It is a privilege to share something of what I have learned about the life and legacy of William Wilberforce. I am of British descent through my mother’s family, and I treasure my ancestral ties to Britain.
America and Britain have always shared a special relationship, one of which William Wilberforce was very well aware. They were, as he saw it, ‘two nations, who are children of the same family, and brothers in the same inheritance of common liberty’.
Ovation in Parliament
I would like to take you back to the unforgettable evening of February 23, 1807. In the House of Commons, parliamentary debate had commenced on the Second Reading of a bill calling for the abolition of the British slave trade. For 20 years, similar bills had been introduced again and again only to go down to defeat.
