The Sons of Africa were a late 18th-century group in Britain that campaigned to end African chattel slavery. The "corresponding society" has been called the Britain's first black political organisation. Its members were educated Africans in London, included formerly enslaved men like

Ottobah Cugoano Ottobah Cugoano, also known as John Stuart (c. 1757 – after 1791), was an abolitionist, political activist, and natural rights philosopher from West Africa who was active in Britain in the latter half of the eighteenth century. Captured in th ...

Olaudah Equiano Olaudah Equiano (; c. 1745 – 31 March 1797), known for most of his life as Gustavus Vassa (), was a writer and abolitionist from, according to his memoir, the Eboe (Igbo) region of the Kingdom of Benin (today southern Nigeria). Enslaved as ...

and other leading members of London's black community.Gretchen Gerzina, ''Black England: Life Before Emancipation'', London: Allison and Busby, 1999, p. 172. It was closely connected to the

Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade The Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade, also known as the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, and sometimes referred to as the Abolition Society or Anti-Slavery Society, was a British abolitionist group formed on ...

, a non-denominational group founded in 1787, whose members included

Thomas Clarkson Thomas Clarkson (28 March 1760 – 26 September 1846) was an English abolitionist, and a leading campaigner against the slave trade in the British Empire. He helped found The Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade (also known ...

History

In Britain in the late 18th century, groups organized to end the slave trade and ultimately abolish slavery. The Quakers had been active. A new group was the Sons of Africa, made up of Africans who had been freed from slavery and were living in London, such as

and

. Many had been educated and used their literacy to petition parliament on these issues, as well as writing to newspapers and speaking at lectures. They were allied with the newly founded

of 1787, including both Quakers and Anglicans, including

. The Sons of Africa referred to him as "our constant and generous friend".Gerzina (1999), ''Black England'', p. 173. Equiano had learned about the 1783 insurance claim trial related to the

Zong massacre The ''Zong'' massacre was a mass killing of more than 130 African enslaved people by the crew of the British slaver ship ''Zong'' on and in the days following 29 November 1781. The William Gregson slave-trading syndicate, based in Liverpool, ...

and contacted abolitionist

Granville Sharp Granville Sharp (10 November 1735 – 6 July 1813) was one of the first British campaigners for the abolition of the slave trade. He also involved himself in trying to correct other social injustices. Sharp formulated the plan to settle black ...

, who helped bring the case to public attention. The group held public meetings to lecture about slavery. They wrote letters, for example to the MP

Sir William Dolben ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as p ...

. They often sent letters opposing slavery and detailing conditions of the

Middle Passage The Middle Passage was the stage of the Atlantic slave trade in which millions of enslaved Africans were transported to the Americas as part of the triangular slave trade. Ships departed Europe for African markets with manufactured goods (first ...

to newspapers, to help provoke debate. Shortly after his correspondence with them and a visit to see a slave ship being fitted out, Dolben proposed a Parliamentary bill to improve the conditions on slave ships. The Slave Act 1788 was the first law passed to regulate the slave trade, establishing standards of how many slaves could be carried in relation to ship size. Olaudah Equiano also led delegations of the Sons to Parliament to persuade MPs to abolish the

transatlantic slave trade The Atlantic slave trade, transatlantic slave trade, or Euro-American slave trade involved the transportation by slave traders of enslaved African people, mainly to the Americas. The slave trade regularly used the triangular trade route and i ...

. This was achieved under the

Slave Trade Act 1807 The Slave Trade Act 1807, officially An Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom prohibiting the slave trade in the British Empire. Although it did not abolish the practice of slavery, it ...

, which applied to all colonies except those

in India IN, In or in may refer to: Places * India (country code IN) * Indiana, United States (postal code IN) * Ingolstadt, Germany (license plate code IN) * In, Russia, a town in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast Businesses and organizations * Indepen ...

, where slavery was part of

Indian culture Indian culture is the heritage of social norms, ethical values, traditional customs, belief systems, political systems, artifacts and technologies that originated in or are associated with the ethno-linguistically diverse India. The term al ...

. The legislation included provisions for Britain to use naval force to enforce the law, and it began to intercept illegal slave ships off the coast of Africa.

Hakim Adi Hakim Adi is a British historian and scholar who specializes in African affairs. He is the first African-British historian to become a professor of history in the UK. He has written widely on Pan-Africanism and the modern political history of A ...

Marika Sherwood Marika Sherwood (born 1937) is a Hungarian-born historian, researcher, educator and author based in England. She is a co-founder of the Black and Asian Studies Association. Biography Sherwood was born in 1937 into a History of the Jews in Hungar ...

, ''Pan African History: Political Figures from Africa and the Diaspora Since 1787'', Routledge, 2003. The Sons of Africa continued to work for abolition of slavery in the British colonies.

Membership

The membership of the Sons of Africa varied, it included: *

(who often signed as John Stuart) * George Mandeville * William Stevens * Joseph Almze * Boughwa Gegansmel * Jasper Goree * James Bailey * Thomas Oxford * John Adams * George Wallace *John Christopher * Thomas Jones *Thomas Carlisle *Daniel Christopher

References

{{reflist Abolitionism in the United Kingdom African slave trade Defunct political parties in the United Kingdom