The campaign to abolish slavery in Britain began in the 1780s, with the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade holding its first meeting on 22nd May 1787. Between the 1780s and 1860s abolitionists used various means to disseminate their anti-slavery message to British society, not only producing printed pamphlets and books, but also transferring prints and poems onto everyday objects such as textiles and ceramics. By placing anti-slavery imagery onto familiar objects such as jugs, plates and teawares, the abolition movement entered people’s homes and could reach those who were not able to read (the literacy rate in 1820 was 53%). Powerful and provocative yet often problematic images were used to confront the viewer with the plight of enslaved people, aiming to evoke sympathy and invite ethical discussions on the subject of slavery.

In 1807 the Slave Trade Act finally received royal assent, prohibiting the slave trade in the British Empire but with no change to those who were already enslaved. Abolitionists continued to mount pressure to abolish slavery completely and more abolitionist societies were founded, including women’s groups such as the Female Society for Birmingham in 1825. These societies continued to raise awareness of the suffering of enslaved people and to argue for their emancipation, and it is in this context that this mug was produced.

The mug is decorated with a depiction of a group of enslaved Africans at work on a sugar plantation, accompanied by a European overseer dressed in a suit and holding a whip. Below this image a verse from William Cowper’s 1788 poem ‘The Negro’s Complaint’, is inscribed, ending with the couplet, ‘Think how many backs have smarted / For the sweets your cane affords’. The mug therefore forces the user to question their own role in slavery when consuming its sugary contents.