Blue plaque unveiled celebrating Leeds’ anti-slavery heritage

The Leeds Civic Trust unveiled a new blue plaque last month at the University of Leeds to celebrate Quaker activists, Mary and Wilson Armistead. The couple were leading members of the Leeds Anti-Slavery Association.

Mary and Wilson lived in Virginia Cottage, now Lyddon Hall, on the University of Leeds campus.

The plaque was unveiled at the start of October by Lord Mayor of Leeds Abigail Marshall Katung. It was followed by a lecture from Professor Richard Blackett from Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, the Yorkshire Evening Post reports.

Blackett researches the abolitionist movement in the United States, focussing specifically on its transatlantic connections and the role of African Americans in abolishing slavery.

Special mention is also given to Ellen and William Craft, a couple born into slavery in Georgia who managed to escape enslavement in 1848, according to the BBC.

The couple stayed as guests at the Armistead’s house during the 1851 consensus and were famously recorded by Wilson as “fugitive slaves.” They were part of a group of African Americans who visited Leeds to talk about their experiences in slavery and promote the abolitionist movement in the UK.

Professor of American Literature and Culture at the University of Leeds, Bridget Bennett said: “Abolitionists in Leeds understood that their resistance to a system that relied on unfree labour 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.”

It has also been reported that the plaque mentions the name Henry “Box” Brown, who also promoted the abolitionist movement in the UK.

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Brown escaped slavery in Virginia by concealing himself inside a box which was posted to Philadelphia. In 1851, he re-enacted this journey in the UK by traveling from Bradford to Leeds in a box by rail as part of anti-slavery campaigning.

The Leeds Civic Trust director, Martin Hamilton, said: “the abolitionist heritage of our city deserves to be better known and we hope that their plaque will help set the record straight.”

“Wilson Armistead is arguably 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.”

The plaque is part of the more than 190 that have been unveiled by the Leeds Civic Trust since 1987, celebrating people, events and buildings that have made significant contributions to the city of Leeds.

Featured image via Instagram