Written by Muchacha Motorista
Like most Americans my age, I have been well-schooled on slavery in the United States, but my knowledge of abolition in Britain was hazy and limited to the basics: that they made the slave trade illegal much sooner than we did, and that William Wilberforce was one of the main players. I was ready for a lesson, so I checked out Amazing Grace, and because I think it is worth saying right up front, I think you should too.
I admit I was a little apprehensive at first. As Sombrero Grande knows, I have a very hard time watching movies that portray people’s inhumanity toward one another. So I was prepared to be outraged and have nightmares after this film. And when the opening scene of a horse being beaten made me very uncomfortable, I figured I was in for a long ride.
But surprisingly, this movie proved its points through words, descriptions in letters and first-hand accounts, and through a visit to an empty slave ship. Moving, upsetting, but not in-your-face gore. How appropriate, using the actual tools used to end the slave trade--words--to portray the actions used to end the slave trade.
Before William Wilberforce put forth his first bill for abolition, he’d found God and was debating as to if he should continue in politics or leave and enter into religious life. His best friend, the soon-to-be-youngest Prime Minister ever, William “Billy” Pitt, is outraged at what Wilberforce is considering. He asks him, “Do you plan to use your voice to worship God, or to change the world?” Pitt calls together a group of abolitionists to convince him to not only stay in politics, but to use his persuasive place in the House to do the impossible and end the slave trade. Their call to action is gentler than Pitt’s: “We understand that you are having trouble choosing between doing the work of God and the work of the Activist. We humbly suggest you do both.”
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