2007 marks the bicentenary of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade. Now a new book by Southampton researcher John Oldfield seeks to uncover the untold stories behind the event.
‘Of course, the Abolition of Slave Trade Bill did not end slavery, it merely made the trade illegal,’ asserts Oldfield as he flicks through his new book, Chords of Freedom. ‘The Emancipation Act, which really made slavery illegal, happened much later, in 1833’, he continues. John is describing the research that went into creating Chords of Freedom, a book that traces the historical events of the 1830s through to the present day. A six-year labour of love, the book takes a close look at the role of William Wilberforce, who led the campaign in the House of Commons against the practice of slavery.
The book also delves into the way we in Britain remember the slave trade, its monuments and commemorations. ‘I wanted to look at the slave trade from a different angle,’ John explains. ‘There are a number of texts that look at the history and events of that period with a traditional linear approach. I wanted to delve a little deeper and uncover not only details of the period itself, but its aftermath.’
John has travelled extensively between the UK, America and the Caribbean to find records and manuscripts detailing what exactly happened during the abolition period. Concentrating on what he calls ‘narratives’, John spent time with a number of black academic and community groups to gather information concerning the way they remember the slave trade and contrasted that with predominantly white groups in the UK and USA.
‘The UK displayed a triumphalist narrative in its memory of the trade until around World War Two,’ says John. ‘This followed the idea that the UK had brought slavery to an end, seemingly forgetting the atrocities that happened prior to that. Ever since World War 2 the emphasis has shifted from triumphalism to the indignity of slavery.’ ‘Black voices from the abolition period are more difficult to chart as official records are hard to come by from these groups. However, black human rights groups are now very vocal and they have been increasingly involved in projects such as slavery museums, so they have provided a lot of good information.’
Wilberforce – behind the myth
One of the main players in the story of slavery abolition is William Wilberforce. Compelled by his strong Christian values to effect change, Wilberforce made his first major speech on the subject of abolition in the House of Commons, in which he reasoned that the trade was morally reprehensible and an issue of natural justice.
This unprecedented stance was initially met with derision from the majority of the house, but eventually Wilberforce and his supporters were able to push the act through Parliament. ‘Wilberforce has always been the poster boy for the abolition movement,’ explains John. ‘But it is only with the passing of time that he was picked out as the lead figure – there were others who had just as much influence over the outcome of the abolition movement. Like so many British heroes, Wilberforce’s image has been rearranged to meet the demands of the present, so at different times he has been viewed and adopted as a Christian philanthropist, an apostle of freedom or, more recently, as a modern human rights campaigner. Ironically, Wilberforce had very little to do with the 1833 Emancipation Act. ’
John’s book deconstructs the view of Wilberforce as a modern day liberal or democrat. It looks at the meaning of evangelical conceptions of freedom and how Wilberforce was viewed as an enigma by some of his contemporaries: a popular but small and sickly man with great determination and purpose. Chords also analyses the role that Wilberforce’s two sons played in the promotion of their father’s work over and above his contemporaries and how this may have also added to the weight of his reputation.
‘Chords is definitely not an anti-Wilberforce book – far from it,’ says John. ‘It’s more a book that looks at the reasoning behind why we think of the man as we do today. Christian groups, for instance, have built a long standing relationship between Wilberforce’s values and their own. They have held him up as an example of how Christianity was used to stop the slavery movement.’
The story behind the Act
In 1805 the House of Commons passed a bill that made it unlawful for any British subject to capture and transport slaves, but this bill was subsequently thrown out by the House of Lords. Lord Grenville, his Foreign Secretary, Charles Fox, were strong opponents of the slave trade. Fox and William Wilberforce led the campaign in the House of Commons, while Grenville had the task of persuading the House of Lords. Grenville made a passionate speech where he argued that the trade was ‘contrary to the principles of justice, humanity and sound policy’ and criticised fellow members for ‘not having abolished the trade long ago’. The Abolition of the Slave Trade finally became law on 25 March 1807. British captains who were caught with slaves on board were fined £100 per slave. However, this law did not stop the British slave trade. If slaveships were in danger of being captured by the British navy, captains often reduced their fines by ordering the slaves to be thrown into the sea.
