Quakers and abolition Subject guide Cover Image: , photograph by Victor Franck, c.1855 (LSF MS BOX W2) There was no unified stance on 1657 and the slave trade among early . Many were slaveholders, while others Early Quaker leader George Fox writes “to spoke out vehemently against the trade. 1727 Friends beyond the sea American Friends, who could see the that have blacks and reality of slavery for themselves, were the London Yearly Meeting Indian slaves”, reminding first to call for action, and their views officially disapproves of them that all are equal in gradually prevailed. slavery God’s eyes The large-scale campaign to abolish the practice was begun by British Quakers. 1767 They created Britain’s first anti-slavery organisation and came up with innovative London Yearly Meeting ways of bringing attention to the issue, bans the ownership of including mass media campaigning, 1772 people by its members product boycotting and widespread petitioning. London Yearly Meeting During this period one of the most makes first corporate effective ways of communicating to a large statement urging the 1783 audience was to circulate pamphlets, a abolition of slavery London Yearly Meeting publishing model that Quakers had presents a 273-signature followed for over a century. Many Quakers petition to parliament and wrote, published and distributed pamphlets sets up a committee on explaining their views on slavery. Quaker the slave trade – this is publisher James Phillips is especially well Britain’s first anti-slavery organisation known for reproducing an image of the 1787 Brookes, which showed the shocking number of enslaved people a The Society for the ship could legally carry. Abolition of the Slave The Quaker campaign didn’t end with the Trade is formed. Nine of 1807 abolition of the British slave trade. The the 12 founder members are Quakers. William 1807 Act allowed the continued The Abolition of the Slave Wilberforce is approached enslavement of those already in bondage. Trade Act is passed to act as parliamentary Many Quakers felt strongly that an spokesperson immediate and total abolition of slavery was necessary. Quaker women, including , Sophia Sturge and Anne Knight, led boycotts of slave-produced 1833 sugar and cotton. Following the Slavery Abolition Act (1833), The Slavery Abolition 1839 Act is passed which made claiming ownership of people founds the illegal in the , Quakers began British and Foreign Anti- working to end slavery elsewhere, and Slavery Society (today have continued to do so. called Anti-Slavery International) Slavery and abolition in the Library collections

Getting started In the catalogue Carey, B (2012) From Peace to Freedom: To see what we hold on slavery and the Quaker Rhetoric and the Birth of American abolition movement, search our online Antislavery, 1657–1761. New Haven: Yale catalogue at University Press. [051.69 CAR] http://quaker.adlibhosting.com/search A look at the beginnings of the Quaker anti-slavery movement, which started in America The following terms might be useful when Brown, CL (2006) Moral Capital: searching the catalogue: Foundations of British . Chapel abolition Hill: University of North Carolina Press. anti-slavery movement [051.69 CAR] free produce movement Chapter 7 is a good summary of Quaker involvement in the slave trade anti-slavery movement, with some useful references slavery Hochschild, A (2005) : the sugar boycott. British Struggle to Abolish Slavery. Basingstoke: Macmillan. [051.69 HOC] There are too many Quaker abolitionists to A readable history of the abolition movement list here. Once you have come across individuals in your research, the most Midgley, C (1992) Women Against Slavery: effective way to search for resources on the British Campaigns 1780–1870. London: them in the catalogue is by [surname], Routledge. [051.69 MID] [forename]. Helpful for understanding the role of women in the campaign for abolition Some of our archives have yet to be Heathfield, J (2016) The British and Foreign entered in our online catalogue. However, Anti-Slavery Society, 1838–1956. London: we offer other tools for finding material, so Hurst and Company [051.69 HEA] please get in touch if you’re looking for A good introduction to some of the work that took place material on a specific topic. after slavery was abolished in 1833 Pamphlets Archive collections The Library has one of the best collections Highlights of our collections include: of early modern abolition pamphlets in the Records of the Quaker Slave Trade world, totalling over 600 items and Committee (1783–1792) including rare and unique tracts by leading [YM/MfS/STC] abolitionists and local abolitionist societies, Minutes of the Tottenham and as well as a few pro-slavery tracts. Edmonton Female Anti-Slavery Association (1828–1837) [TEMP Relevant pamphlets can be found using the online catalogue. There is also a handlist MSS 994] available in the reading room, digital copies The papers of abolitionist Anne of which can be obtained by emailing Knight [MS Box W2; MS Vol s486; [email protected]. MS Vol s495; MS Box G2/3].

We also hold the Thompson-Clarkson Special collections collection [MS Vol 326–328], three The Library holds objects relating to the anti- volumes of illustrations, letters and portraits relating to people mentioned in slavery movement, including anti-slavery ’s The History of the teacups, samples of free cotton and a silk Rise, Progress, and Accomplishment of handbag made to hold abolition pamphlets. We the Abolition of the African Slave-Trade also have some engraving and silhouette by the British Parliament, put together by portraits of prominent Quaker abolitionists. Thomas Thompson. Thompson was the These items can only be viewed by prior son-in-law of the abolitionist publisher arrangement – please contact us for further James Phillips and included many letters details. Phillips had received in the collection.

T T f W h Online resources James Birney Collection of Anti- Slavery Pamphlets, Johns Hopkins Quakers and Slavery project University http://web.tricolib.brynmawr.edu/s https://archive.org/details/birney peccoll/quakersandslavery/ Primarily American but with some British This project has digitised material on content, the browser allows you to filter by Quakers and slavery from the collections year, creator and language. of Haverford and Swarthmore colleges and it is a particularly useful resource for Slave Voyages understanding the response of American https://slavevoyages.org Quakers to slavery. This project describes itself as a digital memorial, offering data on the enslaved Legacies of British Slave-ownership people who were taken across the Atlantic https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs – who they were, where they came from This database of slave owners was built by and where they ended up. tracking compensation paid to slave owners following the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833. Since you can search the database by religion, it’s possible to find British Quakers who owned slaves at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries.

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