Movie details effort to ban slavery

The wealthy member of Parliament founded Wilberforce University in Ohio.
By BRUCE DANCIS
SACRAMENTO BEE
William Wilberforce is not a household name, particularly in America in the 21st century. Unless you are a student of British history or are aware of Ohio's Wilberforce University, the first private black college in the United States, you are not likely to be familiar with the British member of Parliament who led a more than 30-year struggle to abolish slavery and the slave trade.
This may change in the coming months with the nationwide release Friday of the movie "Amazing Grace." Starring Ioan Gruffudd (pronounced Yo-wahn Griffith) in the title role, the film is directed by Michael Apted ("Coal Miner's Daughter," "The World Is Not Enough," "49 Up") and features an esteemed cast -- including Albert Finney, Michael Gambon, Rufus Sewell, Ciaran Hinds and African singer Youssou N'Dour -- as real-life characters taken from the history books.
How far the film's distributors will have to go to build an audience for "Amazing Grace" can be seen by the fact that even Gruffudd, who grew up in Wales, admitted in a recent phone interview that "I was sort of ignorant that Wilberforce was the reason why the slave trade act came into fruition. I was educated myself by reading the script and going on to play the part."
But, added the actor, who is probably best known to American audiences for his starring role as Reed Richards, aka Mr. Fantastic, in "Fantastic Four" and as Horatio Hornblower in a series of imported TV movies, "I'm sure [the film] will be educating a whole new generation of people towards this subject."
Effort to end slavery
That subject is the effort by British abolitionists from the late 1780s through the first decades of the 19th century to persuade the British public -- or at least the male property holders who were the only ones allowed to vote -- to end slavery in the British Empire. For tactical reasons, they decided to first attack the slave trade and then take on the basic issue of slavery.
Wilberforce, the son of a wealthy merchant, was already known as a brilliant orator and deeply pious man when radical abolitionist Thomas Clarkson (Sewell), a former African slave named Oloudah Equiano (N'Dour) and others approached him about joining their cause and leading the fight in the House of Commons. According to the movie, Wilberforce was encouraged in this endeavor by his good friend, Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger (played by Benedict Cumberbatch), and his minister, John Newton (Albert Finney), a former captain of a slave ship who had renounced slavery and entered the ministry. It was Newton who wrote the famous hymn "Amazing Grace," which is featured in the film.
Some powerful members of Parliament claimed that the end of the slave trade would mean the ruin of the British shipping industry, on which much of the British economy was based, while others saw nothing wrong with the institution of human slavery. To change public opinion, Wilberforce and his colleagues engaged in an unprecedented campaign of speechmaking, leading tours of slave ships to show the horrendous conditions, gathering signatures on petitions and holding public rallies.
Abolished in 1807
Despite some difficult years after the French Revolution, when reform in general was impeded as British politics turned more reactionary and repressive, by 1807, the tide had turned. In that year, Parliament overwhelmingly passed Wilberforce's bill to abolish the slave trade, and the king gave his assent a month later. But Parliament did not vote to abolish slavery within the empire until 1833.
Despite its historical subject matter, "Amazing Grace" tells a story of courage and commitment that could resonate today. And since Feb. 23, 2007, turns out to be the bicentennial of the abolition of the slave trade, the British government, led by Prime Minister Tony Blair, is spearheading an effort to celebrate the accomplishment throughout Britain.
In the next few months, there will be lecture series, conferences, museum exhibits, special church services, the issuing of a commemorative coin and commemorative stamps, and at least five BBC documentaries (four films and one radio show) on Wilberforce and the anti-slave trade act.