The Birmingham Anti-Slavery Society
The Men’s Campaigns
Later Histories and Connections
Directions for Learning
The Birmingham Anti-Slavery Society
Images of African slave trade vessels inhumanly over-crowed with people destined for plantations in America, the West Indies, Cuba and Brazil provoked moral outrage in Birmingham. Formed in 1826 in resistance to the traffic in human beings, ‘The Birmingham Anti-Slavery Society’ became a local, national and international campaign group which took an important role in petitioning for nineteenth century antislavery laws.
Joseph Sturge was a key founding member of the group, serving throughout his life as one of its secretaries and arguably its most impassioned leader. Other members were men of a predominantly middleclass background belonging to various professions, churches, businesses, civic societies, town improvement boards and medical professions. These included people such as Richard Cadbury (the chocolate maker), Charles Lloyd (an important banker), Rev. John Angel James (of Carrs Lane Church), Rev. Thomas Swan (of Canon Street Chapel) and William Morgan (later Birmingham’s Town Clark).
The Birmingham Antislavery Society was dependant upon private and public donations to survive, which meant it drew people of great personal commitment to the cause, able to donate time, money and effort outside of their own personal and working lives. Many of its members were also involved with other reform societies, such as ‘The Complete Suffrage Union’ (in which Sturge backed the working class vote) and the ‘Baptist Missionary Society’ (which promoted education and religion in British colonies).
In 1839 the society became known as the Birmingham branch of the ‘British and Foreign Anti Slavery Society’. This new name signified a change of focus: for once slavery had been abolished in the British Colonies (1838), the society now sought to combat the ongoing existence of slavery in other nations, especially in America.
The Men’s Campaigns
The society grew from a relatively small local organisation in 1826 to play a major role in antislavery politics. It became particularly renown for its role in calling for the end of the West Indies ‘apprenticeship’ system in 1837/38. At this time, being an ‘apprentice’ meant being a slave in all except name. To prove this point, Sturge went on an extraordinary personal journey on behalf of the Birmingham Antislavery Society to visit the area and uncover first hand evidence for the true conditions of the people. His book A Visit to the West Indies in 1837, is a memorial of Birmingham’s role in passing the August 1st 1838 Emancipation Act.
Throughout its history, the antislavery society continued to establish cultural and political connections that drew Birmingham into contact with activists and campaigners for social justice from around the world. Two important examples of these contacts include Frederick Douglass, the inspiring black intellectual who had personally escaped slavery; and Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of the celebrated antislavery novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Sturge crossed the Atlantic once again in 1841, writing another antislavery account entitled, A Visit to the United States in 1841.
Overall, Sturge’s organisation’s outlook and ideas on slavery and racial equality reflected a mixture of highly radical possibilities set within conservative limitations. It could be argued that some of the society may have acted more from a belief that white civilized society that needed to be freed from the ‘sin’ of slavery, rather than a sense of equality with the African slave. But at the same time, their expressed belief in the ‘universal brotherhood of man’ was a theme that directly threatened traditional ideas about society and challenged racial prejudice.
Later Histories and Connections
Once slavery had been abolished both in the British Colonies (1838) and in America (1863), the Birmingham British and Foreign Antislavery Society continued to adapt to new circumstances, supporting those that were still left at risk. Joseph Sturge, their figurehead had passed away in 1859.
Nevertheless, in 1864 a new ‘Birmingham Freedmen’s Aid Society’ began to send donations of tools and practical materials to the American South to help black people suffering from poverty in the post-emancipation period reconstruct their lives.
Even as late as 1873, the evidence shows that people from Birmingham maintained a strong interest in helping the oppressed. For instance, a meeting in the town hall was held on January 22nd, 1873 in order “To promote the Suppression of Slave and Man Traffic in Africa and Polynesia, and the Abolition of Slavery in Cuba”.
Birmingham’s antislavery societies were an important forefather of ‘Anti Slavery International’, a campaign group still in operation today, combating contemporary issues such as child labour and discrimination against women. It is, in many ways, a close descendent of those first societies led by Sturge and others. An account of this connection can be found on the home page of www.antislavery.org
Directions for Learning
Starting points for further discussion, or your own archive research, might include:
How effectively did antislavery activists in Birmingham engage with people of different races and cultures?
How might the attempt of Joseph Sturge and The Birmingham Antislavery Society to combat oppression be linked
to later antis racist campaign groups in Birmingham, such as The Indian Workers Association? |
