Everything about George Thompson Abolitionist totally explained
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.
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 didn't 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 can't 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.
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