This is Weekend Edition from NPR News. I'm Scott Simon. William Wilberforce was an abolitionist, a legislator, friend of the mighty and foe of powerful forces. He was also the life of the party, the ...

In March 2007, on the two-hundredth anniversary of the British parliament’s decision to abolish the slave trade, there was a flurry of contention in the letters pages of several newspapers and blogs.

After a crushing political defeat, William Wilberforce nearly gave up his fight to abolish the slave trade. But a life-changing letter from John Newton sent this Daniel back into the lion’s den. But ...

In the present confusion over religion and public life—and the accompanying opportunism—the life and career of William Wilberforce provides a needed tonic. Best remembered as the liberator of African ...