressing concerns about creating a hierarchy of crimes, perhaps especially due to Europe’s experience of the Holocaust, which involved crimes against humanity and, most notably, genocide, a related but different crime. In addition, E.U. members also sought to avoid the reparations question.
Why did the U.S. vote “no”?
The U.S. delegation acknowledged slavery as a “historical wrong,” but one unrelated to the present day and ineligible for reparations. This response, however, seems to ignore the history of slavery in the United States and its enduring legacies.
This view, to some degree, echoes what some Americans think about the history of slavery and its continued effects. For years, the Washington Post, Pew Research Center, and Gallup have conducted comparable polls on slavery. All three organizations have asked American adults whether they think that slavery continues to affect Black Americans and society more broadly. Overall, the results indicate that roughly one in three Americans does not believe that the history of slavery affects Black Americans and American society much, if at all. In addition, most Americans, particularly white Americans, oppose reparations for slavery.
Other polls show that many Americans are not aware of the full history of slavery in the United States. A 2019 Washington Post–SSRS poll, for instance, quizzed a random sample of approximately 1,000 American adults on five key facts about slavery. Respondents got only an average of two out of five questions right.
For reference, here are the questions:
- “What outlawed slavery in the United States?” Correct answer: “The 13th Amendment”
- “Did slavery exist in all 13 American colonies, or just in some colonies?” Correct answer: “Slavery existed in all colonies”
- “When Lincoln first ran for president, did he promise to end slavery in the U.S.?” Correct answer: “Lincoln did not promise this”
- “What percentage of the U.S. population in 1860 were slaves?” Correct answer: “13 percent”
- “What was the main cause of the Civil War – was it slavery or another reason?” Correct answer: “Slavery”
U.S. history, and how it’s taught, is contentious
The UNGA vote, the U.S. public’s limited understanding of slavery, and opposition to reparations illuminate broader disagreements over truth and memory in the United States. This moment in time thus presents an opportunity to begin unpacking the sources of this disagreement. As researchers interested in how racial violence is portrayed in U.S. education, we took a closer look at U.S. history curricula.
The UNGA resolution recognizes that education is crucial for any society’s understanding of past (and continuing) wrongs, and for that society’s support for redress. Curriculum standards in Massachusetts, Virginia, and Texas – three states spanning the political spectrum – provide some insight into gaps in Americans’ education on racial violence in U.S. history, including slavery, and its legacies today. Here are some examples from current state education board standards:
⧫ Massachusetts
The state’s history and social science framework for learning from 2018(covering pre-kindergarten to 12th grade) does not explicitly acknowledge the abiding consequences of slavery. Instead, the framework proposes in a general way that “[e]ffective instruction celebrates the progress the United States has made in embracing diversity, while at the same time encouraging honest and informed academic discussions about prejudice, racism, and bigotry in the past and present.”
⧫ Virginia
The state’s 2023 standards of learning for 11th-grade Virginia and U.S. history implicitly acknowledge the enduring legacy of slavery. These standards propose“unflinching and fact-based coverage” and aim for students to understand “the indelible stain of slavery, segregation and racism in the United States and around the world.” While the use of “indelible” suggests slavery’s lasting effects, the lack of explicit language and examples of these connections may mean that schools do not sufficiently educate students on the importance of the past for the present.
⧫ Texas
In January 2026, Texas adopted a new framework for social studies. However, the key topics and subtopics for U.S. history do not even include the word “racism.” And the last major discussion of slavery is in reference to the causes of the Civil War, not its aftermath. The framework later mentions Jim Crow laws, the Ku Klux Klan, and lynchings, but does not link them to ongoing systemic racism and anti-Black violence – or discuss them in a narrative arc that includes slavery.
Critically, none of the three state education boards have sought to introduce the idea of reparations for past, present, and persistent wrongs against Black people.
What does this all mean?
In addition to mirroring some broader trends in U.S. education and politics, the U.S. “no” vote at the UNGA reflects a broader Trump administration campaign to rewrite some parts of U.S. history.
Since returning to office in January 2025, the president has doubled down on his attacks on history education and ordered the removal of educational plaques, museum exhibits, and memorials that acknowledge slavery at National Park Service sites, Smithsonian museums, and other federally funded sites. The president’s criticism is that these acknowledgements of U.S. history cast “founding principles and historical milestones in a negative light.”
Connecting historical and contemporary injustices in the context of U.S. history education seems necessary for promoting a freer and more just future. If anything, recent political developments reveal the need for progress toward a more full and truthful engagement with the past.
Eva Jaber is a Stamps 1693 Scholar at William & Mary and a research fellow in the International Justice Lab.
Zola Sayers-Fay is a Stamps 1693 Scholar at William & Mary and a research fellow in the International Justice Lab.
Kelebogile Zvobgo is the Mansfield Associate Professor of Government at William & Mary and the founder and director of the International Justice Lab. She studies human rights, transitional justice, and international law and courts. Her first book is Governing Truth: NGOs and the Politics of Transitional Justice(Oxford University Press, 2026).
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