Kimberly Walsh(Girl's Aloud) and Her Man

Yep. Started it and ended it ahead of the US.

 

But was the duration overall longer than the US because I think that was his point.

 

Good point. Probably so, since England brought slavery to the New World well before the founding of the USA.

 

Being from England, I would agree people are a lot more liberal towards interracial relationships. A lot of young white girls are growing up to believe that there is nothing wrong with dating/marrying/having kids with a black guy. This is helped by the fact that loads of famous white women (models, actresses, singers etc) are dating black guys and those young girls are seeing it in papers/online and following the trend. Not everyone is happy with it though, a lot of white guys dont like the fact that "their" white women are seeing black men but if they air these views publically they are labelled racist and frowned upon.

 

Keep in mind the British didn't need a civil war to end slavery. Nor did they need a Civil Rights Act or the reaffirmation of civil rights via quotas.

What little I know about blacks in Britain, at least after the High Middle Ages and the triangle trade, is that many of those Africans would not have survived were it not for the aide of British women. Also British women during WWII were quite receptive to the American "colored" soldiers.

 

Politician William Wilberforce was one of the driving people behind ending the slave trade in Britain.

He headed the parliamentary campaign against the British slave trade for twenty-six years until the passage of the Slave Trade Act in 1807.

The British Royal Navy actually patrolled the Atlantic intercepting slave ships from other countries.

Wilberforce worked with the members of the African Institution to ensure the enforcement of abolition and to promote abolitionist negotiations with other countries.

In particular, the US had abolished the slave trade in 1808, and Wilberforce lobbied the American government to enforce its own prohibition more strongly.

You can find out more here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Wilberforce

There is also a pretty good movie about his life called Amazing Grace

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazing_Grace_(2006_film)

Its a shame more black people don't know about him

 

Interesting to note. Even though I'm a history grad, I know next to nothing about Britain's history with slavery.