"Chords of Freedom"
Commemoration, Ritual and British Transatlantic Slavery

Chords of Freedom offers valuable new insights into the ways in which Britons have been taught to remember transatlantic slavery, and how our views of figures like William Wilberforce have been revised to meet the changing demands of the 'present'.

A separate chapter also considers how Britain's example in abolishing first the slave trade (1807) and then colonial slavery (1833-34) impacted on the rituals of the American anti-slavery movement, and served as a convenient symbol of the potential of freedom in the British West Indies. 'Chords of freedom' offers valuable new insights into the way in which a 'culture of abolition' took root in Britain, and how our views of transatlantic slavery and figures like William Wilberforce have been revised and amended to reflect the changing demands of a series of 'present days'. Its cross-disciplinary approach will appeal to a broad spectrum of specialists, as well as to undergraduates and postgraduates.

CONTENTS List of illustrations Acknowledgements Introduction One Frames of Remembrance: Benjamin Robert Haydon and The Anti-Slavery Convention, 1840 Two Literary Memorials: Clarkson's History and The Life of William Wilberforce Three Sites of Memory: Abolitionist Monuments and the Politics of Identity Four Abolitionist Rituals: Celebrations and Commemorations Five Sites of Memory: Transatlantic Slavery and the Museum Experience Six Transatlantic Perspectives Conclusion Bibliography Index