The Book of Negroes, by Lawrence Hill, is a story about an African woman named Aminata and her journey, all while living through slavery. She endures many hardships and faces all the horrors of slavery. However, Aminata stands out from the other slaves; she was educated and possessed many skills. Aminata also has evidence that Africans are not primitive. As a result of her unique experience, she is chosen by the abolitionists to help ban the salve trade in Britain. Therefore, Aminata's unique skillset and education, combined with her experience of living in slavery and her knowledge of Africa make her invaluable to the abolitionist movement. .
There were many factors that allowed slavery to be accepted. White people had a sense of social stratification; they believed that they were the superior race. For this reason, they enslaved anyone that was seen as inferior. Furthermore, white people assumed that black people were morally, culturally, and intellectually inferior. Slavery was also favoured due to the enormous work forces required to cultivate the plantations that ran the economy of the colonies. This mentality is expressed in the chapter nineteen article of the book Race and Racialization: Essential Readings by Tania Das Gupta. In a decree made by King Louis XIV of France, he says: "There is nothing that contributes more to the development of the colonies and the cultivation of their soil than the laborious toil of the Negroes. " (Gupta 149). However, a movement to abolish the slave trade and slavery arose in the eighteenth century. Those who were in the movement saw the slave trade as barbaric. Evangelical Christians, who made up a large number of the group, saw slavery as morally unjust and a deprivation of human rights. In fact, one of the major reasons for the push to abolish slavery was due to the brutal nature of the treatment received by the slaves. Since Aminata was a slave who originated from Africa and survived slavery, she can speak about the atrocities of the slave trade.
