Amazing Grace Historical Analysis

Amazing Grace: Historical Accuracy

The 2006 film Amazing Grace depicts the struggle of a British parliament member named William Wilberforce as he worked tirelessly toward the abolishment of The Atlantic Slave Trade in Great Britain. Comparing this 2006 film with primary and secondary source documents, along with some internet research, I was able to find some consistencies and some discrepancies with historical accuracy. As like most Hollywood films, there is a certain amount of dramatic flair added to the film but overall it seems to accurately represents some of the events that led up to the successful abolishment of The Atlantic Slave Trade in 1807.

One of the major accuracies I found in comparing the film to real life events that took place, was the character Olaudah Equiano. Olaudah Equiano was born in Africa in 1745 and sold in to slavery in 1756, around the age of 11. He was able to purchase his freedom from his owner in 1776 and published “The Interesting Narrative if the Life of Olaudah

The film’s opening lets us know that the time the film takes place in is 1797, which is consistent with the Equiano’s book, which was published in the later 18th century. I was unable to prove or disprove some of the elements of the film that I believe to be added to enhance the film by Hollywood. There was one scene- the opening scene, that I was sure was added for flair. The film opens during a rainy carriage ride that passes two men flogging their horse which has laid down on them and it no longer pulling the carriage. Wilberforce exits the carriage he is riding in to tell the men to stop whipping the horse and eventually he would get back up and continue his journey. Although Wilberforce was a known animal activist, I was certain this was made up to enhance the movie. I was shocked to learn that this scene was indeed a real life event that had