Abolitionists at Westminster Abbey
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Overview
Delve into the lives of six key abolitionists who are memorialised in Westminster Abbey, finding out how they worked collaboratively to achieve abolition. The core of this lesson is a comprehensive fact-finding activity, during which groups explore four key themes that impacted abolition: politics and the law; personal experience; religion; and public opinion and support. Students will also consider the similarities and differences between the six memorials and consider how they reflect the individual contributions.
Learning objectives
- To use factsheets and historical sources to learn about the lives and role in abolition of Thomas Clarkson, Olaudah Equiano, Charles James Fox, Zachary Macaulay, Granville Sharp and William Wilberforce
- To discover the complexity of achieving abolition and how individuals worked collaboratively to achieve this
- To understand more about Britain’s transatlantic slave trade, its effects and its eventual abolition
