George Thompson (abolitionist)

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name = George Thompson


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caption = Joseph Ketley (left) with Thompson at the 1840 Anti-Slavery Conference.
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birth_date = 1804
birth_place = Liverpool
death_date = 1878
death_place = Leeds
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nationality =British
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occupation = Abolitionist, Activist, Politician
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religion = Congregational


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George Donisthorpe Thompson (18 June, 1804-7 October, 1878) was a British antislavery orator and activist who worked toward the abolition of slavery through lecture tours and legislation while serving as a Member of Parliament. He was arguably one of the most important abolitionist and human rights lecturers both in Great Britain and the United States.

Early life

Thompson had little formal education, and was largely self-taught. In early adulthood, he began a life of professional activism, starting with his role in founding a mutual improvement society at the age of eighteen, as well as his membership in debate societies. This suggests an early interest in self-betterment and the issues of the day. His father worked aboard a slave trading vessel, and that his stories of the horrors of the slave trade planted the issue in the younger Thompson’s mind from an early age. He recalls the stories that his father told in some of his later writings, recounting his father’s observations of the inhumane treatment of slaves.

Activism in England

As a professional activist, his interest in slavery was awakened by a newspaper advertisement in 1831, calling for men to join the London based Anti-Slavery Society. Thompson had little knowledge of slavery, though had gained a reputation as an able orator. He was hired by the society to try to get slavery immediately abolished on moral and religious grounds, a concept called "immediatism." He quickly took up the dissemination of the Society's creed: "To uphold slavery is a crime before God, and the condition must therefore be immediately abolished." In 1832 he traveled to Scotland, where he gained an interested in the abolition of slavery in the United States an other parts of the world. While in Scotland he also met William Lloyd Garrison who would remain a lifelong friend and colleague, as well as Nathaniel Paul, an African American abolitionist. From 1836-1847 he was active in every major anti-slavery debate in Britain, including the Anti-Slavery Convention in London on 12 July 1840. [http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/portrait.asp?LinkID=mp00224&rNo=0&role=sit The Anti-Slavery Society Convention] , 1840, Benjamin Robert Haydon, accessed 19 July 2008] In 1847 was elected to the British House of Commons, representing the Tower Hamlets.cite web | last = Gifford | first = Ronald M. | title = Thompson, George | work = American National Biography Online October 2007 Update | publisher = Oxford University Press | date = 2007 | url = http://www.anb.org/articles/15/15-01311.html | accessdate = 2008-01-27]

Thompson was also an advocate of East Indian reform, free trade, Chartism, nonresistance, and the peace movement. However, he was most prominent in his work to eliminate slavery at home and abroad, often protesting legislation that offered limited or gradual restriction on slavery. Favoring a quick and decisive emancipation of all slaves, he was ultimately unsatisfied with the British Emancipation Act of 1833, because it forced slaves to work as apprentices for six years after their "liberation." He therefore used his position in Parliament to push for additional legislation.

Activism in the United States

George Thompson was an active lecturer, and he willingly pointed out the role that America played in the perpetuation of slavery. He first came to the United States in 1834, where he attracted the attention of pro-slavery men, and barely escaped being captured by them after one of his lecturing sessions. The resistance to his platform did not abate, and he was forced to return to Britain. Thompson’s return to the United States in 1850 was brought about by the Fugitive Slave Law, and he was this time quite popular amongst proponents of abolitionism, now that the movement had increased in size and influence as the 1850s wore on. During this final visit in 1864 he allied with William Wells Brown in advocating the destruction of slavery. He also met with Abraham Lincoln, and both supported and witnessed the final destruction of the Confederacy at Fort Sumter in 1865.

Return to England

Thompson became ill and traveled back to his home country, where he died in 1878. While his advocacy of abolitionism went relatively unnoticed after his death, his efforts to effect a worldwide abolitionist movement cannot be ignored. His profession as activist allowed him to make a living by supporting the cause that he cared about, as well as enabling him to make unprecedented steps in freeing enslaved peoples around the world.

References

Persondata
NAME = Thompson, George Donisthorpe
ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
SHORT DESCRIPTION = British abolitionist
DATE OF BIRTH = 18 June 1804
PLACE OF BIRTH = Liverpool, England
DATE OF DEATH = 7 October 1878
PLACE OF DEATH = Leeds, England