Abina and the Important Men A Graphic History

Abina and the Important Men: A Graphic History
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Abina and the Important Men: A Graphic History
Introduction
Advanced by historian Trevor Getz and the analytical illustrator Liz Clarke, the novel “Abina and the Important Men: A Graphic History” is one of the most significant historical documentation of Gold Coast West Africa in the period of time when the territory was under the British colony. In the first section of this story, Abina Minash accuses her slave master Quamina Eddoo of enslaving her without proper regard of the British colonial laws that forbade slavery. However, there are instances of contention surrounding the social class of the accused and the accuser. It is important to note that Eddoo occupied significant economic and social positions in his community based on his lucrative transactions in palm oil cultivation. Despite the fact that the British colonial government had abolished slavery in the Gold Coast colony and all of its territories by 1834, social class played a critical role in determining the members of the community that were permitted to engage in this unscrupulous act. As a consequence, the British “important men” were faced with multiple difficulties in the processes of balancing between the ideologies of abolitionist impartiality and the profits that resulted from allowing wealthy landowners such as Eddoo to undertake the abusive acts of slavery without demeaning the integrity of the administrative system. The British administrator William Melton is faced with multiple controversies on his empirical ideologies of slavery. The current study seeks to undertake a critical analysis of quandary William Melton finds himself in and how he contends with the issues of slavery.
The British administrator William Melton and Abina Mansah are faced with similar social and institutional challenges. However, William Melton is faced with predicaments that are more polarized than those of Abina. Melton is faced with the dilemma of ensuring that the members of his colony in the lower class are availed with justice on the issues of slavery. Abina sued Eddoo for enslaving her in an unscrupulous manner. Therefore, William Melon was faced with the challenge of delivering justice in a system that was considered to depict higher degrees of favoritism for the elite members of the society. According to Getz and Clarke (2015), the “important men” of foreign origin such as William Melton were bounded by the societal difficulties that provided multiple challenges in ensuring that the ideologies of abolitionist justice are adequately balanced with the need of allo...