In March 1807, the British abolished the slave trade. Two centuries later, in 2007, Hollywood released "Amazing Grace," a movie about this antislavery campaign and its leader, William Wilberforce. Though it won't be immediately apparent from the film, there is an Earlham connection to Wilberforce and to abolitionist efforts in England.

Wilberforce was a friend of Joseph John Gurney and a visitor to the College's namesake, Earlham Hall in England. Gurney was only 19 in 1807 and so was not greatly involved in the efforts to abolish the slave trade. But he and Wilberforce met in 1816 and were co-campaigners in the NEXT big antislavery campaign, the crusade to abolish slavery itself, legally achieved within the British Empire in 1833.

In 1816, Wilberforce visited Gurney and brought along "his whole family group", including his wife, several children, two clergymen who acted as tutors, his private secretary, servants, and others — quite a crowd! Gurney wrote that the house was already quite full, "but what house would not prove elastic in order to receive the abolisher of the slave trade?" That "house", of course, was Earlham Hall.

To make a long story short, Gurney and Wilberforce remained friends until Wilberforce died in 1833. In fact, Gurney visited Wilberforce about two weeks before he (Wilberforce) died, and was one of the last to write him. Gurney wrote a memorial tribute to Wilberforce entitled, "Familiar Sketch of the Late William Wilberforce." Four years later Gurney came to Richmond, to address the Quakers gathered for Indiana Yearly Meeting. His three-year sojourn in America was intended, among other purposes, to encourage abolitionist efforts here.

The friendship of Wilberforce and Gurney reflects (1) the role of Earlham Hall as THE interfaith gathering place of Norfolk, and (2) the abolitionist and reformist commitments of the Gurneys and others associated with Earlham Hall. Another of the abolitionists of Earlham Hall was Thomas Fowell Buxton, Gurney's dear friend and brother-in-law, who practically grew up at Earlham Hall and was designated by Wilberforce himself to be his successor to lead the antislavery crusade in parliament.

We don't know exactly why the good Indiana Quakers of 1859 chose the name Earlham. But the admirable ties of Earlham Hall with Wilberforce and the Gurneys would have been reason enough. And my sense is that a lot of EC students, alumni, and others, don't know about the links between our name and the abolitionist accomplishments of Joseph John Gurney and Wilberforce.

These two events — the bicentennial of the abolition of the slave trade, and the release of the movie — offer a good opportunity to reflect on this bit of Earlham history.

—Alice Almond Shrock '68
Professor of History and Associate Academic Dean for Program Development