Ending Slavery in all its Forms

 

Ending Slavery in all its Forms: Legal

Abolition and Effective Emancipation

in Historical Perspective

JOEL QUIRK

Wilberforce Institute for the Study of Slavery and Emancipation, University of Hull, Hull, UK

ABSTRACT 

The legal abolition of slavery is often presented as a narrative endpoint, leaving an

impression that subsequent events marked a fundamental departure from the earlier status quo.

This paper challenges this complacent viewpoint, developing an analytical distinction between

legal abolition and effective emancipation, with the former being defined in terms of a

circumscribed change in official status, and the latter encompassing an evolving series of

aspirations and expectations. To advance this line of argument, I interrogate three different postabolition settings; the British Caribbean, Colonial Nigeria, and the Indian Subcontinent. By giving pride of place to the actions and outlooks of individuals who have been formally released from servile relationships, and charting their subsequent achievements – or lack thereof – these case studies serve to cast new light upon evolving efforts to combat contemporary forms of slavery.

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