The holiday marks the commemoration of the 250th Anniversary of Freedom at Nottingham Estate, Long Look.
The Long Look Estate in East End, Tortola, British Virgin Islands, claims to be the oldest free black community in the Western world.
In 1776 Samuel Nottingham, a Quaker, manumitted 25 slaves and gave them 50 acres (200,000 m2) of land in Long Look in Tortola, directing them to cultivate it for the common good.
Quakers were prominent in the abolition movement; Nottingham’s action pre-dates the foundation of the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade by more than a decade.