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On 26 September 1996, a memorial was inaugurated in Westminster Abbey to honour Thomas Clarkson, one of the best known of the British anti-slavery abolitionists. The eulogy was delivered by no less a person than the Bishop of Ely. The inauguration of the Clarkson memorial pointed to a disjunction between academic history and public memory that was attracting scholarly attention. Some of the historians who contributed to Nora's volumes directed attention to buildings that functioned as symbolic sites of public memory. One of these was the Pantheon, to which, in Mona Ozouf's words, on a memorable occasion President Mitterand had summoned the French people to participate in 'a gathering of the national community around its great men'. The Pantheon, however, exemplified another of the conclusions to which Nora's volumes pointed: public memory is not monolithic but pluralist and 'conflictual'.

This chapter assesses the Quaker impact on the early British anti-slave trade campaign and, in particular, the influence Quaker writings and networks had on the early career of Thomas Clarkson. Clarkson pioneered the abolitionists' research into the slave trade and the slave ships. It was his empirical investigations among slave captains, sailors, and slave ship rosters that teased out the hard facts and figures about life—and more important, of death—on board the slave ships. In the wake of his pioneering investigations, discussion about the slave trade switched to a detailed analysis of the data. Clarkson and subsequent abolitionists ensured that the debate about abolition was not merely a recitation of moral outrage or religious disapproval but more about the facts. And once those facts were rehearsed in public, they proved irresistible. It was the hard evidence, culled from the belly of the slave ships, that both shocked and persuaded.

This volume has emerged from a five-year Japanese research project, ‘Eurasia in the Modern Period: Towards a New World History.’ As the book’s title suggests, it offers an attempt to recast the his...

Econocide. British Slavery in the Era of Abolition, by Seymour Drescher, Second edition, With a new preface by the author and a new foreword by David Brion Davis, xxxii + 279 pp, The University of ...

The bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act in 1807 prompted a remarkable wave of public commemorations across Britain. In contrast to the low-key events of 1907, 2007 saw a sustained and nation-wide urge to commemorate, publicise and discuss the Atlantic slave trade and its abolition. Government interest proved an important influence, and was reflected in a lively educational debate (resulting in changes to the National Curriculum.) This political interest may have stemmed from the parallel debate about modern human trafficking, and contemporary slave systems. Equally, the availability of funding (from the Heritage Lottery Fund) may have persuaded a host of institutions to devise exhibitions, displays and debates about events of 1807. Perhaps the most striking forms of commemoration were in broadcasting and publishing: the BBC was especially active. There were few regions or localities which remained unaffected by the year's commemorations.But why was there such interest? Was 1807, with the outlawing of an unquestioned evil, seen as a moment of national virtue? But if so, how are we to recall the role played by the British in the perfection of Atlantic slavery and the slave trade? The lively debates in 2007, from major national institutions to small local gatherings, revealed the problematic nature of abolition itself. After all, slavery survived, and even the slave trade continued after 1807. So what was important about 1807? The commemorations of 2007 raised public awareness about an important transformation in the British past; it also exposed those intellectual and political complexities about the ending of the Atlantic slave trade which have proved so fascinating to academic historians.

Although slavery played a major role in the British economy starting in the seventeenth century, it was not until the 1990s that it rose to a central position in the public history of the nation, thus bringing together historians, museum curators and ethnic groups around new presentations of the question. The public history of slavery raises complex questions and the eventual museal presentations can be disappointing, as was the case with Liverpool. Even more problematic is the incorporation of slavery in the tourism-driven documents which plantation visitors receive in the Caribbean and the United States. In spite of these complexities, the bicentennial proved an opportunity for the British to engage in a national debate on slavery and the history of the nation., Alors que l’esclavage joua dès le XVIIe siècle un rôle majeur dans l’économie britannique, ce ne fut cependant pas avant les années 1990 que ce sujet se retrouva au coeur de l’histoire publique de la nation, et que se rassemblèrent alors historiens, conservateurs de musée et groupes ethniques autour de nouvelles présentations de la question. L’histoire publique de l’esclavage soulève de complexes interrogations, et les représentations muséales qui en découlent s’avèrent parfois décevantes, comme ce fut le cas à Liverpool. Bien plus problématique encore est l’inclusion de l’esclavage dans les documents à visée touristique que reçoivent les visiteurs de plantations aux Caraïbes et aux États-Unis. En dépit des difficultés de l’histoire publique, le bicentenaire a constitué pour les Britanniques une occasion de participer à un débat national sur l’esclavage et l’histoire de la nation., Walvin James. Slavery, abolition and public history in Britain, the United States and the British Caribbean. In: Cahiers Charles V, n°46,2009. L'Empire britannique en héritage: esclavage, abolition, discrimination et commémoration de l'Amérique du Nord à l'Australie. pp. 365-386.

The British did not initiate, but they came to dominate the Atlantic slave trade. Few expressed moral or ethical doubts about slavery. The Anglican church, was directly involved in slavery. When a Christian voice was raised against the slave trade, it was led by Quakers who also played a critical role in the campaign to end the slave trade.

Students of the abolition of the British slave trade and slavery face a daunting volume of material. Quite apart from the rising tide of modern scholarship, the contemporary evidence forms an intim...

Abolitionism and Imperialism in Britain, Africa and the Atlantic Edited by Derek R. Peterson Athens, OH, Ohio University Press, 2010 ix + 235 pp., ISBN: 978-0-8214-1902-1 ($28.95 paperback) The 200...