Anti-Slavery: The History Of Mary Prince

Mary Prince lived in a time of great social upheaval. Members of the Anti-Slavery Society were vying to inform the public of the atrocities of slavery. Pringle the secretary of the Anti-Slavery Society says in The History of Mary Prince supplement “whatever opinions may be held by some readers on the grave question of immediately abolishing Colonial Slavery, nothing assuredly can be more repugnant to the feelings of Englishmen than that the system should be permitted to extend its baneful influence to this country” alluding that the people of England do not want to be associated with the besmirching trade of slavery (59). At the start however, Englishmen did not know what was going on in the colonies which is why narratives like The History of Mary Prince were used to draw in a sympathetic public “as a consequence, the slave interests were immediately thrown on the defensive before a public that was shocked—shocked! —to discover what had been taking place under its nose for more than a century” (Lazare 23) The different narratives that tried to draw light upon the realities of the slave trade did more than just inform, they also called out those who were knowingly using this system for their gain.
This is why narratives like Mary’s were so important, they informed and they held accountable public figures starting a momentum which would, a few years later lead to the abolition of slavery in the British