On this Day…March 28, 1760…Thomas Clarkson – by Donna Schlachter – with Giveaway

Courtesy Wikipedia Thomas Clarkson 330px-Thomas_Clarkson_by_Carl_Frederik_von_Breda.jpg

Just over 250 years ago, a man was born who would change the face of slavery in America. While perhaps not as well known as his British counterpart William Wilberforce, Thomas Clarkson was—no pun intended—a force to be reckoned with when it came to ending the importation and sale of slaves.

Clarkson, as the eldest son, was expected to follow in his father’s footsteps. Perhaps his father’s passing when Clarkson was around six changed his mind. Although he was ordained a deacon in 1783, he never continued through his studies to become an Anglican priest.

Perhaps the reason was an essay competition he entered in 1785 about the legitimacy of slave trade. Maybe his hesitancy was due to his growing admiration for a Quaker abolitionist, Anthony Benezet. Whatever the cause, he won the contest, then read his essay in Cambridge. On the way home, he had a “Damascus Road” experience: if what he’d written was true—and he believed it to be so—then somebody—namely he—needed to publicize this truth.

He wrote an essay the following year decrying slavery and referring to first-hand accounts of victims and supporters on the treatment, transport, and lack of regard for the African person as a human being. Many applauded his attempts, and in 1783, Quakers from London presented a petition to the British Parliament against the slave trade.

Slave ship https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Clarkson

 

 

 

 

Clarkson soon chaired a committee that gathered more evidence of the inhumane treatment of slaves, and he spent two years traveling around England, promoting the cause. During this time, he interviewed 20,000 sailors, obtained examples of equipment used on the transport ships, including handcuffs, leg shackles, and branding irons.

He realized quickly that pictures and artefacts influenced opinion more that words alone, and amassed a collection to demonstrated that Africans were skilled artisans who could be employed on a fair trading basis. Riding more than 35,000 miles during that time, he enlisted the help of two ship’s surgeons who had sailed on slave ships and could recount their experiences, lending credibility to his cause.

During the years Wilberforce carried the fight to abolish slavery in Britain, Clarkson traveled and wrote anti-slavery works.

By 1794, at the age of 34, Clarkson retired from his travels due to exhaustion. He married in 1796, welcoming a son later that year.

Playford Hall https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Clarkson

 

In 1804, once the war with France appeared to be at an end, he ended his retirement and traveled the country again, building support for abolition.

In 1807, the Slave Trade Act ended the importation and trade of slaves. Clarkson then turned his attention to enforcing the law and expanding the campaign to the rest of Europe and America. While the United States prohibited the international trade of slaves in that same year, the owning of slaves within the country was still allowed.

He continued traveling, and in 1833, the Slavery Abolition Act was passed in England. Now Clarkson turned his attention to the United States. Following the Revolutionary War, 3,000 former US slaves freed by the British and granted land in Nova Scotia, Canada. Later, this group moved to Sierra Leone and established Freetown. Thomas Clarkson’s younger brother John was its first governor.

From Wikipedia Clarkson Memorial 225px-Clarkson_Memorial_cropped.jpg

 

 

Thomas Clarkson died in 1846 in Playford, Suffolk, at the age of 86, and is buried at St. Mary’s Church in that village.

From Wikipedia Clarkson Memorial in church Memorial_To_Thomas_Clarkson_-_geograph.org.uk_-_2846475.jpg

 

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About Donna:

A hybrid author, Donna writes squeaky clean historical and contemporary suspense. She has been published more than 60 times in books; is a member of several writers' groups; facilitates a critique group; teaches writing classes; and judges in writing contests. She loves history and research, traveling extensively for both, and is an avid oil painter. She is taking all the information she’s learned along the way about the writing and publishing process, and is coaching committed writers.

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Resources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Clarkson

https://www.quakersintheworld.org/quakers-in-action/167/Thomas-Clarkson

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Thomas-Clarkson