1928 - King Zog Signs Law Banning Slavery in Albania

On June 12, 1928, King Zog I of Albania signed a decree officially outlawing slavery and forced labor—an act with global resonance, especially for Black diaspora scholars studying the lingering impacts of global enslavement systems. While Albania had no large enslaved population at the time, the move was part of broader post-Ottoman legal reforms aligning the nation with international human rights norms. What makes this date significant—but little known—is that Albania’s formal stance against slavery helped pave the way for its support of Pan-Africanist and decolonization movements decades later. Albania would go on to provide diplomatic recognition and moral support to African liberation movements from Mozambique to Guinea-Bissau during the 1960s and ’70s, punching far above its weight in global anti-colonial politics. June 12, 1928, thus marks an early and symbolic commitment to global Black freedom struggles from an unlikely European ally.