Screenshot from the book ‘The Black Man’s Lament; Or, how to Make Sugar.’
Children around the country gave up sweets and cakes hundreds of years ago as part of a sugar boycott to protest against slavery, a study shows.
The research shows the scale of children’s involvement in the abolitionist movement, from avoiding all products made from sugar, and learning about the horrors of the slave trade as part of lessons at school.
Dr Ryan Hanley from the University of Exeter and Professor Kathryn Gleadle from the University of Oxford found young people were influenced by their parents and abolitionists to protest, but many of their actions were taken independently. For instance, girls as young as nine invested dozens of hours of their leisure time producing intricate needlework with anti-slavery themes.