Abstract
This paper argues that the writings of abolitionist Samuel Ringgold Ward and other anti-slavery groups were indicative of a larger trend of African Americans becoming influenced by Moral Colonialism. This colonialism was based on the belief that British colonizers were civilizing and therefore saving non-white populations, through measures such as appointing “protectors” to prevent non-white people from being taken into slavery and other forms of exploitation. In these writings, there are many descriptions given to the British Empire, describing it as a “glorious nation” and other similar labels, which argued that the British Empire was the most progressive power. Samuel Ringgold Ward lived a mobile life in America, Canada, Switzerland, Britain, and Jamaica, so this paper will use a transnational approach, showing the connections British North America had to other colonies in the British Empire, while also demonstrating the many influences on the views of Ward and other African Americans.
Highlights
Historians writing transnational history can uncover the web of nineteenth century British colonialism, connecting various places normally separated by countless miles
A black abolitionist born into slavery in America in 1817, who visited Geneva to engage in studies of Medicine in 1843, Samuel Ringgold Ward eventually fled to Upper Canada where he helped establish papers such as “The Provincial Freeman” in 1853, and was offered work by the Anti-Slavery Society of Canada, which would take him to Britain, exploring England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales.[1]
These connections were through material items traded. Sometimes they were through familial connections and other personal networks, and these writings reveal that. These sources complicate the historiography surrounding abolition movements by looking at black abolitionists who began defining themselves as being part of the British Empire in the nineteenth century, providing different motivating factors for people involved in abolition movements
Summary
Historians writing transnational history can uncover the web of nineteenth century British colonialism, connecting various places normally separated by countless miles. Ward’s writings concerning slavery indicated a larger trend of black people becoming influenced by the efforts of Moral Colonialism.
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