Description:In order for the Birmingham Antislavery Society to be effective in campaigning for social justice, it was vital that they had a network system that provided them with current knowledge about events around the world. But how can we find out where Birmingham's antislavery activists got their information from?
It helps to make a connection between Birmingham's 19th century antislavery activists and the faith group to which many belonged. Many of the society, including Joseph Sturge, were members of the Quaker religion. This was a nonconformist faith which stressed the need for moral honesty, education and direct personal action against social injustice. It would often be these beliefs which traditionally led Quakers to become involved in antislavery.
The archive of the Birmingham 'Friends Book Society', which began in 1822,can help us to understand more about the Quaker relationship to the antislavery cause. It contains a wealth of information on areas such as: society members; rules of the society; information on how money was raised for books; details of book sales; receipts from local bookstores; and-most significantly of all- complete lists of titles purchased.
Researching this archive identifies a number of texts on antislavery that were circulating within the society. For instance, in 1855 Joseph Sturge appears to have purchased both ‘A Thousand Witnesses’ and ‘A Life in Slavery and Freedom’. Meanwhile, ‘The Autobiography of A Fugitive Slave’ and ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin’ (by Harriet Beecher Stowe) were also bought by Maria Cadbury. See links below to digital editions of the texts.
Reading Antislavery and Gender
At this point, we see other perspectives become opened by this archive collection.
For, alongside the men of the Sturge and Cadbury family, it is clear that a number of women were also central to the reading group, such as Maria Cadbury and Sophia Sturge (Joseph’s sister). This is significant- particularly in an age when women’s education was biased towards practical and domestic aspects of education. Challenging this gender boundary, the Quaker reading group seems to have acted as a place where men and women could equally share ideas about society, politcs and literature.
Thus, although the Quaker’s anti-slavery activities were officially divided into two separate groups for men and women (‘The Birmingham Anti-Slavery Society’ and ‘The Ladies Society for the Relief of the Negro Slave’), privately these members can be seen sharing the same sources of information on slavery and other topics. The Quaker reading group shows a collective attempt to uncover information concerning the slave trade by men and women who would have exchanged ideas and plans of action.