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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. The Act:1. 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. 2. provided for compensation to slave-owners. The British government raised £20 million to pay out for the loss of…

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. The Act created fines for ship captains who continued…

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 and 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…

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…

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 sold in the Eighteenth Century to raise money to promote the abolition of slavery.‘Am I not a man and a brother’. ‘May slavery & oppression cease throughout the world’. On the edge is milled ‘Payable in Belfast, Dublin and Cork’. It is undated, but would have been produced in the 1790s, as where similar tokens in Britain and America. An Irish anti-slavery halfpenny token, sold to raise money to promote abolition. ‘Am I not a man and a brother’. ‘May slavery & oppression cease throughout the world’. On…

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…

On 14 JULY 1792, many united Irishmen in Belfast celebrated BASTILLE DAY. Henry Joy McCracken proposed a toast to ‘To Mr. Wilberforce, and a speedy repeal of the infamous traffic in the flesh and bone of man.’To learn more about slavery in Belfast, to learn more, book the ANTI SLAVERY BELFAST TOUR!

Mark and I are delighted to announce that we have extended tour dates for the ANTI SLAVERY BELFAST TOUR to the end of May. Each Saturday there will be a tour from the Big Fish starting at 10.30am. It is two and a half hours and includes a 30min break. More information is here.

Great to see our new leaflet. For information on tours, look here!

In 1845, FREDERICK DOUGLASS, a ‘fugitive slave’ came to Ireland Belfast to promote his memoir and campaign for the abolition of slavery in the USA. Upon learning from James Stanfield, president of the Belfast Anti-Slavery Society, that the Free Presbyterian Church in Scotland was accepting money from fellow churches in America slave states, Douglass demanded they ‘Send back the money.’ To learn more about Douglass in Belfast, book an ANTI SLAVERY TOUR! They are held on each Sat from 10.30 at the Big Fish from 11.2.23 to 25.3.23.  Info: 

On 14 JULY 1792, many united Irishmen in Belfast celebrated BASTILLE DAY. Henry Joy McCracken proposed a toast to ‘To Mr. Wilberforce, and a speedy repeal of the infamous traffic in the flesh and bone of man.’ To learn more about slavery in Belfast, book an ANTI SLAVERY TOUR! They are held on each Sat from 10.30 at the Big Fish from 11.2.23 to 25.3.23.  Info: 

In 1859, MARY ANN MCCRACKEN, wrote to Dr. R. R. Madden, complained few people were interested in the cause of anti-slavery. She lamented that ‘Belfast, once so celebrated for its love of liberty is now so sunk in the love of filthy lucre that there are but 16 or 17 female anti-slavery advocates, for the good cause paying 2/6 yearly,, not one man, tho’ several Quakers in Belfast, and none to distribute papers to American Emigrants but an old woman within 17 days of 89.” To learn more about slavery…

An advertisement in the BELFAST NEWSLETTER in the 1750s asked for help finding a ‘run away from the service of Mrs Fullerton of Carrickfergus, on Sunday last, a negro slave boy.’ To learn more about slavery in Belfast, book an ANTI SLAVERY TOUR! They are held on each Sat from 10.30 at the Big Fish from 11.2.23 to 25.3.23.  Info: 

In 1845, FREDERICK DOUGLASS, a ‘fugitive slave’ came to Ireland Belfast to promote his memoir and campaign for the abolition of slavery in the USA.  After his first talk in Belfast in December he wrote to his friend Richard Webb. He noted that ‘all my books went at one go. I want more. I want more.  I have everything to hope and nothing to fear. The paper of this morning took a favourable notice of my meeting … and a deep interest seems to be excited.’ To learn more about…

The NORTHERN STAR newspaper was published in Belfast from 1792 to 1795. It had strong United Irishmen sympathies and was strongly abolitionist. It declared that ‘every individual, as far as he consumes sugar products, becomes accessory to the guilt [of slavery].” To learn more about slavery in Belfast, book an ANTI SLAVERY TOUR! They are held on each Sat from 10.30 at the Big Fish from 11.2.23 to 25.3.23.  Info: 

In 1845, FREDERICK DOUGLASS, a ‘fugitive slave’ came to Ireland Belfast to promote his memoir and campaign for the abolition of slavery in the USA. After his first 4 very successful talks in Dublin in September 1845 he noted ‘one of the most pleasing features of my visit … has been a total absence of … prejudice against me on account of my colour. The change of circumstances in this is particularly striking. I find myself not treated as a colour, but as a man – not as thing, but…

Irish Nationalist and MP, DANIEL O’CONNELL, known as the ‘Liberator’ for his campaign to introduce Catholic emancipation, declared in London in the 1830s that he ‘was an abolitionist. I am for speedy, immediate, abolition. I enter into no compromise with slavery.’ He had a massive impact on the slavery movement in Ireland. To learn more about slavery in Belfast, book an ANTI SLAVERY TOUR! They are held on each Sat from 10.30 at the Big Fish from 11.2.23 to 25.3.23.  Info: 

In 1846, FREDERICK DOUGLASS, a ‘fugitive slave’ came to Belfast to promote his memoir and campaign for the abolition of slavery in the USA. He noted that the population of Belfast ‘seems full of religion, drinks wine and prays.’. To learn more about Douglass in Ireland, book an ANTI SLAVERY TOUR! They are held on each Sat from 10.30 at the Big Fish from 11.2.23 to 25.3.23. Info: