William Wilberforce (1759–1833) is the first name in the abolitionist movement in the Anglosphere; with Abraham Lincoln to follow.  Accordingly, the first Historically Black College and University in the United States is named after him.  Wilberforce took up the cause in 1787 to abolish the British transatlantic slave trade which routinely faced resistance from West African rulers in Lagos (modern Nigeria) and the Kingdom of Dahomey (modern Benin).