When she was born into a family of slaves, nobody could have guessed that Mary Prince was going to help alter the course of history.

Mary was one of many Bermudians trapped in the cruel world of human captivity at the turn of the 19th Century — suffering an endless stream of physical and emotional torment at the hands of her masters.

But Mary, whose refusal to accept the indignities of her enslavement earned her regular floggings from an early age, was a remarkable character who decided to do something to change the world for the better.

As anti-slavery campaigners fought their corner in England, Mary set to work on a book about her life she hoped would demonstrate to the powers that be just what it meant to be a slave.

In 1831, The History of Mary Prince, A West Indian Slave, became the first account of the life of a black woman published in England.

The tome was to have a galvanising effect on the anti-slavery movement, playing a key role as slavery was finally abolished in British colonies in 1833.

Two centuries later, anti-slavery campaigners across the world are continuing to fight a battle as thousands of people remain trapped in the modern slave trade.

Today, human rights group Anti-Slavery International’s Fight For Freedom campaign is calling for people to gain inspiration from Mary Prince’s story and back its cry for world leaders to stamp slavery out once and for all.

With our Break The Chains campaign The Royal Gazette has joined forces with the charity to demand Governments take action to help free 12 million people currently trapped in varying forms of human captivity, including human trafficking, child labour, bonded labour and forced marriages.

All you have to do back the campaign is log onto the Internet, follow a few simple instructions on your computer screen and sign Anti-Slavery International’s on-line petition.

Mary Prince was born in Brackish Pond, Devonshire, in the late 18th Century. Her father was a sawyer and her mother a house-servant.

By the time Mary was 12, she was a household servant who had been sold from owner to owner on a string of occasions.

In 1806, when she was still a young woman, she was sent to Grand Turks, which Bermudians had used seasonally for the extraction of salt from the ocean for a century.

During this toiling work, she was constantly exposed to the sun and heat, as well as to salt in pans which ate away at her uncovered legs.

Mary returned to Bermuda in 1810, and was then sent to Antigua to be a domestic slave.

In 1826, she married a former slave, Daniel Jones, who had bought his freedom and worked as a carpenter and cooper.

She was severely beaten by her then master John Wood, who saw this as impudence.

Two years later, Wood took Mary to London as his servant, and although slavery was already illegal in England, she had no chance of returning to her husband without being re-enslaved.

Before long, she was thrown out by Wood, and eventually found employment with leading slavery abolitionist Thomas Pringle.

It was then that Mary wrote her account of her life as a slave.

Mr. Pringle wrote a preface to the book, stating: “The idea of writing Mary Prince’s history was first suggested by herself. She wished it to be done, she said, that good people in England might hear from a slave what a slave had felt and suffered; and a letter of her late master’s induced me to accede to her wish without further delay.”

Anti-Slavery International director Aidan McQuade described Mary as an inspiration for people of today’s world.

“Without people standing up against slavery and demanding its end, this terrible violation will continue,” he said.

“Mary Prince is an important example of someone who spoke out, who told of her own experience of being enslaved.

“But it is up to each and every one of us to make the realities of the Transatlantic Slave Trade known and understood as well as the fact that slavery continues to be a brutal reality for millions of people today.

“You can make a difference, seize the abolitionist spirit, join the Fight for Freedom today to end slavery once and for all.”

Lynne Winfield, a member of Citizens Uprooting Racism in Bermuda (CURB), said: “Most people thought of the southern United States as being the area for slavery, but Mary Prince must have had a terrible time, and that was the case for so many people in Bermuda.

“What she did to try to change things was inspirational and it’s an example people today could follow.”

The petition was launched in the run-up to the bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade in Britain and its territories in 1807.

The number of signatures on it has just passed the 14,500 mark. To add your name, go to www.antislavery.org/2007/actionsign and fill in your details.

To comment on The Royal Gazette Break The Chains campaign, call 278-0153 or email tsmith[AT]royalgazette.bm