June 03, 2019 Monday
Bedtime Story
The Abolition Movement
As early as 1785 the English poet Cowper
wrote the following lines on the practice of ongoing slavery (which then was a
norm and not at all reprehensible as is considered today) by the Colonial
giants of his time with the British Empire gradually on its way to becoming one
of the greatest Empires and Colonizers in the human history.
“We have no slaves at home – Then why
abroad?
Slaves cannot breathe in England; if their
lungs…”
Receive our air, that moment they are free.
They touch our country, and their shackles
fall.
That’s noble, and bespeaks a nation proud.
And jealous of the blessing. Spread it
then,
And let it circulate through every vein.”
And circulate it did, if not through every
vein but through most neurons and minds and the meme gradually but surely did
begin to display its phenotype affect through the changing actions of men across
Europe and North America.
Thus abolitionism was the zeitgeist of the late
eighteenth century and early nineteenth century whose idea was slowly taking
firm roots in the minds of the citizens of most colonial empires and even their
rulers.
This coincided with the Age of
Enlightenment that began to view the world in a new light with accompanying
newfound moralism and temperance movement.
The Amistad case went to trial in 1841 and
by then the Connecticut abolition movement got together collectively and formed
an “Amistad Committee” that was headed by Lewis Tappan.
Lewis Tappan was a white New York merchant
who as a young boy had helped his father in a dry goods store but as he reached
the age of sixteen he ventured into other areas of commerce.
In 1841 just when the Amistad case went
into trial he started The Mercantile Agency in New York City that would one day
evolve into The Dun & Bradstreet Corporation.
This corporation is today headquartered in
Short Hills, New Jersey that gathers and provides commercial data, analytics of
risks, finance and marketing insights that would be of great importance for new
start ups or established businesses and corporations who are keen to get ahead
of their competitors.
Today it has database of more than 300
million businesses not just limited to the North America but of major companies
functioning around the globe.
I can bet that not even Lewis Tappan would
have ever imagined that his insignificant agency that he established in 1841 while fighting the
Amistad case would not only be in existence even 250 years from its founding
but would go on to become a modern credit-reporting service of a seriously tall
order.
Tappan in 1841 besides promoting his
business and the new agency focused intensively on freeing the captured
Africans and for that he raised funds by garnering public support for the
African captives.
Stay tuned to the voice of an
average story storytelling chimpanzee or login at http://panarrans.blogspot.com
Good night Mon Ami and my fellow cousin ape.
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Another great educator and a teacher that I am aware of is Professor
Subhashish Chattopadhyay in Bangalore, India.
While I narrate stories, Professor Subhashish an electronic
engineer and a former professor at BARC, does and teaches real mathematics and
physics.
He started the participation of Indian students at the
International Physics Olympiad.
Do visit him here:
All his books can be downloaded for free through this link:
For edutainment and English education of your children, I
recommend this large collection of Halloween Songs for Kids:
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