Brainstorming

Some things I might include in my essay on sweatshop work conditions and policies today vs. work conditions and policies for the slaves of the Caribbean sugar plantations:

• Sweatshop working conditions today
• Sweatshop policies today
• Compare to policies and conditions of the 19th/early 20th centuries during Industrial Revolution (Child labor, etc)?
  
• Work conditions of slaves on Caribbean sugar plantations
• Policies for slaves on Caribbean sugar plantations
• Compare to sweatshops today (and factories in 19th/early 20th centuries?)

Possibly Essay Question

One question that I may persue for my essay is:

How are sweatshop labor conditions and policies like the work conditions and policies slaves had to endure in Caribbean sugar plantations?

I think this would be a great essay topic because there is a certain hypocricy that goes along with it. While reading this book, I, and certainly some of my classmates, have judged the British in this era, thinking things like "How could they just stand by and watch slaves be treated so badly?" Today, a lot of people work in sweatshops, not in the U.S. but in other countries. Most people don't get involved with this issue. No one really thinks about it. It's a little bit hypocritical to judge the British and then do pretty much the same thing they were doing at the time

"Bury the Chains" Two summaries

Pages 167-174 of Adam Hochschild's Bury the Chains is all about Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vasa, as he was known in England at the time. He self-published the first edition of his autobiography, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vasa the African, in 1789. He married a white woman, Susanna Cullen before he published his book. There were many editions of his book, each with a list of endorsements and suscribers. For many years, Equiano went a book tour, promoting each edition of the book.

Pages 192-198 of Adam Hochschild's Bury the Chains begins by explaining the sugar boycott. It began in 1791, after Parliament refused to pass the bill to abolish the slave trade in England. It was not the boycott of all sugar, just a boycott of the sugar produced by slaves. The boycott was mainly enforced by women, who bought and cooked the food for their families. The idea of the boycott was spread about in pamphlets. The last part of pages 192-198 is about The Abstract of the Evidence delivered before a select committee of the House of Commons in the years 1790 and 1791, on the part of the petitioners for the Abolition of the Slave Trade, written by Thomas Clarkson. The booklet of the condensed version was sold all over England, and was used in the United States in the abolition movement in the 1850's.

"Bury the Chains" Chapter 11 Summary

Chapter 11 of Adam Hochschild's Bury the Chains begins by finishing the story of King George III, started in Chapter 9. After months of being ill, he recovers and Parliament is resumed. So William Wilberforce now has the task of addressing the issue of slavery in the 1789 session of Parliament, and thus began the hearings of the Privy Council. As abolitionists presented the plethora of evidence they had against slavery, people who believed in slavery had an explanation for everything. When the Privy Council took a break, Clarkson rode 1600 miles in two months, searching for more witnesses. In the city of Plymouth, he met up with Equiano, who created a diagram of the slave ship Brookes, fully loaded with slaves. Clarkson, James Phillips and other committee members expanded the diagram to include 482 slaves, even though the Brookes normally travelled with 609 to 740 slaves. When the last witness was finished with his testimony, John Arnold, the doctor Clarkson had make a diary of what was happening while he was on a slave ship, returned from his voyage and was ready to present his findings. James Stephen returns to London in 1789 and met up with Wilberforce, only to leave London a few months later, to return to the West Indies, where he secretly begins sending committee information. After Wilberforce gives a 3.5 hour speech in Parliament, Parliament decides that the issue must be debated in the House. Wilberforce works with Ramsay, who dies in 1789. Molyneux wrote to his son that he had killed Ramsay.

Comment on "Bury the Chains"

In Chapter 9 of Bury the Chains, by Adam Hochschild, I found it kind of funny when, on page 134, Hochschild quotes Edward Long, "The lower classes of women in England, are remarkably fond of the blacks, for reasons too brutal to mention..." The way this is written is a little comical to me because today, sex is very openly talked about. To hear it described as "brutal" is interesting to me because even in the 1700's and 1800's, sex was, and still is, a necessary part of life, even if it wasn't openly talked about like it is today. I can't really imagine what life would be like if sex wasn't talked about-ever-and if some people describe it as "brutal."

"Bury the Chains" Chapter 9 Summary

In Chapter 9 of Adam Hochschild's Bury the Chains, Hochschild mainly focuses on the beginnings of the antislavery movement. He tells of John Newton again, who, after being retired from the slave trade for 34 years, begins to speak out against slavery. He tells of how many people were opposed to interracial relationships, and how lower class women were pretty much disgusting because they "are remarkably fond of the blacks, for reasons too brutal to mention..." He tells of a former slave, Quobana Otoobah Cugoano, who publishes a book that is very popular. There are a ton of petitions that are sent to Parliament at this time in 1788, which contain between 60,000 and 100,000 signatures to abolish the slave trade. Hochschild writes of a man, William Wilberforce, who is a member of the Parliament. Clarkson persuades him to speak to Parliament on the topic of slavery, and when he about ready to do so, he falls ill and cannot speak before Parliament. While recovering, Sir William Dolben proposes that, after Parliament saw the overcrowding on a slave ship, a bill be passed to regulate the number of slaves a ship could carry. His bill is eventually passed. Soon after, the King goes mad and no more bills can be passed in Parliament until the situation is resolved.

"Bury the Chains" Chaper 8 Summary

Chapter 8 of Adam Hochschild's Bury the Chains is about Thomas Clarkson's journey to various cities in England, which began the abolition movement in England. First, he traveled from London to Bristol. On his way, he and John Ramsey experienced much discrimination because most people didn't want the slave trade to end, and knew they were abolitionists. Once in Bristol, he was told the tale of a free black sailor, John Dean, who was chained to the deck of the ship for days and had hot pitch poured on his back. The captain then made incisions with his hot tongs, and Dean's back was severely scarred. Since captains and sailors were unwilling to talk to him, Clarkson turned to doctors. He found two doctors, James Arnold and another unnamed doctor, who were going on a slave ship in a few days and were willing to record all that happened on the ship. Clarkson soon came in contact with another doctor, Alexander Falconbridge, who had been on four slave ship voyages, but never wanted to set foot on one again. Instead, Falconbridge agreed to tell Clarkson everything that he remembered that happened on the voyages he was on. From Bristol, he went to Liverpool, in search of records of slave ships. There, he bought handcuffs, lef shackles, thumbscrews and a speculum oris, used by doctors to treat lockjaw, because these were the instruments used on slave ships. From Liverpool, he went to Manchester, now England's second largest city, and also full of abolitionists. Here, Clarkson met Thomas Walker and Thomas Cooper, who had him give a sermon on the abolition movement. With the help of these two men, a petition was signed with more than ten thousand names and was sent to Parliament.