Charles Dickens was born in Portsmouth, England, on February 7th, in 1812. He loved reading and had a positive childhood. John Dickens, his father, was a Navy Pay Officer, making a good wage. Despite this, the family was poor because of overspending and incurring a lot of debt. By the time Charles Dickens was […]
Read More...Picture above – Coal miners Child labor was especially common in the late 18th century, during the early years of the Industrial Revolution. The cities were overcrowded with people looking for work in the newly developed factories and mines. Poor sanitation, disease and pollution made them miserable places to live. Workers barely made enough […]
Read More...William Wilberforce was not the only person who developed a passion that he felt called to pursue. Every individual whose story is featured in this series had something they felt strongly about. And each of them was different from the others. For Wilberforce it was slavery. And for the next person we will look at—Charles […]
Read More...On May 25, 2020, an African American man named George Floyd was brutally killed during an arrest after a store clerk alleged he had passed a counterfeit $20 bill in Minneapolis. One of four police officers who arrived on the scene, had knelt on Floyd’s neck for a period, initially reported to be 8 minutes […]
Read More...Wilberforce once said, “To live our lives and miss that great purpose we were designed to accomplish is truly a sin. It is inconceivable that we could be bored in a world with so much wrong to tackle, so much ignorance to reach and so much misery we could alleviate.” Wilberforce’s purpose was to […]
Read More...Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12:21 Have you ever lived through an injustice that feels so bad—so hopeless that you’d like to die? You desperately look for a way out—a way to fight back—a way to overthrow—to overcome. “Oh God!” you cry. “There has to be […]
Read More...Wilberforce fought without resting, so devoted was he to this cause. From 1789, Wilberforce regularly introduced bills in Parliament to ban the Slave Trade. Those who were making fortunes from the trade fiercely opposed him, using all kinds of delaying tactics. The first time he introduced a bill, he lost the debate by 163 […]
Read More...Roughly between the years 1640 and 1807, at least 12 million African people were enslaved and taken to the Americas, and at least a third of them were taken in British ships. It is estimated that Britain transported 3.1 million Africans to the British colonies in the Caribbean, North and South America and to […]
Read More...When you look at the other individuals in this series—people who had a passion to make the world a better place—all believed so strongly in their cause that they let nothing stand in their way. They stayed focused. That’s what it takes to make a difference. It takes persistence, despite repeated obstacles. William Wilberforce had […]
Read More...But is bad always ugly? There’s a beauty in all stages we might find ourselves in. Treat yourself with gentle compassion. Love yourself. God does.
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