Page 26 - Urban Kapital New MAY JUNE 2020 ISSUE

GREAT BLACK ICONS

IMPORTANT CHANGEMAKERS IN BRITISH & US HISTORY

#01 #02

// // MARY PRINCE BRITISH #03 #04 #05
ABOLITIONIST AND AUTO //FREDERICK DOUGLASS
BIOGRAPHER BORN IN 1788 SOCIAL REFORMER, ABOLI-
TIONIST, ORATOR, WRITER, AND // IGNATIUS SANCHO (1729–80) \\ GUSTAVUS VASSA, OLAUDAH \\ OTTOBAH CUGOANO BORN IN
STATESMAN COMPOSER AND LITERARY EQUIANO. 1757. LONDON WRITER AND
CELEBRITY. WRITER AND ABOLITIONIST ABOLITIONIST

BY: MARCELINE POWELL

Here are some examples of other stat- and conflated versions of written his- ple asked awkward questions of their
ues that could legitimately stand along- tory, might have known no better. It leaders. But where were they suddenly
side those slave traders held precious may come as a surprise to many, but if getting this new information from? And
by those clinging to the stale idea of we are to tear down every statue that who was putting moral and political
what made Britain great. represents wealth from the proceeds pressure on men like Wilberforce? Who If they could effect change, given their gustus Washington Bailey; c. February as a man.”
of the triangular human trafficking that were the real leaders of the Abolitionist conditions and experiences, then the 1817– February 20, 1895) was an Ameri-
Records show that black men and wom- took place during the 18th century, movement that led to its eventual present-day government has no excuse can social reformer, In 1846, Douglass met with Thomas Clark-
en have lived in Britain since at least there are also many buildings in the UK abolition? not to do the same in the 21st century abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. son, one of the last living British abolition-
the 12th century, but it was the colonial that would also come in to question, not ists, who had persuaded Parliament to
‘empire’ that caused numbers to swell least, many council buildings, built by The real people named in this short Mary Prince was a British abolitionist and He escaped slavery in Maryland, and be- abolish slavery in Great Britain’s colonies.
exponentially in the 17th and 18th MP’s who found wealth in the trade. article represent just some of those auto biographer born in 1788. Her autobi- came a national leader of the abolitionist
centuries. who survived the horrors of the trian- ography The History Of Mary Prince was movement in Massachusetts and New During his trip Douglass became legally
One character that is pushed to the gular trade and the war on Africa. They first published in 1831 making her the first York, gaining notoriety for his oratory and free, as British supporters led by Anna
There is an argument for both sides of fore in Britain, usually presented as fought against the slave traders, insur- black woman to write and publish an auto- incisive antislavery writings. Richardson and her sister-in-law Ellen
the debate about whether the statues of the exemplary leader in the abolitionist ance companies, shipping companies, biography in Britain. of Newcastle upon Tyne raised funds to
those who made their wealth through movement and used as the face of Brit- British MP’s, and US Congressmen to Douglass was described by abolitionists buy his freedom from his American owner
trading in human suffering and ain’s façade that it led the way in aboli- secure freedom for all men and wom- Prince’s work documented her brutal as a living counterexample to the slave- Thomas Auld.
degradation should remain standing. tionism, is Wilberforce. A man who was en from brutality and bondage. These treatment as an enslaved person in Ber- holders’ theory that ‘slaves’ lacked the
only convinced after political pressure people helped to alleviate ordinary muda, and it was instrumental in the intellectual capacity to function as inde- Many supporters tried to encourage
After all, in their minds it was perfect- fell upon him. When pressure mounted Englishmen and women from extreme anti-slave trade movement. Prince, who pendent American citizens. Douglass to remain in England but, with
ly legitimate to create wealth from the from ordinary white working-class peo- ignorance about what was taking place worked with the Anti-Slavery Society, was his wife still in Massachusetts and three
suffering of ‘slaves’. The people they ple who were learning of the horrors in Africa and the Caribbean islands. also the first woman to present an an- Douglass spent two years in Ireland and million of his black brethren in bondage in
brutalised were less than, they were inflicted on their African brothers and They roused support and led lobby- ti-slavery letter to parliament. Great Britain, where he gave lectures. the United States, he returned to America
‘others’ ‘brutes’ who could take the heat sisters on the continent of Africa and in ists, wrote, and documented their ex- His draw was so great that some build- in 1847.
and work and breed like animals. the Caribbean colonies. periences and pushed through their This was no small achievement at the time ings were “crowded to suffocation”. One
People were disturbed by the informa- own extreme trauma to ensure change because slavery was still legal in England example was a popular London Reception Ignatius Sancho (1729–80), was one of
MAGAZINE // 26 stupidity that underlies such blatant them. They started to lose admiration ations. tobiography immensely popular. 1846 at Alexander Fletcher’s Finsbury 18th century who lived an independent MAGAZINE // 27
Speech, which Douglass delivered in May
would one day come for future gener-
the few black people in Britain in the late
but unrest from abolitionists made her au-
tion that had previously been kept from
Even if we accept or forgive the obvious
ignorance, one might argue that these
Chapel. Douglass remarked that in Eng-
life. He was born on a slave ship and later
for the men who had travelled and re-
turned with great wealth. Ordinary peo-
became a composer and literary celebrity.
people, now celebrated with statues
Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Au-
land he was treated not “as a colour, but