The 18th and 19th centuries were boom periods for the Atlantic slave trade and economic health for Western superpowers of the period. These centuries also saw the rise of a number of abolition organizations. The Sons of Africa was one such group and was based in London during the later part of the 18th century.

MEMBERSHIP OF SONS OF AFRICA

The organization was made up of freed, educated London-based Blacks. The organization had strong ties to the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade. The educated members were able to express issues directly to the public in lectures or in print through numerous papers of the day. This gave the organization reach regardless of the audience’s literacy level.  This allowed the Sons of Africa were able to communicate the slave trade’s conditions to different social circles. The group’s most prominent members were Ottobah Cugoano and Olaudah Equiano. Both would release published works about the need for abolition in the country and its territories towards the end of their lives.

The group’s most prominent members were Ottobah Cugoano and Olaudah Equiano. Both would release published works about the need for abolition in the country and its territories towards the end of their lives.

ACTIVITIES

The Sons of Africa also pushed efforts to educate the Black Poor of  London and colonization efforts in Sierra Leone. The organization managed to get an MP to pass a bill to improve conditions on slave ships in 1788. It was an achievement not exactly proportional to the effort and goal of abolishing the practice. Slavery would be abolished in the British colonies (except for India) via the 1807 Slave Trade Act.

The act was passed roughly a decade after the deaths of Cugoano and Equiano.

SOURCE
-http://www.equiano.net/timeline.html