What the lesson is about

This activity provides an introduction to some of the key characters involved in the abolition of slavery and aims to highlight some of the campaign’s unsung heroes. It can be used with pupils from KS2 to post-16.

Aims: pupils will -

- familiarise themselves with the individuals and groups who influenced the abolition of the Slave Trade Act;

- learn about the end of transatlantic trade;

- acknowledge the unsung heroes of the abolition movement.

Getting started

Print off sets of character cards from the website introducing the key people of the abolitionist movement onto different coloured cards, allowing three sets for 30 pupils. Cut up and distribute in any order.

Ask pupils to read about their character and then get into pairs with someone else who has the same colour card. Tell the pupils to ask questions about their partner’s character to discover who they are.

Ask each pair to join another pair to form groups of four. Each pair then takes turns to summarise their initial partner’s character.

The original card-holder can add or alter information. Pupils can swap partners to create a final set of the ten different character cards.

Taking it further

Print off the timeline activity from the link below. Split the class into groups of five. Tell the students to cut up the ten small information gap cards with facts about the key individuals who influenced the 1807 act from the activity sheet, so that two groups of five share a complete set of character cards. Get the pupils to complete the missing information using the character cards and put the completed cards in the correct place on the timeline.

Where to find it

This lesson, including character cards and timeline, was originally uploaded by collaborative, and can be found at www.tes.co.ukabolition-act.