The Abolition Of Slavery - Rachel Munro : 3D Gallery

slave trade map

This
is a modern-day map of the Atlantic slave trade that shows us how many people
from Africa were taken as slave. This suggests slavery is wrong because of how
they treated black people back then, even though they didn't speak the same
language as us or were the same colour doesn't mean they weren't still humans. The
argument I have chosen to support this is 'The
African people were in no way inferior and should be treated as equals. The
Quaker teacher, Anthony Benezet, was always horrified at the suggestion that
the Africans were in anyway inferior. His claimed his experiences, gained
during 20 years teaching black pupils, proved this was not the case. However,
it was the books and speeches of African writers of the time, such as Olaudah
Equiano, that had the greatest impact in dispelling such misconceptions. Even
some of those involved in the slave trade were willing to admit that raciest
views were wrong, as illustrated by the writings of Captain Thomas Philips.’

slave auction

This is a source of a slave auction being held
in Circa 1830 America, this painter wanted people and or slave owners to feel
as that they are in the wrong, as they were taking black people as slaves. They
made families break apart, they did this by selling them to slave owners, this
meant that they were breaking apart strong bonds such as ones with a mother and
daughter. I used this argument to back up my statement ‘If something is wrong, it
is wrong whether others do it or not. the anti-slavery supporters argued that
just because other countries engaged in the trade this did not provide a valid
reason for Britain to also participate, even if it was profitable. The argument
was also cleverly countered in William Cowper's Poem 'A pity for Poor
Africans'. This justifies why slave auction are wrong and break apart strong
bonds as said above.

slaves working in cotton fields

Slaves that were sold to their owners were then
put to work out on the fields to work (usually picking cotton, tobacco or
sugar). They were treated very poorly, fed very little, no pay at all and if
they made a mistake they would get a very painful punishment. People shouldn’t
have been treated like this. That is why my argument is ‘It was morally wrong
and, as a Christian country, Britain should not be involved. The anti-slavery
society also used the bible to back up their arguments. They pointed to
biblical text like Luke 16:13: "No man can serve two masters" . In
answer to the claims of the pro-slavery lobby, Granville Sharp, for example,
wrote in his pamphlet 'The just limitation of slavery in the Laws of God':
"...If we carefully examine the scriptures we shall find that slavery and
oppression were ever abominable in the sight of God..."’

slave ships

Slaves were very tightly packed into ships, this
wasn’t right as they were captured before. They had no choice what so ever and
again if they didn’t do as they were told they would then get whipped. My
argument against their rights is that ‘The Africans suffered greatly from being
removed from their homeland. They
collected evidence to show that many resisted or preferred death to transportation.
Many more died on the voyage to the Caribbean. Conditions on the ships were
terrible, as illustrated and the speech made by William Wilberforce to
parliament in 1789 and by testimony from people like ship's doctor James Ramsay
. The replacement rate statistics also showed the appallingly low life
expectancy of slaves on the plantations (7-9 years on some large plantations).’
The argument above shows just how cruel the slave sellers were, and the African
slave life expectancy was very low compared to the Americans.

Thomas Clarkson

Thomas Clarksons aim to abolish slavery was to:

-Uncover the truth about the trade and the
conditions on the ships

-Challenge the negative, misinformed view of
Africans held by many British people at the time.

-Challenge claims about the benefits of the
trade.

-Demonstrate that humane trading links could be
established, that would benefit both sides.

He done this by making a box full of weapons,
seeds etc, to show people that slavery was wrong, some people agreed and
stopped slavery with him. Others thought different and continued with their
slavery ways. ‘There were also alternatives to the trade. Much of the evidence
that he collected during his travels illustrated the potential for practical
alternatives. The seeds, minerals and crafts that he carried in 'the Clarkson
box' were used to demonstrate this.’ This shows us how much Thomas wanted
slavery abolished, he finally got this in 1863 when Abraham Lincoln signed the emancipation
proclamation, making all slaves in the US free of slavery.

slave branding

In this source, it shows a branding. Which is
where the slave traders marked their slaves by sticking a hot poker stick into
their skin. Therefore, they were then known as theirs, if they tried running
away people could identify them as a slave and take them back to their owners,
(sometimes they would get a profit out of it). This shows that slavery and branding
was wrong because of this justification, ‘At first, man was enslaved by the
gods. But he broke their chains. Then he was enslaved by the kings. But he
broke their chains. He was enslaved by his birth, by his kin, by his race. But
he broke their chains. He declared to all his brothers that a man has rights
which neither god nor king nor other men can take away from him, no matter what
their number, for his is the right of man, and there is no right on earth above
this right. And he stood on the threshold of freedom for which the blood of the
centuries behind him had been spilled.’

― Ayn Rand, Anthem

The Fighting Temeraire

The Fighting Temeraire tugged to her last berth to be broken up, 1838 is an oil painting by the English artist J. M. W. Turner. HMS Temeraire was one of the last second-rate ships of the line to have played a distinguished role in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. [more]

Liberty Leading the People

Liberty Leading the People is a painting by Eugène Delacroix commemorating the July Revolution of 1830, which toppled King Charles X of France. [more]

Ophelia

Ophelia is a painting by British artist Sir John Everett Millais, completed between 1851 and 1852. It depicts Ophelia, a character from Hamlet, singing before she drowns in a river in Denmark. [more]

The Music Lesson

The Music Lesson or Lady at the Virginals with a Gentleman by Jan Vermeer, is a painting of young female pupil receiving the titular music lesson. [more]

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The Abolition Of Slavery - Rachel Munro