Consuming Abolition

Abstract

This Chapter explores the complex relationship between anti-slavery activity and consumerism. It begins with a discussion of the resonance and meaning of anti-slavery artefacts, from Wedgwood’s famous cameo of the kneeling slave to ceramics, needlework and fabrics. It then goes on to discuss the significance of the Boston Anti-Slavery Bazaar, not least as a successful commercial enterprise. The Bazaar, however, was in many ways a victim of its own success, leading its organisers to abandon it in favour of a subscription system. The same was true of the huge popular success of Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1853). ‘Tom’ became a fad or ‘mania’ but in doing so became divorced form his original (anti-slavery) context. By placing consumerism in a wider perspective, this chapter probes the sometimes-difficult relationship between consumerism and anti-slavery, highlighting the threats as well as the opportunities.