Abolitionist Olaudah Equiano was captured from his home in Africa as an 11 year old boy while his parents were out working one day. He was stuffed below decks of a slave ship, shackled together lying down with hundreds of other captives in what Equiano referred to as “a scene of horror almost inconceivable.” By the late 17th century, Great Britain dominated the slave trade and wealthy plantation owners in the American colonies were lining their pockets, thanks to the labor of 11 million captive Africans forced into slavery. In 1833, Britain signed the Slavery Abolition Act, effectively ending British slavery 30 years before the United States. But did you know, Great Britain didn’t just put a stop to slavery, they forced generations of their citizens to purchase those enslaved people? Let’s fix that.


Sources: 

• National Humanities Center "The Slave Trade" 
• Library of Congress "A Journey in Chains"
• The Guardian "When will Britain face up to its crimes against humanity?"
• CNN "Researchers uncover African's part in slavery"
• Wikipedia "Olaudah Equiano"
• Beinecke Library "Thomas Thistlewood Papers"
• History Channel "Why Thomas Jefferson's anti-slavery passage was removed from the Declaration of Independence" 
• The Guardian "Follow the money: investigators trace forgotten story of Britain's slave trade" 

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