In the 19th century, Wakefield was among several cities in the UK where anti-slavery movements gained significant ground.
Wakefield is notable for incredible abolitionist campaigners like Elizabeth Dawson and Ann Hurst.
Wakefield also saw visits from luminaries of the abolitionist cause such as Frederick Douglass and Sarah Parker Remond, who used their lived experience and personal stories to rally against the enslavement of Black and Indigenous peoples.
The Wakefield Anti-Slavery Association formed on 12 January 1860, at Wakefield Corn Exchange. This followed a lecture by Sarah Parker Remond, a renowned abolitionist, suffrage campaigner, human rights activist and physician. Wakefield Anti-Slavery Society, formed in 1857, organised the event. Elizabeth Dawson served as secretary of both organisations.
Elizabeth Dawson and Sarah Parker Remond’s Blue Plaque
Sarah Parker Remond and Elizabeth Dawson are Numbers 17 and 18 in our campaign for Blue Plaque Parity.
We unveiled Elizabeth Dawson and Sarah Parker Remond’s blue plaque at a ceremony at Unity Hall in September 2021, as the culmination of our Heritage Action Zone weekend.
Free History Download
Download our broadsheets about Elizabeth Dawson’s work.
Creative Response: The Abolitionists Films
Elizabeth Dawson: The Abolitionists
Sarah Parker Remond – The Abolitionists, Chapter III
Released on International Women’s Day 2022, the third chapter of The Abolitionists features speaker Sarah Parker Remond. Ahead of its release, we conducted an interview between writer Emma Wise and actor Jemma Thompson, who plays Sarah Parker Remond.
Jemma reflects on the role and her personal connections to the anti-slavery movement and the horrors of enslavement.
And below you can find the third chapter of The Abolitionists.
Press and Further Information
Yorkshire Bylines – Women abolitionists: “the cement of the whole anti-slavery building”
Anti-slavery campaigners Blue Plaque recognition in Wakefield | Wakefield Express