Slave Trade Abolition:Britain braces up for Bicentenary Anniversary

Story was told about a Jamaican who while in an underground tube was approached by a ticket inspector seeking his fare ticket, to which he retorted with a passionate outburst: ‘My ancestors built this country.’

March 25, marks the bicentenary of the African slave-trade abolition by the Slave Trade Act 1807. Many remember the brutal legacies the dark trade left in its awake.

The Slavery Abolition passed on August 23, 1833, outlawed slavery. On August 1, 1834 all slaves in the British Empire were emancipated, but still indentured to their former owners in an apprenticeship system which was finally abolished in 1838.

The trans-Atlantic slave trade was a defining moment in human history. Scores of able-bodied men and women in West and Central Africa were taken captive to oppressive servitude in the Caribbean, North and South America. It is thought that up to 12 million Africans were loaded into deplorable slave ships – many died.

Olaudah Equiano, in his book The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano wrote: ‘The stench of the hold while we were on the coast was so intolerably loathsome, that it was dangerous to remain there for any time, and some of us had been permitted to stay on the deck for the fresh air; but now that the whole ship’s cargo were confined together, it became absolutely pestilential. The closeness of the place, and the heat of the climate, added to the number in the ship, which was so crowded that each had scarcely room to turn himself, almost suffocated us,’

In the famous 1783 Zong case, 131 Africans were thrown overboard providing fire for the abolition movement.

Before the discovery of the New World in 1492, slaves were used in parts of Europe.
In 1441 Portuguese captains captured 12 slaves from Africa and took them to Portugal as slaves signaling the start of slave trading in Africa.

In 1562 Sir Hawkins led the first English slaving exhibition and in 1672 Royal Africa Company was granted charter to carry Africans to the Americas.

Slave trade was a very lucrative trade. The trade reportedly powered the industrial revolution. It spawned an era of wealth and industry.

Southwark Bishop Thomas Butler, at the Anglican Church's General Synod stated, ‘The profits from the slave trade were part of the bedrock of our country's industrial development.’

Tony Blair wrote in an article in the New Nation newspaper: ‘Britain's rise to global pre-eminence was partially dependent on a system of colonial slave labour and, as we recall its abolition, we should also recall our place in its practice.’

He continued: ‘It is hard to believe that what would now be a crime against humanity was legal at the time. Personally I believe the bicentenary offers us a chance not just to say how profoundly shameful the slave trade was - how we condemn its existence utterly and praise those who fought for its abolition, but also to express our deep sorrow that it ever happened, that it ever could have happened and to rejoice at the different and better times we live in today.’

So great was the trade that a campaign of lies was embarked on to stifle any opposition to its abolition.

People who featured in the slave trading abolition movement include William Wilberforce, and Ignatius Sancho.

William Wilberforce (1759 – 1833) led the parliamentary campaign against the slave trade. His first bill in April 1791 was defeated by 163 to 88. On May 1789, he made his first major speech on the subject of abolition in the House of Commons in which he condemned the practice. In 1805, a bill for the abolition passed in Commons but was rejected in the House of Lords.

In 1787, Society for the abolition of slave trade was founded.

To counter the historical notion that African people were not normal human beings abolitionists worked tirelessly to present their plight in ships and the cruel treatment of slaves in plantations and other areas of slavery. They showed African artifacts to show that Africans were capable of sophistication.


The Anglican Church has apologized for their role in the slave trade. A descendant of John Hawkins, the English slave-trading trail blazer stunned a congregation last year when he lapsed in remorse in front of them over the deeds of his ancestor.

Different slave revolts occurred, including the ‘The Baptist War’ in Jamaica led by Baptist preacher Sam Sharpe but was suppressed, the slave rising in Demerara, leading to the death of 250 slaves and death sentence on Rev John Smith of the London Missionary Society.

In the largest Jamaican uprising in 1865, 17 Europeans killed and 32 were wounded.

The famed Underground Railroad enabled slaves escape to freedom in the Southern states of America.

Slavery was abolished in Cuba in 1886 and 1888 in Brazil.


A 1778 case Knight vs Wedderburn in Edinburgh ruled that slave trade was incompatible with Scottish law.

A report released by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport stated: ‘Although today everyone recognizes that it was morally reprehensible, politicians, businessmen, scientists and even churches justified the legitimacy of slavery at the time. British subjects were involved in the trade as shipping owners, makers of chains and other instruments of control, goods manufacturers and as plantation and slave owners.’

The report said: ‘It is argued that some of those after-effects include racism, poverty and conflict in Africa and conflict in Africa and the Caribbean, inequality, and complex cultural legacies. It is felt that these legacies continue to echo today in streets, workplaces and homes in this country.’

Government is encouraging the participation of different groups in the bicentenary anniversary.

Parliament would mark the bicentenary with a free exhibition in Westminster Hall from 23 May to 23 September 2007.

Today there are concerns of human trafficking across the world. People are thrown into sex slavery and other inhumane treatments.

References
1.http://www.brycchancarey.com/
2.http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/William_Wilberforce
3.http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/slavery/DG_065859
4. Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Reflecting on the past and looking to the future: The 2007 Bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade in the British Empire (http://www.direct.gov.uk/)
5.http://www.reference.com/ – search Slave Trade