Passage to © The Royal Parks The Royal © Freedom Teachers Resource Pack © Anti-Slavery International, London 1 3 Introduction Contents 4 Timeline of slavery and the slave trade: 1400-1700 5 Timeline of slavery and the slave trade: 1700-1790 6 Timeline of slavery and the slave trade: 1790-1838 7 Motions against the slave trade introduced by William Wilberforce 8 Timeline of the act to Abolish the Slave Trade 9 Characters 10 Curriculum Vitae: Thomas Fowell Buxton 11 Curriculum Vitae: Henry Brougham 12 Curriculum Vitae: Thomas Clarkson 13 Curriculum Vitae: Ottobah Cugoano 14 Curriculum Vitae: Olaudah Equiano 15 Curriculum Vitae: Stephen Lushington 16 Curriculum Vitae: Zachary Macaulay 17 Curriculum Vitae: Mary Prince 18 Curriculum Vitae: Ignatius Sancho 19 Curriculum Vitae: Samuel Sharpe 20 Curriculum Vitae: William Wilberforce 21 Buxton Memorial Fountain Fact File 22 Image 1 – Original Memorial Plaque 23 Image 2 – Anti-Slavery Society plaque 24 Image 3 – Enamelling 25 Image 4 – Enamelled metal roof, cross and stonework 26 Image 5 – Mosaic work 27 Image 6 – Carvings 28 Image 7 – Pillars 29 How the play works and Living History props 30 Issues raised by the play and activities 32 Arguments and counter arguments 34 Who writes history? 35 Women and the campaign to abolish the slave trade 36 Memorials © The Royal Parks The Royal © 2 Introduction Triangular Trade Abolition The law ended a trade that English merchants Until the 18th century, slavery was considered had been taking part in since 1562. an acceptable part of the economic system. 2007 was the 200th anniversary It allowed many countries to prosper from the By the 18th Century, it had become a triangular trade of goods produced by enslaved labour. sea journey. The first leg was to Africa from of the Act of Parliament that ports such as London, Liverpool or Bristol. British people began to be concerned about the Ships were loaded with copper, cloth, trinkets, slave trade and the treatment of Africans in the guns and ammunition. When they arrived in 1760s. There were petitions, marches, lobbies of abolished the slave trade to the Africa, the cargo was sold in exchange for parliament and boycotts of goods. People who slaves. campaigned against the slave trade came from British Colonies. The legislation all walks of life. They included: former enslaved The second leg became known as the Middle Africans such as Olaudah Equiano and Ignatius Passage. Slaves were taken to America and the Sancho; parliamentarians such as William was called An Act for the Abolition West Indies, where they would be sold for a Wilberforce; writers such as Thomas Clarkson; good profit. and religious groups like the Quakers and the evangelical Clapham Sect. of the Slave Trade. The ships were then loaded for the final leg of the triangle to their home port. From the British citizens were also part of the campaign. West Indies, the main cargo was sugar, rum It was a grass roots movement, similar in its day and molasses. From Virginia, it was tobacco and to the tens of thousands who worked to abolish hemp. apartheid in South Africa. The campaigners were It became law people of courage and principle who chose to British ships made more than 11,000 journeys. make their voices heard when it was sometimes It’s estimated that more than 12 million unpopular to do so. on 25th March 1807. enslaved Africans were transported and that 3 million of them died on the journey. The 1807 Act stopped the slave trade to the British colonies. But it didn’t stop slavery itself. The campaign in Britain continued until 1838 when slaves in the British colonies finally became free. © The Royal Parks The Royal © 3 Timeline of 1441 The start of European Slave trading in Africa slavery and 1502 The first African slaves arrived in the Americas the slave 1562 John Hawkins, a merchant, became the first known Englishman to 1400 capture and enslave African people and transport them across the Atlantic trade: to the Caribbean. 1400 - 1700 1632 King Charles I granted a license to a group of London merchants to transport enslaved people from West Africa 1646 The philosopher, Sir Thomas Browne, wrote against slavery 1655 England seized Jamaica from Spain. Slave uprising in Jamaica 1660 King Charles II granted a charter to English merchants trading to Africa 1672 The Royal African Company was formed by London merchants to regulate the English slave trade. 1675 35 enslaved Africans executed for conspiracy to rebel in Jamaica 1679 Slave revolt in St Domingue 1698 The Royal African Company lost its monopoly and the English slave trade was opened up to private traders. 1700 © The Royal Parks The Royal © 4 1729 Slave revolt in Cuba and war in Jamaica between the British and Timeline of runaway slaves slavery and 1735 77 slaves were burnt in a revolt in Antigua the slave 1700 1740 Free Africans release slaves on a British ship in Sierra Leone trade: 1700-1790 1753 Successful slave revolt on the ship The Adventure, off West Africa 1760-61 Slave rebellion in Jamaica and Nevis 1765 Slave uprising on 17 estates in Jamaica 1772 James Somerset, a slave who ran away from his owner, won a court case in Britain that gave him constitutional rights to his liberty 1776 The House of Commons debated the motion: “That the slave trade is contrary to the laws of God and the rights of man”. 1780 131 Africans thrown overboard from a slave ship Zong so that the owner could claim insurance 1781 Letters of the late Ignatius Sancho, an African published 1782 First Quaker petition to parliament against the slave trade 1786 Thomas Clarkson published An Essay on the Slavery and Commerce of the Human Species 1787 The Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade formed. Thomas Clarkson published A Summary View of the Slave Trade and of the Probable Consequences of Its Abolition. 11,000 people signed a petition against the slave trade in Manchester. Ottobah Cuguano, an ex-slave, published Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil and Wicked Traffic of the Slavery and Commerce of the Human Species 1788 102 Abolitionist petitions handed into parliament 1790 1789 The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano published © The Royal Parks The Royal © 5 Timeline of 1791 Slave uprising in St Domingue, led by Toussaint Louverture slavery and 1792 310 petitions against the slave trade were handed to Parliament, with 400,000+ names. Thomas Clarkson encouraged 300,000 people to the slave boycott sugar and its products. MPs voted for an Anti-slave trade Bill 1790 but the House of Lords voted against trade: 1790-1838 1795-6 Slave rebellions in Grenada and St Vincent 1804 St Domingue was declared independent and was renamed Republic of Haiti 1805 MPs voted for an Anti-Slave Trade Bill but the House of Lords voted against 1806 The Foreign Slave Trade Abolition Bill became law. This banned British people importing slaves to foreign countries 1807 March 25th, An Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade became law. This banned the trade of slaves to British colonies 1808 British West African Squadron established in Sierra Leone to suppress illegal slave trading by British citizens 1816 Slave rebellion in Barbados damaged the harvest before it was crushed 1817 Slave Regulation Act forced all slave owners to provide a list of all the enslaved people they owned every 2 years 1830 300,000 people in Britain boycotted sugar in protest at slavery 1831 Major slave revolt called ‘The Baptist War,’ led by Samuel Sharpe in Jamaica was brutally suppressed. The History of Mary Prince, A West Indian Slave published. 1833 Slavery Abolition Bill passed by British Parliament.The government paid slave owners compensation and forced slaves to continue working for their owners as ‘apprentices’ for another six years 1838 500,000 people signed Thomas Clarkson’s petition to Parliament calling for an end to the Apprenticeship system. Parliament ended the system 1838 and enslaved people finally became free on August 1st © The Royal Parks The Royal © 6 Motions against the Slave Trade introduced by William Wilberforce in the House of 1792 Agreed by House of Commons but delayed by an inquiry by the Commons House of Lords 1793 Defeated by 61-3 1794 Lord’s inquiry peters out 1795 Defeated by 78-61 1796 Defeated by 74-70 1797 Defeated by 82-74 1798 Defeated by 87-83 1799 Defeated by 84-54 1804 Passed in House Commons but rejected by the House of Lords 1805 Defeated by 77-70 © The Royal Parks The Royal © 7 Timeline 1806 of the Act to 10 June House of Commons debated the resolution: That this House, conceiving the African Slave Trade to be contrary to the Principles of Justice, Abolish the Humanity and sound Policy, will with all practicable Expedition, proceed to 1806 take effectual Measures for abolishing the said Trade, in such Manner Slave Trade and at such Period as may be deemed advisable. The motion was agreed by 114-15 24 June An identical resolution was debated in the House of Lords and agreed by 41 votes to 21 1807 02 Jan Slave Trade Abolition Bill presented in House of Lords and given a 1st reading. 21, 23 Jan Petitions against the Bill presented to the House of Lords from the planters of Trinidad; West Indian planters; merchants and corporation of Liverpool and the colonial agent of Jamaica 2, 6 Feb Petitions against the Bill presented to the House of Lords from the merchants of London and a firm of dyers and calico printers 10 Feb House of Lords approved the Bill and sent it to the House of Commons 13, 16 Feb Petitions against the Bill presented to the House of Commons from the merchants and corporation