Author: admin

Samuel Ringgold Ward (1817-1866) was an African American abolitionist, clergyman, and social reformer who lived in the 19th century. He was born in Maryland and became involved in the abolitionist movement in the 1830s and 1840s, working to end slavery in the United States. Ward was a charismatic speaker and was known for his powerful oratory skills, which he used to advocate for the abolition of slavery and the rights of African Americans. He travelled extensively throughout the United States and Europe, giving lectures and speeches on the abolitionist cause.…

Belfast produced not one but two abolitionist watch makers. Thomas McCabe was the first and the second was Robert Neill, on High Street from 1803. Neill supplied watches, clocks, marine chronometers, optical equipment & jewellery. Some of the company’s oldest public clocks are still extant in Belfast. Robert Neill lost his wife, Letitia Ireland, in 1845, and dedicated his remaining days to helping others. A particular passion was the abolition of slavery. As an influential member of the Belfast Anti-Slavery Society he hosted three of the greatest American abolitionists, in…

John Newton was born in Wapping, London. By the age of eleven he was serving on his father’s ship sailing to the Mediterranean. Later he was press ganged onto HMS Harwich eventually being exchanged for a merchant seaman. He resumed life in the maritime trade working on the West African coast buying slaves. For a time he was ‘enslaved’ himself and forced to work on a plantation. In 1747 he was rescued and returned to England on a ship called the ‘Greyhound’. The ‘Greyhound’ traded on gold, ivory, beeswax and…

The Zong was a slave ship that sailed from Accra on 18 August 1782 with 442 enslaved people, heading for Jamaica. During the voyage, due to a navigational error it was believed that the ship was further from its destination than presumed that the ship did enough drinking water for all on board. The crew decided to throw 142 slaves overboard and the insurance they had taken out to minimise their expected financial loss. The insurers refused to pay up and slave owners took the insurers to court and brought…

In 1807, the Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade was passed that prohibited the slave trade in the British Empire. The Act created fines for ship captains who continued with the trade. These fines could be up to £100 per enslaved person found on a ship. Captains would sometimes dump captives overboard when they saw Navy ships coming in order to avoid these fines.[1] The first case brought under the act was that of Samuel Samo, who was tried by Chief Justice Robert Thorpe at the Vice-Admiralty Court…

Charles Lenox Remond was from Massachusetts and he was the first African-American to be employed by the American Anti-Slavery Society to promote their cause, giving talks across the Northeast of the US. His parents were freed slaves, so he had a relatively privileged upbringing for a black person in those times. His passionate oratorical skills in speaking out against slavery made a great impression on all. He worked alongside journalist William Lloyd Garrison, a white man who lead the abolitionist movement in the United States for many decades. In 1840…

The Act for the ‘Abolition of Slavery throughout the British Colonies; for promoting the Industry of the manumitted Slaves; and for compensating the Persons hitherto entitled to the Services of such Slaves’ received Royal assent on 28 August 1833.[1] The Act: made the purchase or ownership of slaves illegal within the British Empire, with the exception of “the Territories in the Possession of the East India Company”, Ceylon and Saint Helena. provided for compensation to slave-owners. The British government raised £20 million to pay out for the loss of the…

The Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade received royal assent on 25 March 1807. It prohibited the slave trade in the British Empire but did not abolish the practice of slavery. Slavery was abolished in most of the British Empire in 1833. Slavery remained profitable in the British Empire up until 1807. Between 1791 and 1800, British ships made about 1,340 voyages across the Atlantic, landing nearly 400,000 slaves. Between 1801 and 1807, they took a further 266,000 individuals.[1] The Act created fines for ship captains who continued…

Lincoln ran for president in 1860, sweeping the North of America to gain victory. Pro-slavery elements in the Southern states viewed his election as a threat to slavery, and Southern states began seceding from the US Union. The US Civil War broke out in 1861 and Lincoln mobilized forces to suppress the rebellion and restore the union. In 1863, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared the slaves in the states “in rebellion” to be free. It also directed the Army and Navy to “recognize and maintain the freedom of…

This was an alphabet book published in 1846 by the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society. Written by two of the society’s members, Hannah and Mary Townsend, it aimed to educate children with abolitionist ideas. The book is prefaced with a poem, “To Our Little Readers”, that encourages readers to talk to other children and adults about ending slavery, and to refuse foods made with sugar, which was produced on plantations worked by slave labour. Each page of the main body of the book is illustrated with two decorated upper-case letters of…

John Brown (1800-1859) was an American abolitionist leader who was executed for leading a failed slave rebellion at Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, in 1859. Brown grew up as an evangelical Christian with strong religious convictions; he believed that he was a “an instrument of God”, destined to strike the “death blow” to American slavery. Brown was the leading exponent of violence in the American abolitionist movement as decades of peaceful efforts had failed. Brown first gained national attention when he led anti-slavery volunteers and his own sons during the Bleeding Kansas…

The new ANTISLAVERYBELFAST TOUR highlights the city’s role in the slave trade, and in its abolition. Local historians and guides, Mark Doherty and Dr Tom Thorpe (@drtomstours) are delighted to announced that they have put together a new walking tour examining Belfast’s role in the slave trade and its abolition. The Anti Slavery Belfast Tour reveals the story of Belfast’s involvement in this shameful transatlantic trade and the inspiring role of anti-slavery campaigners who ensured Belfast never profited from the trade in the same way as other British cities such…