This book delineates the discovery of a previously unknown manuscript of a letter from Granville Sharp, the first British abolitionist, to the “Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty.” In the letter, Sharp demands that the Admiralty bring murder charges against the crew of the
Zong for forcing 132 enslaved Africans overboard to their deaths. Uncovered by Michelle Faubert at the British Library in 2015, the letter is reproduced here, accompanied by her examination of its provenance and significance for the history of slavery and abolition. As Faubert argues, the British Library manuscript is the only fair copy of Sharp’s letter, and extraordinary evidence of Sharp’s role in the abolition of slavery.
Table of Content
1. Introduction.- 2. Equiano, Sharp, Mansfield, and the
Zong Massacre: History and Significance.- 3. The Provenance of the BL Document.- 4. The BL Document: The Definitive Version of Sharp’s Letter on the
Zong to the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty.- 5. The Historical Significance of the BL Document.- 6. Conclusion: Revisiting the History of Abolition.
About the author
Michelle Faubert is Associate Professor of Romantic Literature at the University of Manitoba, Canada, and Visiting Fellow at Northumbria University, UK.
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