Abolitionists: Antislavery Activism in Britain and America, 1787-1865

Module code: HS3810

Between the American Revolution of the 1770s and 1780s and the American Civil War of the 1860s, the English-speaking world was agitated by a popular antislavery movement without precedent or parallel. In Britain, abolitionists pressurised parliament into the abolition of the British Atlantic slave trade (1807) and the abolition of colonial slavery (1833). Although American abolitionism emerged slightly earlier, and Congress ended the Atlantic slave trade in 1807/8, slavery in the Southern states was not abolished until 1865. The module explores the history of antislavery activism through the contrasting careers of two of the most famous abolitionist leaders: the British MP William Wilberforce (1759-1833), and the African-American Frederick Douglass (c. 1818-95). Seminars will examine the Wilberforce diaries (which are currently being edited here in Leicester), alongside his speeches and correspondence. You will study the autobiographies, journalism and speeches of Douglass, arguably the greatest American orator of the nineteenth century. Using these sources, the module will consider the mentalities and controversies of antislavery activists, as well as the different trajectories of the British and American movements.