Sierra Eye: Ignatius Sancho Among Africans In 'London, Sugar & Slavery'

[Ignatius Sancho: An African Man of Letters; Reyahn King et al.; National Portrait Gallery of the U.K. (1997)]

Sierra Eye points out that 'London, Sugar & Slavery', the new exhibit at Museum in Docklands, which opened Nov. 10, 2007, proves that African voices spoke eloquently of the evils of slavery, and were influential in bringing about Abolition by the British Parliament:

“The Buxton table, at which the terms of the Abolition Act were hammered out, will be on display. But the gallery will debunk the myth that abolition was achieved by a few evangelical parliamentarians. Olaudah Equiano, Ottobah Cugoano, Ignatius Sancho, Phillis Wheatley and Mary Prince, are amongst those African voices whose eloquent testimony were crucial to forcing change. London, Sugar & Slavery acknowledges enslaved Africans as the prime agents of resistance. With as many as one in four slave ships experiencing a revolt, and armed uprisings including those on St Kitts (1639) and Haiti (1791), heroic and constant African defiance and disruption of enslavement is too often overlooked.” Full post

Excerpts from the Museum in Docklands Website:

“On 10 November 2007, Museum in Docklands will open the only permanent gallery in London to examine the city’s involvement in transatlantic slavery and its legacy on the capital.”

“London, Sugar & Slavery will show it was not just a few evangelical parliamentarians who abolished the transatlantic slave trade, but a widespread grass roots movement that included people freed from enslavement who wrote about their experiences, thousands of ordinary citizens who lobbied collectively and women who campaigned with their purses by boycotting sugar that had been produced by enslaved Africans.” Full article

Ignatius Sancho (1729-1780) was born on a British slave ship off the coast of what is now Guinea. He not only escaped slavery as a young man, but educated himself and wrote numerous letters to prominent people in Britain, stressing the evils of slavery. He became a composer and an author. A selection of his letters became a best-selling book after his death. The dramatic life of Ignatius Sancho is told at the website AfriClassical.com Its principal source is the book “Ignatius Sancho: An African Man of Letters” by Reyahn King et al. It was published by the National Portrait Gallery of the U.K. In 1997.

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