Women's Role in the Abolition of the British Slave Trade 

Article by Fiona Elliot. Edited by Sarah Purssell. Additional Research by Faye Hunter. 

‘Was it decreed, fair Freedom! at thy birth, 

That thou shou’d’st ne’er irradiate all the earth? 

While Britain basks in thy full blaze of light, 

Why lies sad Afric quench’d in total night?‘ 

–An extract from Hannah More: ‘Slavery, a poem’ 

The trading and use of slaves was a tradition centuries old but Hannah More was one of many women determined to contradict the passive, submissive stereotype of their sex in the early 1800s to make a stand for what they believed in. Her poems clearly demonstrate that she saw great injustice in the world and that something needed to be done about it. The slave trade barely affected women such as her personally but they could see the denial of even the basic human rights for many slaves and they were willing to fight for its abolition. 

Women lived in a world where white men were considered to be the superior gender, whose role was to provide for their wives and families with food and shelter. Women were considered to be subordinate and could therefore identify with black slaves who lived under the authority of their owners and had to depend on their master for similar provisions. The similarity in their situations helps provide us with an indication as to why so many women were keen to achieve abolition and have emancipation immediately granted to the slaves. 

The tactics that they employed to try to gain immediate abolition varied greatly. One way was to create greater public awareness in the form of poems like Hannah More’s quoted above and in the creation and publication of pamphlets such as Elizabeth Heyricks ‘Immediate Not Gradual Abolition’. These methods brought the issue to the attention of others in a way that was easy to understand and accessible to all thus increasing the impact that their message would have. By boycotting they were able to demonstrate their dissatisfaction directly to the slave owners. This was effective because it was a tactic used by ordinary women who had no control in the public sphere. They were not in a position to have political influence or make any public displays but in the home they were in charge of buying and cooking food so by boycotting products that had been grown, picked or made by slaves they could have a direct impact on sales and therefore encourage change. For example over 300,000 people stopped buying and using sugar that had been grown by slaves on plantations. Such a large number demonstrates that the issue was extremely popular with women and throughout society. 

Many women also set up their own anti-slavery organisations to prompt change, although a number of male run organisations existed. Groups such as the Birmingham Ladies Society for the Relief of Negro Slaves which emerged in1825 allowed women to take on roles of leadership that they would otherwise have been excluded from and therefore they were able to protest against the proposed gradual emancipation in favour of immediate emancipation. Immediate emancipation would mean the issue surrounding slavery in Britain would be solved instantly instead of allowing the abuse of slaves to continue for an indefinite length of time. The number of female led organisations had reached seventy three in 1831 and they were located across the whole of Britain demonstrating that women nationwide were concerned about the issue of slavery and were willing to take action. 

It would be naïve to attribute the downfall of slavery simply to the actions of a few groups of women but equally it would be unwise to ignore the fact that they did play an important role particularly in raising awareness. Their involvement in abolition is highly significant as it demonstrates how, despite being considered by many men to be intellectually inferior and having very little say within formal politics, women were still able to have an impact on change. They merely had to act in ways that were less obvious than the traditional male avenues such as political debates to which they had no access. Women’s role in abolition therefore provided them with a stage that was able to push the limits, not only of the rights of slaves, but also of women’s human rights. 

In reality the abolition of slavery happened in a number of stages throughout the world. However with the Abolition Act being passed in 1807 slaves were no longer allowed to be kept in Britain. The role of British women was also effective in reminding people that slavery still existed in a worldwide context in the British Empire. Their efforts were effective and raised awareness among the masses thus significantly increasing the popularity of the anti-slavery movement. Therefore undoubtedly women provided a contribution not only to abolition in Britain but also to the abolition of slavery within the wider British Empire by 1833.

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