The involvement of whites in ending slavery is a chapter that history often glosses over. Yet, without the determined efforts of these individuals, the abolition of slavery might have been delayed for decades. In this roundup we spotlight the top 10 whites whose activism, advocacy, and moral courage helped turn the tide against the institution of slavery.
Why These Top 10 Whites Matter
10 Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin entered the antislavery arena late in his life, despite earlier years in which he owned slaves and even published ads for slave sales in his Pennsylvania Gazette. Yet, he also used the same newspaper to run antislavery notices sponsored by Quaker allies, showing an evolving conscience.
In 1787, Franklin was elected president of the Pennsylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery, a group that had originally formed in April 1775 as the Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage. Beyond merely opposing slavery, the society advocated for the full integration of freed African Americans as American citizens.
One of Franklin’s final public acts was to affix his signature to an antislavery petition on February 3, 1790, submitted to Congress by his society. The petition sparked a heated debate when read before both the Senate and the House of Representatives.
In the end, the Senate chose neither to approve nor reject the measure, while the House appointed a committee to study its feasibility. On March 5, the committee concluded that Congress lacked the authority to prohibit the importation of slaves or to free slaves before 1808. Franklin passed away a month later, on April 17, 1790.
9 Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin, best known for formulating the theory of evolution, harbored strong anti‑slavery sentiments, though he never broadcast them publicly. Evidence of his stance surfaces in a collection of private letters addressed to family, friends, and colleagues, in which he expressed clear opposition to the slave system.
Some scholars argue that Darwin may have been motivated to develop his evolutionary theory as a scientific rebuttal to contemporary claims that Black and White peoples descended from distinct ancestors—a notion often used to justify slavery. Yet, before unveiling his theory, Darwin worried that it could be misinterpreted as supporting slavery if he failed to address certain biological parallels.
He noted that slavery also existed in nature, citing the slave‑making ant Formica sanguinea, which habitually robs the species Formica fusca of its labor. Darwin clarified that the sanguinea ants had evolved a dependence on their fusca slaves and would perish within a year without them—a stark contrast to humans, who had not evolved such a parasitic relationship.
8 William Fox
British abolitionist William Fox sought to cripple the slave trade by orchestrating a massive boycott of sugar produced through enslaved labor. In 1791, he released a pamphlet urging citizens to abstain from slave‑produced sugar, arguing that a single family could free a slave by refusing sugar for 21 months. He calculated that if 38,000 families participated, the entire system could be dismantled.
The pamphlet proved wildly popular, with 70,000 copies sold out in just four months. Within a year, roughly 400,000 Britons had joined the boycott, either eschewing sugar altogether or opting for sugar cultivated with free labor in the East Indies.
The campaign’s impact was tangible: sugar sales fell by one‑third, while imports from India surged by an astonishing 1,000 percent. Despite this economic shock, the boycott alone could not eradicate the institution of slavery.
7 John Jay
Founding Father John Jay also threw his weight behind the antislavery cause. In 1785 he founded the New York Society for the Manumission of Slaves and the Protection of such of them as had been or wanted to be Liberated, a group that counted Alexander Hamilton among its members. Ironically, many of the society’s participants were slave owners themselves.
Hamilton attempted to tighten the organization’s moral compass by proposing a rule that required any member wishing to remain in the society to free their own slaves. The proposal, however, was swiftly blocked by the very slave‑owning members it sought to reform.
Operating primarily within New York, the society protested the kidnapping of enslaved and free Black individuals, offered legal assistance to those in bondage, and even opened a school for Black children, striving to improve conditions despite internal contradictions.
6 William Wilberforce
Parliamentarian William Wilberforce emerged as a pivotal figure in Britain’s fight to end slavery. Convinced that divine providence had called him to the cause, he joined the abolitionist movement in 1786 after being persuaded by fellow reformer Thomas Clarkson to champion antislavery legislation in the House of Commons.
Wilberforce’s first attempt to pass an antislavery bill came in 1789, when he publicly rebuked his fellow legislators for permitting slavery to persist under their watch. The proposal was rejected, but he persisted, re‑introducing the bill in 1790, only to face another defeat.
His third opportunity arrived in 1807, when the ongoing Anglo‑French War distracted Parliament. This time, Wilberforce focused not on abolishing slavery outright but on prohibiting the trans‑Atlantic slave trade between British and French merchants. The resulting legislation slashed the slave trade by roughly 75 percent. Wilberforce continued to press for the emancipation of enslaved people in Africa and the British colonies, culminating in the Slavery Abolition Act of July 26, 1833, which outlawed slavery across most of the empire. He died three days after the act’s passage.
5 George Fox
George Fox, the founder of the Religious Society of Friends—better known as the Quakers—advocated for the inherent equality of all humans, a belief that categorically rejected the notion of human ownership. In 1657 he penned a letter condemning slavery to fellow Quakers who owned slaves, laying the groundwork for a broader Quaker antislavery stance.
The Quaker movement grew louder in the 1750s, formally prohibiting members from owning slaves and urging non‑Quakers to emancipate any enslaved people they held. In 1783 the Quakers dispatched an antislavery petition to the British Parliament, which was ignored because Quakers were not members of the Anglican establishment.
Undeterred, the Quakers helped form the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade, a coalition of nine Quakers and three Anglicans tasked with raising public awareness about slavery and lobbying for legislative change.
4 Elizabeth Heyrick
Elizabeth Heyrick, hailing from Leicester, England, proved herself a fierce advocate for emancipation. She authored numerous pamphlets denouncing slavery and, together with Susannah Watts, established the Birmingham Ladies Society for the Relief of Negro Slaves, a group that funneled substantial financial support to William Wilberforce’s abolitionist campaign.
Unlike Wilberforce, who initially focused solely on ending the slave trade, Heyrick demanded the immediate abolition of slavery itself. She even threatened to withhold her financial contributions unless Wilberforce broadened his agenda to include full emancipation.
Heyrick’s activism extended to local campaigns against slave‑produced sugar. In Leicester she likened consumers of such sugar to “receivers of stolen goods,” accusing plantation owners of theft. She also publicly chastised fellow abolitionists for their sluggish tactics and over‑reliance on parliamentary action.
3 Anne Knight
Anne Knight, a devoted Quaker, championed the abolition of slavery while simultaneously fighting for women’s suffrage. In the 1830s she organized antislavery meetings, distributed pamphlets, and forwarded petitions to Parliament, dedicating herself fully to the cause.
Her commitment to gender equality grew after she attended the 1840 World Anti‑Slavery Convention in London, where she observed that American women delegates were denied seating. This injustice spurred her to pivot toward women’s rights, ultimately inspiring the formation of the Sheffield Female Reform Association in 1851, one of the first organized suffrage groups.
Knight’s dual legacy highlights how the struggle for human freedom often intersected with the fight for gender equality, illustrating the broader scope of 19th‑century reform movements.
2 William Lloyd Garrison
In 1833, William Lloyd Garrison founded the American Anti‑Slavery Society, a powerful organization that swelled to over 200,000 members by 1840. The society became the United States’ leading abolitionist force, counting freed slave Frederick Douglass among its most prominent speakers and advocates.
The group employed a range of tactics, from sending antislavery petitions to Congress to publishing incendiary journals and pamphlets that sometimes featured stark propaganda. These activities provoked fierce backlash from pro‑slavery factions, who frequently raided meetings and threatened members.
While Garrison himself opposed direct political involvement, a faction within the society favored a more political approach. In 1839 this faction split off to create the American and Foreign Anti‑Slavery Society, which later evolved into the Liberty Party in 1840, further diversifying the abolitionist movement’s strategies.
1 John Woolman
John Woolman, a devout Quaker, abandoned his tailoring trade to devote his life entirely to the abolition of slavery. Beginning in 1746, he traversed the American colonies, visiting slave owners and urging them to emancipate the people they held in bondage.
Woolman’s commitment to non‑violence extended to his personal habits: he refused to stay in inns that housed enslaved people whenever possible, and when he did, he always offered payment even if the owners declined. He also shunned goods produced by slave labor, which is why his clothing remained undyed—most dyes at the time were manufactured using enslaved labor.
In 1772, while traveling in England, Woolman declined to ride a coach from London to York because the coachmen over‑worked the horse‑boys and the horses themselves. Instead, he walked the 645‑kilometer (400‑mile) journey, preaching his anti‑slavery message along the way. Shortly after reaching York, he contracted smallpox and died on October 7, 1772.
Oliver Taylor is a freelance writer and bathroom musician. You can reach him at [email protected].