| STORY
SUMMARY
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| William
Wilberforce (Ioan Gruffudd) took up a very challenging cause in the second
half of the eighteenth-century: Convince the British Parliament to end the
slave-trade. He worked closely with his friend William Pitt the Younger
(Benedict Cumberbatch), and the old slave-trader John Newton (Albert Finney),
to learn everything he needed to know.
Reviewing evidence which Thomas Clarkson (Rufus Sewell) had gathered,
Wilberforce was stunned by the slave trade’s cruel realities. How, he
wondered, could a civilized society condone such utterly deplorable treatment
of one’s fellow human beings?
In this story behind the
movie, examine some of the evidence which Wilberforce saw. See
drawings of slave-trade devices which Thomas Clarkson obtained in his travels.
Read testimony from witnesses who told members of Parliament what really took
place onboard slave ships. Hear the "Story of Africa" (as told by
Africans) and learn how John Newton composed his most famous song, Amazing
Grace.
Then ... look at William’s speech (wherein he urged his colleagues to do
the right thing) and wonder why it took Parliament another eighteen years
before it disallowed slave-trading.
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