The anniversary should be marked by remembering all the slaves who died, but more importantly focussing on the future and how much has changed. This should really be a celebration that we are no longer such idiots, and that black people have improved lives. Appologies are meant well, but do they actually change anything? No. So, let what happened be, and focus on the future I say.

I don't think we should, it was not our fault. I think we have apologized for the actions of our ancestors & have tried to right the wrong but it wasn't us but we felt guilty for their actions. I do think its time to move on but never forget what happened to any slaves of any nation.

I think we should be saying congratulations and thanks to our ancestors who bravely worked to abolish slavery. We should not think of it as a racist issue but bear in mind our own children (7 or 8yr. olds) were made to climb up inside chimneys and go down coal mines, (resulting so often in death) in this same era.

It all depends on which point of view you come at it from. If you are black, you may feel that you are owed some sort of apology, as they were brought here against their will, and in the last 200 odd years, they are still discriminated against, they are more likely to be poor, they are more likely to get jail sentences. If you are white, you may feel that you cannot be blamed for the sins of our forefathers, and feel the black lobby are just making trouble for its owns sake. Unless you are in the others shoes, it is hard to make a balanced judgement.

I am not sure how the celebration should be marked,but a big apology is in order.Though it is 200 years ago things like that are not forgotten and history shows the unjust actions taken against them.I guess true retribution will never be paid.

A good start would be apologizing for our own.

celabrate the end of the trade and errect statues of william wilberforce in every former-british african nation

If you are a respectful person, good to all; and try to treat everybody as equals. You shouldn't have to apologise for the you ancestor's actions.

Y'all should make a stamp for it. That'd be more than enough.

200th anniversary? British empire invaded and treated people of India like slaves until late 1940s. Perhaps the slave trade act was only for its own people.

It didn't abolish slavery, it just abolished the trade in slaves. There were still slaves. Not that I don't think it wasn't a step in the right direction. Now if we could get them to also apologise to the Irish, the Scots, the people of India, even the people of Canada for caving to the USA about the 49th parallel.

What have we got to aplogise for? We're not the ones responsible for our ancestor's actions, we're not to blame, therefore we have nothing to be sorry about. History is something to be remembered for both good and bad. Its not something we can change. Our ancestors had their way of life and we have ours.

My mother's ancestors came from Bristol UK, which was built on the sugar trade from the West Indies. Several of her lines were involved in sugar. THough they could justify themselves by saying they never took part in the slave trade, they became rich off the backs of the slaves. Their children knew it and made amends. Several of them embraced evangelical Christianity (both as Anglicans and Methodists) and used the money (blood money as they felt it was) to finance the work of Wilberforce and Wesley in opposing the slave trade. They had them in their houses when they came to speak. While I feel ashamed that some of my ancestors became wealthy off the slave trade, I am proud of their children for using that same wealth to end the trade. I believe that their attitudes still resound in me today: I do voluntary aid work amongst the poor in Indonesia especially, but also in other countries, and I work against the exploitation of human beings, in whatever form it takes. For, although the European slave trade ended (it only lasted 300 years at most),the Arabic slave trade is a much more serious problem. It began in the first centuries of the Christian era and officially ended in the early 20th century. More Africans were taken from East Africa by Muslim traders than ever were taken from the West. And the tragedy does not end there. Whereas large populations of African descended people can be found in the Americas, no such populations can be found in the Muslim world. The meaning of this is obvious: African male slaves were castrated. The children of female slaves were killed. And, despite official claims that it has ceased, the Muslim slave trade still continues. (The word for slave is the same as "black".) Thousands of women and children are taken each year from North African villages and made into slaves for the Muslim Arabs. There is no regret for this. It is seen as natural. And there is no attempt to stop it by any of the nations within whose borders it takes place. (Meanwhile, Black Islam in America cries out against the European slave trade of the past, and takes Islam as its defender!) The best way to celebrate the end of the British slave trade is to teach about it in our schools and teach that all slavery should be abolished. We can regret what happened more than 200 years ago, but we are doing nothing unless we stop it happening NOW. And to do that, we have to stop being politically correct and challenge Muslim countries to outlaw the slave trade and grant equal rights to its black citizens, including the right to live quietly in their own villages without having to fear horrific raids from Arabs on a regular basis.

Now we need to apologize for ABOLISHING slavery??? Apologizing for the actions of others is nothing but Politically Correct nonsense. It's not going to help ONE SINGLE slave. And the more we keep looking back, the longer it will be before people stop acting like victims and start taking advantage of the freedom this society offers. It's also more important to FIGHT FOR THE RIGHTS CURRENTLY BEING THREATENED. Enough with the PC garbage!

To whom you want apologize? The victims are dead as well as the slave-holders. You did not own slaves neither I did own slaves.So, to whom you and I should apologize?