According to J.A. Cuddon, the
term ‘abolitionist’ refers to the 18th and 19th-century black
British, African American, and white European and American men and women who
campaigned for the abolition of slavery in the British Empire and North
America. The origin of abolitionist literature are found in the long history of
slave rebellion, particularly in the Caribbean colonies in the 17th and 18th
centuries. This literature refers to writings- both fiction and non-fiction that
took a moral stand against slavery, expose the horrors of the slave trade and
the inhumanity of slavery, and called for the abolition of this institution. it
often used sentimental and biblical rhetoric to attract sympathy for the
abolitionist cause, and eventually, it played a critical role in changing
public opinion and fueling the anti-slavery movement, especially in the United
States and Britain.
