Women and the Anti Slavery Campaign
At this time women in Britain could not vote or pass laws in parliament but they showed their support against slavery in a number of ways. Women played a significant role in ending slavery. They fought the campaign with intellectual, social and moral arguments. They paid membership fees to anti-slavery societies, in 1831 there were 73 formed and were the key promoters of the sugar boycott in the home. Women wore Wedgwood anti-slavery cameos to demonstrate their beliefs and women of all classes wrote poetry on the subject. #IMAGE# Many objects in our collections were produced as part of the campaign against slavery. Most were made for the home and aimed at women appealing to their maternal nature by having printed images of female slaves, often in chains or looking downcast sometimes clutching babies usually have an accompanying printed verse, this got women talking.#IMAGE# #SUBHEADING#Wedgwood#SUBHEADINGEND# Josiah Wedgwood was a keen advocate of the Anti Slavery Campaign. What could be considered his most important contribution to the movement are his 'slave medallions' it brought the attention to the public to the horrors of the slave trade. Thousands were produced and were intended to adorn hat pins, brooches and other women's fashion accessories. The medallion had the phrase 'Am I not a man and a brother' with a kneeling slave. They were worn by women and used to make known the suffering of slaves and it showed that his craft could be used with a political function. #SUBHEADING#The Sugar Boycott#SUBHEADINGEND# There were many people who supported the abolition of slavery and women participated in the campaign in a number of ways including the sugar boycott. The public's refusal to buy sugar produced by slave plantations in the Caribbean was one of the first national boycotts in British history and became a huge success in part by women. #IMAGE# By 1791 thousands of pamphlets were produced to encourage people to boycott sugar. It has been estimated that between 300,000 and 400,000 people mainly women refused to buy sugar during the abolition campaign. The sales of sugar dropped but some shops advertised goods as well as sugar that were produced by freemen and sales of sugar from India where slaves were not used to produce it increased. Mobilisation of the public remains an essential tool in achieving political change. The sugar boycott is one of the earliest examples of consumers using their purchasing power to reject the trade in goods which weren't ethically produced, equivalent of the modern day fair trade campaign.
