Abolition of slavery (1)

2: Britain's involvement in the Slave Trade

Required Resources

• Slides 8-9
• Student Worksheet 1

Delivery

• Project Slides 8-9 onto the whiteboard and provide students with background to the Slave Trade, including information relating to Britain's role in the trade (including the involvement of the Royal Navy) and the part played by the Royal Navy in suppressing it (detailed further in the next lesson). Slides 8-9 look specifically at the trade triangle. Ensure that students understand that it could take slave ships up to one year to complete the entire triangular voyage.
• Indicate that many large companies today in Britain owe their origins and wealth to the Slave Trade ' e.g. some of those producing cane sugar, tobacco, fruit, palm oil, tropical fruits, cotton, tea, alcoholic spirits etc. Descendants of the original enslaved Africans still work in plantations today producing these same commodities. Students might work with teachers to identify some of the company names.
• Copy and distribute Student Worksheet 1. Students should complete the Worksheet, identifying the way in which the triangular trade operated (i.e. what cargos ships carried at different points on their journey) and some of the reasons they think abolition and suppression of the trade might have been so difficult.
• It should be explained that many countries were involved in the Slave Trade including Portugal and its colony Brazil, Spain, Cuba, France, Holland and the United States.
• Explain the profitability of the trade and the contribution it made to the wealth of some of Britain's towns and cities including Bristol, Liverpool and Glasgow (the latter to focus on tobacco lords and the wealth arising from the trade). Encourage students to think about this profitability in relation to the reluctance of those profiteering from the trade to support its abolition.

Differentiation

Lower Ability:

Students can be encouraged to work in mixed ability pairs to complete this activity.

Higher Ability:

Students to conduct further investigation into how slavery contributed to the wealth of a chosen location in the UK. Subsequent project work can be undertaken from this research.