Print

Great Britain: Abolition of the Slave Trade, Am I not a Man and a Brother?

Great Britain: Abolition of the Slave Trade, Am I not a Man and a Brother?Great Britain: Abolition of the Slave Trade, Am I not a Man and a Brother?
Great Britain: Abolition of the Slave Trade, Am I not a Man and a Brother?Great Britain: Abolition of the Slave Trade, Am I not a Man and a Brother?
Form: Circular
By: After Josiah Wedgwood pottery
Date: 1787
Ref:  BHM: 269; Laidlaw: 0501b;
Variations:
SizeMetalMassValue
33.1 mmWhite Metal12.0 gm$240

Edge: Plain.

Obverse: African male in loincloth chained hand and foot kneeling on one knee, right, hands raised in supplication. Legend: "AM I NOT A MAN AND A BROTHER?"

Reverse: Across: "WHATSOEVER / YE WOULD THAT / MEN SHOULD DO / TO YOU, DO YE / EVEN SO TO / THEM."

Notes: This medal was produced to further the objectives of the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade. The society was a British abolitionist group, formed on 22 May 1787, by twelve men in London, England. The most influential members were Thomas Clarkson, William Wilberforce and Josiah Wedgwood (whose pottery design of the manacled slave, which appears on this medal, came to symbolise anti-slavery).

Several variations of the medal exist which suggests that it was issued periodically until 1807 when the Slave Trade Act was passed by the British parliament abolishing the slave trade within the British Empire.

This Act and the subsequent Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 which outlawed the ownership of slaves had major repercussions in South Africa.