14 Real Life Heroes Who Have Changed The World

4. William Wilberforce

William Wilberforce was an English philanthropist and politician who actively fought against the abolishment of the slave trade. Britain initially became involved in the slave trade in the 16th Century and although the trade saw Britain being a superpower of the world, it came at a cost, and a moral one at that.

Slaves were used and treated worse than animals for manual labour and Wilberforce was one of the few people who saw this as being morally wrong. Wilberforce urged others to see that slavery was a national crime and it must be addressed and eradicated within society. It took him and a group of others years to show people how corrupt society had become and that these slaves were human beings too. The abolishment of slavery occurred in 1833 and Wilberforce died three days after hearing that the legislation has been passed.