The Atlantic slave trade and abolition

Ages 13 to 17 Read alone · about 45 minutes

Read together

From the 1500s to the 1800s, millions of Africans were taken by force across the Atlantic and enslaved. Many died on the voyage.

Some Christians defended slavery and used Scripture to do so. Others, including formerly enslaved people such as Olaudah Equiano, worked to abolish it, and also drew on Scripture.

Do it

1. Locate West Africa, the Caribbean, Brazil and North America on a map and trace the main routes.
2. Read an extract from Equiano's autobiography (1789) or a Quaker abolitionist petition. Who is speaking and what do they ask?
3. Note how the British slave trade was ended in 1807 and slavery in most of the empire in 1833, and how slavery ended in the United States in 1865 and Brazil in 1888.
4. Reflect: what does this history ask of Christians today about dignity and justice?

Talk about it

• How did people use Scripture on both sides?
• Whose voices are most often missing from the story?

For the grown-up

MATURE TOPIC. This lesson deals with violence, cruelty and racism, and is meant for older teens, ideally with a conversation. Estimates are that about 12.5 million people were embarked on slave ships and roughly 10.7 million survived the Atlantic crossing. Be clear that slavery was wrong, and honest that many Christians took part in it and many opposed it. Take care with the feelings of Black and mixed-heritage students. If a teen is distressed, listen first; for emotional crisis, call or text 988 (US) or see findahelpline.com elsewhere.

Mark as done

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Where this comes from

• Equiano, O., The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano (1789)
• Eltis, D., and Richardson, D., Atlas of the Transatlantic Slave Trade (Yale University Press, 2010), drawing on the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade Database
• Hochschild, A., Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight to Free an Empire's Slaves (Houghton Mifflin, 2005)

Written with AI assistance and checked against the sources listed. Please read it before sharing it with a child.