William Wilberforce and the Pews That Finally Meant Something

For decades, the churches of 18th-century England were filled every Sunday. Hymns rose from polished pews. Prayers were offered with eloquent precision. The liturgy was performed without a single misstep. Yet many of those same well-dressed congregants owned shares in slave ships crossing the Atlantic, where human beings were chained below deck in conditions so brutal that thousands died before ever reaching shore.…