How should we as Britons remember transatlantic slavery? How has slavery been remembered in the past? 'Chords of freedom' sets out to answer these questions and, in doing so, traces the way in which British transatlantic slavery has been absorbed into the nation's collective memory. By combining two current historiographical preoccupations - the construction of public memory and British transatlantic slavery - this fascinating book focuses on the way in which the British traditionally have been taught to view transatlantic slavery through the moral triumph of abolition. The author traces the construction of this national history through a number of case studies, including visual images, literary memorials (the competing accounts of the anti-slavery movement produced by Thomas Clarkson and Robert and Samuel Wilberforce), monument-memorials, galleries and museums, and commemorative rituals from the nineteenth century to the present day. A separate chapter also considers how Britain's example in abolishing first the slave trade (1807) and then colonial slavery (1833-34) impacted on the rituals of the American anti-slavery movement, and served as a convenient symbol of the potential of freedom in the British West Indies. 'Chords of freedom' offers valuable new insights into the way in which a 'culture of abolition' took root in Britain, and how our views of transatlantic slavery and figures like William Wilberforce have been revised and amended to reflect the changing demands of a series of 'present days'. Its cross-disciplinary approach will appeal to a broad spectrum of specialists, as well as to undergraduates and postgraduates.

Product Description: Contains primary texts relating to the British slave trade in the 17th and 18th century. The first volume contains two 18th-century texts covering the slave trade in Africa. Volume two focuses on the work of the Royal African company, and volumes three and four focus on the abolitionists' struggle...read more

Product Description: In 1792, 400,000 people put their signature to petitions calling for the abolition of the slaves trade. This work explains how this remarkable expression of support for black people was organized and orchestrated, and how it contributed to the growth of popular politics in Britain...read more

Product Description: In 1792 around 400,000 people put their signatures to petitions calling for the abolition of the slave trade. This text explains how this expression of support was organised and orchestrated, and how it contributed to the growth of popular politics in Britain...read more

Product Description: This work draws on research in archives in England and the United States to examine Alexander Crummell, generally regarded as the leading black intellectual of the 19th-century. It charts Crummell's career as a writer, teacher, orator, and minister and explores his relationships with such persons as E...read more