ABSTRACT
The central feature of leadership as it is discussed in this volume, however, has to do with the way black or ethnic groups challenge British society, and attempt to bring about change in it. In that sense, too, the churches have played a significant historical role in affecting the climate of ‘race relations’ in Britain. While it is undoubtedly correct to observe that the abolition of slavery owed as much to the struggles of black people themselves, and to the economic factors discussed by Adam Smith, as it did to ‘humanitarianism’ (Williams 1966:197), there can be little doubt that at least in the popular mind in Britain the role of the churches was critical in attaining this end. Thus Coupland’s words on the ‘Memory of Wilberforce’ may be echoed: ‘The conscience of all England was awakened. That…the slave system was abolished…not because it was good policy or good business to abolish it…but simply because of its iniquity’ (Coupland, cited by Williams 1966:201).
