Abolition Of Slavery
In the 1780’s
slavery was thought of cheap, normal, employment.
The pro-slavery
lobby tried to get rid of Africans by saying that they had no native society,
lived like savages, were grateful for the chance to escape Africa, enjoyed the
crossing & benefited from a good life on the plantations.
In 1791, thousands
of pamphlets were printed which encouraged humans to boycott sugar produced by slaves. Estimates suggest
some 300,000 people abandoned sugar, with sales dropping by a third to a half.
Some stores advertised products which had been made by ‘freeman’ & sales of
sugar from India, where slavery was not used, increased tenfold over two years.
Thomas Clarkson
documented the brutal treatment of the slave ships’ crews by demonstrating
that, on average 20% of each crew died from disease or ill treatment before the
ship returned. This proved that the trade was horrid for sailors as well as
Africans.
This long-term
impact of the campaign was highly remarkable, because it thoroughly established
anti-slavery sentiment in the national consciousness therefore slavery was
finally abolished in 1838!
Abolishing slavery
was a long & meaningful process & slavery in Africa is not missed.
By Ella K
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