Emblem 'Am I not a Man and a Brother'?

This famous emblem was designed in 1778 by members of the Clapham sect, an aristocratic evangelical activist group, led by William Wilberforce, and which included Hannah More and Josiah Wedgwood. It was reproduced on a wide variety of objects, including printed texts, plates, brooches, medals and cufflinks. A later version depicting a crouching female African slave was used to aid the cause of American abolitionists by linking the growing movement for women’s rights with the ending of enslavement. The image was still being reproduced on Wedgwood plates in 1957, the 150th anniversary of the ending of the trade in African slaves. However, the image has recently proved controversial, provoking debate over whether it degrades and demeans black slaves and glorifies their (mainly) white liberators. The £2 coin minted for the 2007 anniversary of the slave act used an abstract image of a broken chain, rather than any human figures.

- Professor Christine Gerrard, University of Oxford (2018)