NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP) — One year after the movie Amazing Grace reintroduced America to William Wilberforce, a new documentary about the famous Christian abolitionist seeks to shed more light on the British man whose fight against slavery inspired Abraham Lincoln and countless other people of faith throughout the world.
The Better Hour: The Legacy of William Wilberforce is airing on PBS stations nationally beginning this month and also is available on DVD. (A list of broadcast times is available at www. TheBetterHour.com. Click on “TV Info.”) Funded by the John Templeton Foundation, the one-hour program details how Wilberforce, a member of Parliament, was driven by his faith to fight great odds for 20 years to end the slave trade in the British empire, finally succeeding in 1807.
Although Americans are prone to remember Lincoln when the subject of slavery arises, the former president himself mentioned Wilberforce's name in speeches.
Last year's Amazing Grace film — so named because of Wilberforce's friendship with John Newton, writer of the famous hymn — surprised some movie observers by grossing $21 million domestically. It was released during the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade in Britain.
“It's been a nice one-two punch,” The Better Hour spokeswoman Sheila Weber said of the film and documentary, “because they came out with the feature film that highlighted the larger story, but it's very satisfying for people when they see the documentary because it fills in a lot of the gaps and it gives more content and more commentary. We have interviews with leading historians and scholars. And it's very inspiring — it's not a dry and dull documentary.”
The documentary gets its name from a tribute to Wilberforce written by the poet William Cowper, who said Wilberforce's effort led to “the better hour” for Britain.
Wilberforce already was a member of Parliament when he became a Christian, and he struggled in deciding whether he should stay in the legislature or become a clergyman within the Church of England. But Newton, himself a former captain of a slave ship who later became an abolitionist, urged Wilberforce to remain a legislator. Wilberforce's oratorical skills were well-respected and even feared by other legislators.
“God may have a purpose for you in politics,” Newton is said to have told Wilberforce, according to Wilberforce expert Kevin Belmonte, who appears in the documentary.
In 1787 Wilberforce wrote in his diary, “God Almighty has placed before me two great objects, the suppression of the slave trade and the reformation of manners [morals].”
At the beginning of Wilberforce's effort around 1787, many members of Parliament argued that abolishing the slave trade would collapse the economy, and MPs used all sorts of tactics to kill the bill, including giving opera tickets to Wilberforce's MP supporters the day of a scheduled vote (a tactic that worked). But 20 years later, some of those same members of Parliament supported Wilberforce when his bill overwhelming passed, 283-16.
Representatives with The Better Hour are encouraging churches and community groups to watch the documentary in small settings and discuss it afterward. A book, Creating the Better Hour, is being released to coincide with the documentary. It has a foreword by Rick Warren and chapters written by such notables as Charles Colson. Additionally, The Better Hour is sponsoring a $10,000 contest for high school students. Information is available at www. TheBetterHour.com.