J.T. van der Kemp’s Link to the British Anti-slavery Network and his Civil Rights Activism on Behalf of the Khoi (1801 – 1803)

Abstract

In this article, I firstly trace Van der Kemp’s link to the British anti-slavery network. Secondly, and following my exposition of Van der Kemp’s anti-slavery advocacy (cf. Smit 2016), I argue that the position and treatment of the Khoi should be seen as similar to that of slaves during the first half of the eighteenth century at the Cape. This provides credence to Van der Kemp’s (and Philip’s) vehement criticism of both government and frontier settler farmers for their treatment of the Khoi. Finally, I provide a link of Van der Kemp’s civil rights activism, to that of the British anti-slave trade network and its discourse on civil rights in Britain at the time. (In this article I do not deal with the significance of Van der Kemp’s post-conversionist views and publications, vis-à-vis his ‘enlightenment’ views and scholarship dating from the pre- and post-deist phases of his life.)

Keywords: J.T. van der Kemp, Khoi