Preview Celebrate Black History Month with Transatlantic Abolition: 19th-century Yorkshire Art
An exhibition at the Stanley and Audrey Burton Gallery shows the role Leeds played in the abolition of slavery
Preview: Celebrate Black History Month with Transatlantic Abolition: 19th-century Yorkshire Art
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Would you ever have guessed that the abolition of slavery was in any way linked to Leeds? One exhibition on show for the month of October – in honour of this year’s Black History Month – shows the unlikely role our city played.
The poignant and significant exhibition, Transatlantic Abolition: 19th-century Yorkshire, reveals some unexpected things. One, that key people in the debate came to Leeds to rouse support for the abolitionist movement, including the ex-slave Frederick Douglass and the author of the best-selling anti-slavery novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe.
The exhibition also shows that certain locations were significant to the cause: ones that are today more readily associated with anything but social activism. OK Karaoke in the city centre was once home to the Young Men’s Anti-Slavery group. Now it is the haunt of wannabe pop stars and charming crooners, who flaunt their vocal chords as part of a night on the town.
Leeds undergraduate Yosra Awad, 21, has dedicated two years to researching 19th-century abolitionism in Leeds and Yorkshire. “It’s good for local people to be able to understand the city that they live in as one that was so important in the global debate. It’s a shame more people don’t know about that,” she says.
The exhibition takes place until 29th October, at Leeds University’s Stanley and Audrey Burton Gallery. The first of October is the start of Black History Month, a cultural celebration to honour people of African, Asian and Caribbean descent. Around the UK, cities will launch programmes of events to help recognise the contribution black people have made to society, and to encourage diverse communities to come together to celebrate their differences.
Awad is a student at Leeds University, in her third year studying English. She trawled through archives and made transcripts of speeches, working hard to being the abolitionist story to life. “One of the things I’ve enjoyed is the chance to work with local people and organisations, seeing how interested they are that Leeds played such a huge role,” she says.
Awad will also host a day dedicated to Black History Month at local schools, involving drama, activities, a visit to the Transatlantic Abolition: 19th-century Yorkshire exhibition and a film-viewing, in which local actor and playwright Joe Williams gives a moving rendition of a celebrated Frederick Douglass speech. The film will be aired at the Leeds City Museum this October. “I’m really excited about the day,” says Awad, “as I love working with young people and helping them see past playground prejudices.”
For last year’s Black History Month, Awad ran drama workshops with 14-year-olds from local schools. She told the pupils about the importance of Leeds in the history of abolitionism. She caught their imaginations with historical tales of great escapes from slavery. There was Henry ‘Box’ Brown, who sealed himself in a box and posted himself to sympathetic abolitionists, on a journey that took several hours, and where, no doubt, his container would have been roughly handled.
Another story focused on a couple called William and Ellen Craft. She was quite fair and her husband quite dark – so she pretended to be his white master in order for them to escape together on a train. She knew somebody would ask her to sign her name, but being a slave, she hadn’t been taught to read or write. So she very cleverly put her arm in a sling and said it was broken.
October will also see the launch of the website, which will include visual resources used during Awad’s research, an animated carriage tour of abolitionist sites in Leeds, audio clips of escape stories, and educational resources.
Until 29th October, Stanley and Audrey Burton Gallery, Parkinson Building, University Of Leeds, Woodhouse Lane, LS2 9JT, 0113 343 2777
Posted on Tuesday 4th October 2011
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Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery
Parkinson Building, University Of Leeds, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds, LS2 9JT
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