Transcript What connects the song you here (Bob Marley’s Redemption

The Clarkson Challenge …
•
Audience & Purpose - Thomas Clarkson
spent his whole life trying to end slavery.
Join him on a tour round the country and
investigate the slave trade in greater
detail. You will need to collect evidence
and use it cleverly to persuade
parliament and the general public to
support your anti-slavery campaign.
Remember Clarkson had 3 main roles:
(1) RESEARCHER/INVESTIGATOR
• Collect evidence.
(2) DETECTIVE
• Find witnesses
(3) PERSUASIVE WRITER & SPEAKER
• Clarkson had to prepare speeches
and pamphlets in order to persuade
people in different parts of the country
to support the campaign to abolish the
slave trade.
STEP 1: KNOW YOUR HISTORY
Before Clarkson started his first tour of
the country he already had a good
understanding of the history of the
slave trade.
ACTIVITY
Before you start your tour make sure
you can answer the following
questions:
• Who was involved in the slave trade?
• Why did the slave trade grow?
• How did the slave trade operate? Can
you explain the slave triangle?
• Who benefited from the slave trade?
• What motivated people to take part in
the slave trade?
• Why was the slave trade so profitable?
STEP 2: KNOW YOUR ENEMY
ARGUMENTS PUT FORWARD TO DEFEND THE SLAVE TRADE
Many Europeans believed that they were superior to other people in
the world. They put forward a number of arguments to defend the
slave trade:
• Most slaves were already prisoners of war. They would have been
killed anyway.
• Slaves were not captured in a cruel way.
• Conditions on the slave ships were good.
• Slaves were well treated on the plantations.
• Slavery may be evil but it is a necessary evil. It produces a great
deal of wealth for our society. Africa is undeveloped – no other type
of trade is possible.
STEP 3: DEFEAT YOUR ENEMY …
During a parliamentary investigation a
witness for the slave trade described
how ‘delightful’ the slave ships were,
Robert Norris stated:
‘[The slaves] had sufficient room,
sufficient air, and sufficient
provisions. When upon deck, they
made merry and amused
themselves with dancing… In
short, the voyage from Africa to
the West Indies was one of the
happiest periods.’
Was the Middle Passage really one
of the ‘happiest periods’ of an
African’s life?
Look at the following source. How
could it be used to challenge Norris?
CLARKSON’S JOURNEY: LONDON (Early 1787)
… Granville Sharp
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In 1782 Collingwood, the captain of the
slave ship ‘Zong’, ordered that over 130 sick
slaves be thrown overboard. The slave ship
had left Africa in early September. By late
November over 60 slaves had died and
many others were seriously ill.
Collingwood knew that when he reached
Jamaica he would not be able to sell the sick
slaves and that the ship’s owners would lose
money. Collingwood thought that if they
threw the sick slaves overboard the owners
would be able to claim money back from the
insurance company. Those slaves that put
up a fight were chained before they were
thrown overboard.
Collingwood told the crew to pretend that the
ship had run out of water and that this meant
that some of the slaves had to be killed in
order to save the crew and the ‘more
healthy’ slaves. However, when the Zong
finally arrived in Jamica on 22 December it
still had over 400 gallons of water left.
The owners claimed insurance money for
the value of the dead slaves. I tried to
prosecute the ship’s captain for murder but
failed. The judge said that murder was not
the issue and that it was ‘just as if horses
were killed’.
Argument put
Your counter
forward to defend argument
the slave trade
Supporting Evidence
Witness
Conditions on the
ships were good.
• Slaves were sometimes
chained and thrown
overboard.
Granville
Sharp
Conditions for on
the slave ships
were horrific.
KENT … James Ramsay
How can this evidence be used?
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I lived on St Christopher in the
West Indies for 14 years. As a
clergyman I preached to the
slaves, taught them the bible in
their homes and made enemies of
the sugar plantation owners.
I saw for myself what conditions
were like on the plantations. I
often saw beatings and weary
slaves still carrying cane to the
mill by moonlight.
New mothers had to bring their
babies to the fields, leaving them
exposed to the sun and rain whilst
they worked.
Argument put
Your counter
forward to defend argument
the slave trade
Supporting Evidence
Witness
Conditions on the
ships were good.
Conditions on the
slave ships were
horrific.
• Slaves were sometimes
chained and thrown
overboard.
Granville
Sharp
Slaves were well
treated on the
plantations
Slaves were
treated very
harshly on the
plantations.
• They were often beaten.
James
• They worked long hours. Ramsay
• Young mothers were
forced to take their children
to work with them.
How could you use these visual
sources?
• Most slaves were already prisoners of
war. They would have been killed
anyway.
• Slaves were not captured in a cruel
way.
• Conditions on the slave ships were
good.
• Slaves were well treated on the
plantations.
• Slavery may be evil but it is a
necessary evil. It produces a great
deal of wealth for our society.
So … How many pins can you knock over?
ARGUMENTS PUT FORWARD TO DEFEND THE SLAVE TRADE
Many Europeans believed that they were superior to other people in
the world. They put forward a number of arguments to defend the
slave trade:
• Most slaves were already prisoners of war. They would have been
killed anyway.
• Slaves were not captured in a cruel way.
• Conditions on the slave ships were good.
• Slaves were well treated on the plantations.
• Slavery may be evil but it is a necessary evil. It produces a great
deal of wealth for our society. Africa is undeveloped – no other type
of trade is possible.
USING EVIDENCE: Running a Campaign
ACTIVITY
• You need to form a campaign
team. Use your research to
produce:
• A detailed PAMPHLET or
LEAFLET that will inform the
general public of the horrors of
the slave trade
• A powerful IMAGE that will
capture the public’s attention
• A well written and thoughtfully
performed SPEECH that will
persuade members of
parliament to introduce a law
banning the slave trade.