William Wilberforce

William Wilberforce holding papers. (http://www.awesomestories.com/images/user/e77feb5470.jpg)

Britain was involved in the slave trade some centuries ago. The ships that would transfer the slaves were not in good condition, and many unfortunate slaves died along the journey. The North and South Americans used those slaves for work on cocoa and coffee plantations, mining gold and silver, working as servants and many other hard-working labors.

William Wilberforce was a British politician who was born in Hull, Yorkshire. When his father died, his mother couldn’t support him, so she gave him to his relatives, specifically his aunt and uncle. He began attending Hull grammar school when he was 8 years old. His aunt deeply influenced his religion once she had starting bringing him to the Church of England.

Just because you’re wealthy doesn’t mean it's right to own another human being. Out of the 14 million slaves transferred in the Slave trade, about 1.4 million had died. I chose William Wilberforce as my hero. He was the leader of the campaign that abolished the slave trade for Great Britain. Abolitionism is the movement towards ending slavery.

At the age of 21, he came into contact with a person named Thomas Clarkson, and a group of anti-slave trade activists. William soon became one of the leading English abolitionists. He led the British campaign for the British slave trade for almost 26 years until the Slave trade act of 1807. This has inspired me to not give up if I don’t succeed in a short period of time. However, after this, the slavery remained legal in most of the British Empire. This went on for a long time until the Slavery Abolition act of 1833. Coincidentally, he died just 3 days after hearing the passage was assured.

William Wilberforce in 1795. (http://writerzone.info/thumb/17955-William_Wilberforce.jpg)

This person has inspired me to do very important things in my life, as did my other hero. It also showed me how to not give up everything if you don’t succeed in a few weeks or months. That’s why William Wilberforce is an inspiration to me, and that is why he is my hero