Through escapes, revolts and resistance, enslaved people actively contributed to their own liberation. The freed slaves also played an important role in the campaign for the abolition of the Atlantic trade, a movement which saw the participation of philosophers, philanthropists, politicians and religious people.

In the second half of the 18th century, the belief gradually began to take hold in Europe that the slave trade was an anti-Christian practice, ethically, philosophically and politically unacceptable for European civilisation.

Under the pressure of the anti-slavery circles which had sprung up in different parts of England in the second half of the 18th century, the debate on the abolition of the Atlantic trade reached parliament. On 25 March 1807, with 114 votes in favour and 15 against, the House of Commons passed the Slave Trade Act, a law which prohibited the Atlantic slave trade.

After the law was passed, Great Britain became the champion of the abolitionist struggle. Through diplomatic means and bilateral negotiations, it managed to get other European countries to sign treaties which allowed the West African Squadron to search ships sailing from the west coast of Africa. Gradually, other European countries also abolished the slave trade: Spain in 1817, France in 1818 and Portugal in 1836.

Nevertheless, the Atlantic slave trade continued illegally. During the 19th century, more than 3 million slaves were shipped across the Atlantic.                                                              On 1 August 1834, Great Britain abolished slavery in its colonies.

 

 

The image of a kneeling slave in chains with the phrase ‘Am I not a man and a brother?’ became the symbol of the abolitionist movement. Engraved on medallions and jewellery, reproduced on ceramics and accessories, the image was used in Great Britain to mobilise public opinion and parliament in favour of the abolition of the slave trade. This representation has been criticised because it conveys a passive image of slaves.

FROM ILLEGITIMATE TRADE TO LEGITIMATE TRADE TO ILLEGAL TRADE

The end of the Atlantic slave trade did not mean the end of slavery in Africa. With the transition from illegitimate slave trade to legitimate trade in African raw materials and agricultural products – such as palm oil, peanuts and rubber – African societies transformed their economic systems to produce the goods demanded by European markets. Production was based on the use of slave labour, very often young women, who were easier to capture and control.

CHRONOLOGY OF THE ABOLITION OF SLAVERY IN THE WORLD

 

 

The writings of former slaves played an important role in the fight for the abolition of slavery. The stories of the horrors of slavery, of separation from one’s family,  inhuman work and violence suffered, but also the stories of escape and redemption, had a powerful impact on the hearts of readers and spread the abolitionist message widely.                                             Among these, Ottobah Cugoano‘s text Thoughts and Sentiments on the Evil and Wicked Traffic of the Slavery and Commerce of the Human Species, published in 1787, was highly influential. Born around 1757 in what is now Ghana, Cugoano was captured at the age of 13 and transported on a ship to a plantation in the West Indies. Purchased by a British merchant, he was then taken to Great Britain where he was granted freedom. Together with Olaudah Equiano, he was part of the Sons of Africa movement, an association of freed slaves based in London which fought for the abolition of slavery.

A «PECULIAR INSTITUTION»

Despite the resistance of slaves, the growth of abolitionist movements, the increasing prominence on the public scene of leaders of African descent and the construction of support networks for slave liberation such as the ‘Underground Railroad’, the ‘peculiar institution’, as slavery was defined in the Southern states, continued until the Civil War (1861-1865), which followed the election of Republican Abraham Lincoln to the presidency in 1860.

 

In 1863, Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, under which ‘all persons held as slaves’ in the secessionist rebel states were to be freed.

More than 200,000 African-American soldiers fought for the Union in the Civil War, a figure equal to almost 10 percent of all Unionist forces. More than 68,000 black soldiers died in battle or were declared missing. Their contribution was crucial and made a return to slavery virtually impossible once the war was over .

The abolition of the Atlantic slave trade did not mean the outlawing of slavery. Slave societies in the Americas, in particular, continued to practise forms of slavery which remained legal for many decades to come. Brazil, for example, only abolished slavery in 1888, the last Latin American country to do so.

 

 

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