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Profound, and yet unsettling

I read a book called 'The Slave Trade' by Nigel Sadler and here are a collection of quotes from that book telling the story of the slave trade which I have posted on various people’s profiles on Facebook:

‎'...the first known British trader in Africans was John Hawkins. Between 1562 and 1567, Hawkins made four journeys between the Sierra Leone River and Hispaniola (modern day Haiti and the Dominican Republic), taking a total of 1,200 enslaved Africans to sell to the Spanish settlers.'

‎'prices had already been arranged with the quick for what quantity of each goods a female, male and child slave would raise'

‎'Bristol owes ALL her prosperity, nay, her existence to commerce with the West Indies.'

'I never before witnessed such a Christmas Day; the negroes have been beating their tambourines and dancing the whole day and now between eight and nine o'clock they are pursuing their sport as hotly as ever'.

‎'I feel great sorrow when I hear some people in this country say that the slaves do not need better usage, and do not want to be free.'

‎'The First Maroon War was led by Cudjoe and Nanny of the Maroons'

'In 1806 Lord Grenville formed a new government and argued that the slave trade was 'contrary to the principles of justice, humanity and sound policy'. In 1807 the Abolition of the Slave Trade bill was passed with clear majorities in both the House of Commons and House of Lords'.

'Harriet Jacobs recalled that 'the mistress, who ought to protect the helpless victim, has no other feelings towards her but those of jealousy and rage'.'

‎'Harriet Jacobs wrote in 1861, 'I now entered my fifteenth year... He tried his utmost to corrupt the pure principles my grandmother had instilled... He told me I was his property; that I must be subject to his will in all things.''

'1948 Universal Declaration of Human rights 'No one shall be held in slavery or servitutde; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms''


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