“It is Time for the Slaves to Speak”: Transatlantic Abolitionism and African American Resistance in Britain 1835-1895

1. “It is Time for the Slaves to Speak”: Transatlantic Abolitionism and African
American Resistance in Britain 1835-1895
Hannah-Rose Murray
PhD Student with the Department of American and Canadian Studies, University of Nottingham -
ahxhm@nottingham.ac.uk
www.frederickdouglassinbritain.com

2. UCL – Equiano Centre

3. Mural Map

4. Jamaican Slave Revolt

5. Visualizing Emancipation

6. Performance
“Under the drippings of the American
sanctuary slavery has its existence.
Whips, chains, gags, blood-hounds,
thumb-screws, and all the bloody
paraphernalia of slavery lie right under
the drippings of the sanctuary, and
instead of being corroded and rusted by
its influence, they are kept in a state of
preservation. Ministers of religion
defend slavery from the Bible –
ministers of religion own any number of
slaves – bishops trade in human flesh –
churches may be said to be literally built
up in human skulls, and their very walls
cemented with human blood…"

7. Print Culture
Abolitionist John Estlin was
friends with the editor of
London’s second biggest
newspaper, The Advertiser, a
connection William Craft
exploited to ensure larger
coverages of his lectures.
William Wells Brown exploited
this connection too, and in a
letter published in The Advertiser
in September 1852, wrote he was
“informed by my kind friend Mr
Estlin, of Bristol, that you would
insert any article that I might
write in favour of my enslaved
countrymen.”

8. Abolitionist Networks
Douglass described his
travel arrangements as
he was due to leave
Scotland in 1846,
writing that as he
travelled towards
London, he would stop
at Newcastle, North
Shields “and such other
Towns as lay in my way,
and in which I may be
invited to lecture.”
(1846).

9. Moses Roper
• 1815-1891 - born enslaved in
North Carolina
• Suffered horrendous violence on
the plantation – tried to escape
20 times
• Published a slave narrative,
Narrative of the Adventures and
Escape of Moses Roper from
American Slavery (1836)
• Toured Britain for several years
with mixed success
• Returned to the US – worked as
a lecturer, then as a farm hand
• Died in poverty

10. Frederick Douglass
• 1818-1895. Can’t mention
America in the c19th without
looking at Douglass!
• Born enslaved, he became the
most famous African American in
the c19th – and the most
photographed American in the
c19th!
• Campaigned for civil rights,
female and black suffrage, the
right for black people to fight in
the Union Army.
• Abolitionist, politician, writer,
orator…
• Visited Britain 1845-1847, 1859-
1860, 1886.

11. Ida B. Wells in Britain
“The world, she believed, had
done so little regarding this
matter because it knew so little.
It was her mission to give to the
world the black people’s side of
the story.”
The Leeds Mercury, Friday 6
July 1894.

12. The First Website…

13. The New Site…

14. Map of Black Abolitionist Speaking
Locations

15. Frederick Douglass’s Speaking Locations

19. Black Abolitionist Speaking Locations

20. Leamington Spa Courier
20 February 1847

21. Aberdeen Journal, 14 April 1847
“Frederick Douglass, The Emancipated Slave”

22. “Positive” Words
"slavery",
"pro-slavery",
"slave",
"fugitive",
"slaveholder",
"slaveholding",
"respectable",
"detersive",
"abolition"
coloured
negro
american
fugitive slave
negro slave
lynching
lecturer
negro
lecturer
black

23. Classifier Results

24. Overproof: OCR Correction –
Abolitionist Text

26. Black Abolitionist Walking Tour
Ida B. Wells – famous activist
who fought against lynching

27. Events and Public Engagement
A Performance by
Joe Williams & Martelle Edinborough