Pity for Poor Africans (1788)

Suggested age range: 12 - 15 years
Estimated time required: approx 30 minutes
Format: A4 page

Details: An extract from a poem written in 1788 by William Cowper, with questions for group discussion or to be done as a comprehension. Links are made between the slave trade which existed at that time, and the reluctance of people to do anything about it because it affected their quality of life, and the current situation with global poverty and debt.
Could work well in conjunction with Set all free, the Bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act, to be held in 2007.

Publisher: Make Poverty History Jewish Coalition; revised by Jubilee Debt Campaign
Cost: free

Curriculum Links include: