On this day …..we remember William Wilberforce, Olaudah Equiano and Thomas Clarkson, Anti-Slavery Campaigners

30 July
William Wilberforce, Olaudah Equiano and Thomas Clarkson, Anti-Slavery Campaigners

AMERICAN NUMISMATIC SOCIETY

Collect
God our deliverer,
who sent your Son Jesus Christ
to set your people free from the slavery of sin:grant that,
as your servants William Wilberforce,
Olaudah Equiano and Thomas Clarkson
toiled against the sin of slavery,
so we may bring compassion to all
and work for the freedom of all the children of God;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Slavery Abolition Act 1833

The abolition of enslavement in the British Empire was not wholly achieved until the Slavery Abolition Act 1833.
Protecting profit remained a crucial factor in ending enslaved labour in the colonies. When Britain abolished the practice of enslavement, plantation owners across the British Empire received a share of £20 million, around £17 billion in today’s money, in compensation. In contrast, the newly emancipated people received no compensation and were forced into a new apprenticeship scheme, which tied them to their plantations for up to six further years.

In reality, little had changed for enslaved people. They were still expected to work ten-hour days, and punishments such as flogging were still allowed. These apprenticeships were ended in 1838, when emancipation was finally achieved.
Across the Caribbean, enslaved people held ceremonies,
with some even holding funerals to try to bury the memories of enslavement.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zn7rbqt#zkgtxbk

Clarkson and Wilberforce were two of the most prominent abolitionists,
playing a vital role in the ultimate success of the campaign.

Clarkson was a tireless campaigner and lobbyist. He made an in-depth study of the horrors of the trade and published his findings. Clarkson toured Britain and Europe to spread the abolitionist word and inspire action. As a result, the abolition campaign grew into a popular mass movement.

William Wilberforce was the key figure supporting the cause within Parliament. In 1806-07, with the abolition campaign gaining further momentum, he had a breakthrough.

Legislation was finally passed in both the Commons and the Lords which brought an end to Britain’s involvement
in the trade. The bill received royal assent in March and the trade was made illegal from 1 May 1807.
It was now against the law for any British ship or British subject to trade in enslaved people. Although the abolitionists had won the end of Britain’s involvement in the trade, plantation slavery still existed in British colonies.
The abolition of slavery now became the main focus of the campaign though this was a long and difficult struggle.
Full emancipation was not achieved until 1838 and none of the ex-slaves received compensation.

https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/how-did-slave-trade-end-britain

William Wilberforce https://heritagecollections.parliament.uk/stories/the-transatlantic-slave-trade/

Olaudah Equiano
A contemporary and co-abolitionist at the time of William Wilberforce, Equiano stands out for having been both a slave and a freeman who spent his life trying to abolish this heinous trade in human beings.

Born in 1745 in what is now Nigeria, he was kidnapped as a young child and sold into slavery, first in Africa and then in the West Indies. As a sickly child, he was put to work in the house rather than the fields and was generally better treated than many others. He was bought by a sea captain and taught to read and write by some of the sailors. He was later allowed to buy fruit to sell on to sailors prior to their journeys and eventually bought his own freedom with these proceeds from his owner.

Once a free man, he travelled and settled in England and married a local girl Susannah Cullen and had two daughters with her. He spent the rest of his life pursuing the goal of abolition by writing a bestselling book of his life as a slave (that was translated into multiple languages), giving speeches and working with luminaries such as Josiah Wedgewood, William Wilberforce, Thomas Clarkson and Hannah Moore (known as the Clapham sect or ‘The Saints’) towards their collective goal of ending the transatlantic slave trade.

Equiano died in London in 1797, a decade before the Abolition Act entered the Statute books and 40 years before it would finally be completely abolished throughout the British empire.

https://www.npg.org.uk/schools-hub/the-transatlantic-slave-trade-portraits-of-abolition