Colonial Williamsburg

VOLUME 8, ISSUE 6

Top Stories

"William Wilberforce: (1759–1833)"

William Wilberforce is perhaps the best known of the abolitionists. He came from a prosperous merchant family of Kingston-upon-Hull, a North Sea port which saw little in the way of slave trading. At twenty-one, the youngest age at which one could be so elected, he became a member of Parliament for his native town. Four years later he was again returned to Parliament, this time for the county seat of Yorkshire . . . . Wilberforce's early years in Parliament were not untypical for a young back-bencher. He was noted for his eloquence and charm, attributes no doubt enhanced by his considerable wealth, but he did not involve himself at first with any great cause. A sudden conversion to evangelical Christianity in 1785 changed that and from then onwards he approached politics from a position of strict Christian morality.

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Primary Source of the Month:
Wilberforce Medal

This commemorative medal was created in 1807 to honor William Wilberforce, a member of the British Parliament who was a driving force in an attempt to abolish the slave trade in Great Britain and its colonies.

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Teaching Strategy: William Wilberforce and Abolition

As a result of this lesson, students will understand the role William Wilberforce played in abolishing slavery in England and English territories in the 1700s and 1800s.

William Wilberforce came from a wealthy merchant family. In 1785, he embraced evangelical Christianity, which influenced his approach to politics. During his early years in the House of Commons, he worked to suppress vice and reform public manners. At the suggestion of the Prime Minister, William Pitt, Wilberforce became the parliamentary leader of the abolition movement.

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Colonial Williamsburg Teaching Resources for Your Classroom

Colonial Williamsburg offers a variety of quality instructional materials dealing with 18th-century life, including:

• Hands-On History: Slave's Bag (object kit)
• Slavery: A Colonial Odyssey (lesson unit)
• Stories Under African Skies (CD)
• From Ear to Ear (CD)

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Teaching News

New! Podcasts in the Classroom
Have you ever used podcasts in your classroom? Podcasts offer unique opportunities to extend learning and deepen the level of discussion. Colonial Williamsburg produces a series of podcasts in which listeners can go behind the scenes to meet historical interpreters, tradespeople, historians, curators, and more. Many of these podcasts align with Colonial Williamsburg's other educational media.

New this month, in the podcast "Slave Preacher," historical interpreter James Ingram discusses his experience portraying the enslaved Baptist preacher, Gowan Pamphlet. All of the podcasts are archived on the Web site, so you may find several that are relevant to your curriculum. For example, if you are participating in this month's Electronic Field Trip, you may want to listen to the "The Slave Trade" podcast from 2007. Many of the podcasts are enhanced with images or video, and all have written transcripts available.

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Quotation of the Month

"This traffic in the human species, which is so direct and daring an infringement of every principle of liberty and justice, has attracted the public notice—The more it is examined, the more horrid it will appear; and the voice of reason, aided by the natural feelings of the human heart, must sooner or later achieve its overthrow."

—William Roscoe, preface to The Wrongs of Africa, a Poem. Part the First (London: R. Faulder, 1787)

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