ABSTRACT
The bicentenary of the Act to Abolish the Slave Trade provoked varied thoughts and emotions in me in the months leading up to the time of writing this essay. As part of my contribution to the commemoration, I was engaged in developing resource material based around the theme of slavery and abolition for my project website.2 I was aware of the various arguments and the controversy surrounding the whole subject – how should the bicentenary be marked, was it commemoration or celebration, who should be involved, who should be in control, should there be apologies, what about reparations, who were the figures within the abolition struggle that would be celebrated?
