Abolition of Slavery

The Abolition of the Slave Trade Act of 1807 was the first step towards abolishing the slave trade.  It did not actually make slavery illegal - that did not happen until the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 - but made it unlawful to capture or transport slaves, introducing a £100 fine for every slave found on board a ship.  This was not exactly good news for slaves being transported since they were often thrown over the side to reduce the fine. No-one could accuse the government of the time of going overboard . . . . or could they?

Am I not a man and your brother?

The Journey

Image from the title page to abolitionist Anthony Benezet's book

‘Some Historical Account of Guinea’, London, 1788

Am I not a man and your brother?

Am I not a man and am I not a brother?

So why can’t we just be friends with each other?

Why you draped in satin and me bound in chains?

Do we not have, both, the same blood in our veins?

Am I not a man and am I not a brother?

Are we two not, both of us, born of a mother?

Will we two not, both of us, lie in a grave?

So why is it I have to serve as your slave?

Am I not a man and am I not a brother?

Should we not instead love one another?

Do we two not, both of us, love the same God?

Would he not suppose this relationship odd?

Am I not a man and am I not a brother?

So why can’t we just be friends with each other?

Why me with nothing while you own these lands?

And why is it my life lies here in your hands?

                                                                ©   Ken Wood 2007

The Journey

Shackled and chained, they are beaten and flogged as they’re forced to go onto the ship
Stopping in fear or just daring to pause bring them more searing pain from the whip
Terror is written on everyone’s face as they’re locked into place on a bench.
Painfully lying in vomit and filth they’re repelled by the stale, putrid stench.
Packed close together with no room to move like a great line of corpses they lie.
Hatches are shut and as darkness descends, . . everyone there starts to cry.

Where they are going and why they are there? Not any one of them knows.
Lonely, afraid now to sleep in the dark, inside each heart the fear grows.
What of their families? Where are their friends? Have they been taken as well?
What is to happen and will they survive? Why are they here in this Hell?
What have they done to deserve such a fate, each of them quite at a loss?
Why has their Father forsaken them so? How did they come to this Cross?

Slowly the ship leaves the harbour and soon, sails aloft, speeds to the West.
Sailors and merchants alike say their prayers, giving thanks to the Lord that they’re blessed.
Fortunes are made and great mansions are built. Honours on them Kings bestow.
Peers of the Realm they become by and by, and all from the bodies below.
Deep in the bowels of that full-laden ship, they are hungry and crying in pain,
Ignorant of the great journey they make, crossing that vast Spanish Main.

Suddenly hatches fly open again, and then sailors come down below decks
Keys turn in locks - legs are painfully freed - metal chains tied round their necks.
Rope ends force limbs to start working again. Cudgels get blood flowing fast.
Up on deck quickly they’re forced to ascend, clustering round the great mast.
Blinking their eyes in the sudden bright light, they are grateful that they can still see
In a new harbour they look all around, wondering where they can be.

Sights and sounds new to them fill eyes and ears as they walk one by one down the ramp
Limping and hobbling, cow’ring in fear, and smarting with pain from their cramp
Stood one by one ‘fore a gathering crowd, a realisation takes hold
That’s when they know for the very first time that for money as slaves they’ll be sold
Thinking on weeks spent afloat in that ship as it fought its way through mighty waves
Thinking on that dreadful journey they took as they went from free men to be slaves.

                                                                                                                                                                 ©   Ken Wood 2007