Jamaica, 1760
Open the map in 1760 and zoom in on Jamaica. That year many enslaved people rose in the parish of St Mary on the north coast, in Tacky's Revolt. Why might a rising start far from the capital?
Open this view on the mapAtlantic world · 1760-1789
Resistance and the first abolitionists
Enslaved people never accepted slavery: they revolted, ran away and went to court. By the 1780s they had allies among Quakers, writers and a new campaign in London. Students follow the struggle from Jamaica to Philadelphia and London and ask who really ended the slave trade.
- Length
- 50 minutes
- Ages
- 13–16
- On the map
- 3 steps, AD 1760 to AD 1787
- Live lesson
- 7 rounds, 3 on the map
- Worksheet
- Two A4 pages, with Classroom
- You need
- A projector; phones for live
Live lesson · new in Classroom
Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.
Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.
€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.
- 7 rounds
- 3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
- About 15 minutes
- Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
- A report
- Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
Introduction
5 minRead aloud
Enslaved people never accepted slavery: they revolted, ran away and went to court. By the 1780s they had allies among Quakers, writers and a new campaign in London. Students follow the struggle from Jamaica to Philadelphia and London and ask who really ended the slave trade.
By the end of the lesson, students can
- Describe three ways enslaved people resisted slavery before 1789.
- Explain how the campaign against the slave trade began in Britain and North America.
- Judge the roles of enslaved people, Black writers and white campaigners in ending the trade.
Explore the map
15 minProject the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.
Philadelphia
Jump to 1783 and zoom in on Philadelphia. In 1780 Pennsylvania passed the first law in the new United States to end slavery step by step. Why might a city with many Quakers lead the way?
Open this view on the mapLondon, 1787
Zoom in on London. In 1787 a small committee met here to campaign against the slave trade. How could a campaign in London change lives in the Caribbean, thousands of kilometres away?
Open this view on the mapClass discussion
15 minPick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.
- Enslaved people resisted through revolts, running away, working slowly and keeping their culture alive. Why are some of these harder to find in written records?
- In 1772 a London court ruled that James Somerset could not be forced out of England to be sold. Why did many people read this as the end of slavery in England?
- Olaudah Equiano and Ottobah Cugoano wrote books about their own enslavement. Why did their voices matter so much to the campaign?
- The London campaigners first targeted the slave trade, not slavery itself. Why might they choose that goal?
- Who ended the slave trade: enslaved people, campaigners or politicians? Discuss.
Game round
10 minPlay a round of Rule History as Abraham Lincoln, whose Emancipation Proclamation came in 1863, more than 75 years after the London campaign began. Discuss: why did ending slavery take so long, even after many people saw that it was wrong?
Open Rule HistoryWorksheet
5 minThis worksheet comes with Classroom
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