Apprenticeship ends and full emancipation takes effect in British colonies

The act ended slavery in most British colonies, with implementation beginning in 1834, but imposed an apprenticeship system and compensated enslavers rather than the formerly enslaved. Enslaved people...

Delegates at a national antislavery convention adopted a declaration demanding the immediate abolition of slavery. The meeting followed years of Black organizing, petitions, and resistance, and...

Three days after the national antislavery convention, a group of women met and organized a female antislavery society. Black women were members and leaders, although later narratives often...

The Slavery Abolition Act took effect across most British colonies. Many adults were placed in “apprenticeship,” a coercive labor system that required continued unpaid work for former enslavers....

Enslaved and free African Muslims organized an urban uprising against slavery and racial repression. Authorities crushed the revolt and increased surveillance and deportations. The surviving police...

The society formed after the British abolition campaign turned toward global abolition and opposition to apprenticeship. Its transnational activism connected reformers, formerly enslaved speakers, and...

Mende captives rebelled aboard the Spanish schooner Amistad while being transported illegally within Cuba. They sought to return to Africa, but the ship was intercepted and the survivors were held...

The Court ruled that the Mende captives had been illegally kidnapped and enslaved and could not be returned to Spanish claimants. The judgment recognized their right to resist unlawful captivity,...

A decree abolished slavery as the country faced civil conflict. Afro-Uruguayans had long resisted bondage and served in military forces; emancipation did not remove racial inequality or the economic...

The act barred colonial courts from recognizing claims to enslaved persons and penalized officials who enforced them. It did not instantly end all forms of bondage or coerced labor. The measure...