Brief History of Slavery Abolition in Britain• 1772 – Lord Mansfield declares absence of legal basis for slavery

• 1770s-1830s – A variety of groups agitated for abolition of slavery, some of them based on the “rights of man” and “rights of woman” movements.

• Plantation owners and investors agitated in favor of slave trade (214-15)

• 1781 – Scandal of the slave ship Zong – captain tossed 133 slaves into shark-infested waters to take advantage of insurance policy.

• 1789 – Equiano’s “Narrative” became a best-seller and an opposing viewpoint in Parliamentary debates that helped steer opinion against slavery.

• Parliamentary momentum toward abolition was halted by French Revolution (1789-99), due to fears of slave rebellions.

• 1807 – Parliament abolishes slave-trading (but not slave-owning)

• 1833 – Parliament passes Emancipation Bill outlawing slave ownership in Britain and its colonies, freeing 800,000 slaves and compensating owners with more than 20 million pounds.

• Some of the anti-slavery folks have Imperial prejudices nonetheless (“their own version of African primitivism”) (215)