Death on the Grain Coast
http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,3604,1559358,00.html
In 1787 a small fleet set sail from London to Sierra Leone. For the
hopeful black passengers and their white abolitionist benefactors, it
was an extraordinary, utopian venture - to establish the first colony
of freed slaves in Africa. In an exclusive extract from his new book,
Simon Schama reveals how that dream of a new life turned into a
nightmare
Wednesday August 31, 2005
The Guardian
In the late 18th century, between 5,000 and 7,000 black people lived in
London. More than 20 years before the legislation of William
Wilberforce finally ended slavery in Britain, the practice was still
legal - but ambiguously so. Most blacks in London were free, but not
all, and slave catchers operated widely in the capital, kidnapping
runaways.
The abolitionist movement, meanwhile, was well under way, and in 1772 a
landmark legal judgment had given rise to the widespread (but
erroneous) impression that slavery was outlawed in England. As a
consequence, black slaves everywhere - but especially in the American
colonies - came to see England as a beacon of hope. Many served the
loyalist cause in the American war of independence - and thus looked to
King and Country to guarantee their liberty when the colonies were
surrendered.
Simon Schama
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.atheism/msg/34185c02141c014f
Slavery
http://groups-beta.google.com/group/alt.atheism/msg/a6d7b3c58b27ec8a
.
|
