Blue plaque honour at University of Leeds to celebrate city’s anti-slavery heritage
A blue plaque is to be unveiled commemorating the city’s ‘nineteenth-century’ abolitionists and their connection to the University of Leeds.
Prominent Quaker activists Mary and Wilson Armistead, who lived in Virginia Cottage - now Lyddon Hall - on the university campus, were leading members of the Leeds Anti-Slavery Association.
Ellen and William Craft, who had escaped their enslavement, stayed in their house as guests during the 1851 census and were famously recorded as “fugitive slaves.”
They were part of a group of African American abolitionists who visited Leeds during that period to talk about their experiences and to bolster the abolitionist movement in the UK.
Leeds Civic Trust director, Martin Hamilton, said: “The abolitionist heritage of our city deserves to be better known and we hope that this plaque will help to set the record straight.
“Wilson Armistead is arguably even better known in the United States than he is in Leeds, so it seems right that his story – and those of others, can now be properly acknowledged.”
Bridget Bennett, professor of American Literature and Culture at the University of Leeds, said: “Abolitionists in Leeds understood that their resistance to a system that relied on unfree labor was part of a principled and radical commitment to challenging the status quo, one that insisted on the international recognition of civil liberties and labour rights. Blacks and whites campaigned together against slavery, becoming allies and friends along the way.”
“A striking entry from the U.K. census of 1851 transformed it from a routine piece of data collection into an abolitionist document. Together with the fugitives Ellen and William Craft and doubtless the support of his wife, Mary, and mother-in-law, Sarah Bragg, Wilson Armistead carried out a subversive activity. He added the words “fugitive slave” next to the names of Ellen and William Craft. The powerful authority of the unexpected presence of these words still compels attention, showing the subversive and resistant possibility of ink markings on pages.”
The blue plaque will be unveiled at the University of Leeds on Tuesday, October 1, at 5pm by the Lord Mayor of Leeds Abigail Marshall Katung. It will be followed by a lecture by Professor Richard Blackett from Vanderbilt University in Tennessee who is visiting the University. He researches the abolitionist movement in the US, particularly its transatlantic connections, and the roles African Americans played in the movement to abolish slavery.
Leeds Civic Trust promotes the improvements of Leeds in the spheres of planning, architecture, heritage and city amenities and is responsible for the blue plaque scheme in the city.
Since 1987 the Trust has unveiled more than 190 plaques across the district celebrating people, events and buildings that have made a significant contribution to the city of Leeds.