Charles Lenox Remond was from Massachusetts and he was the first African-American to be employed by the American Anti-Slavery Society to promote their cause, giving talks across the Northeast of the US.
His parents were freed slaves, so he had a relatively privileged upbringing for a black person in those times. His passionate oratorical skills in speaking out against slavery made a great impression on all.
He worked alongside journalist William Lloyd Garrison, a white man who lead the abolitionist movement in the United States for many decades.
In 1840 both Remond and Garrison attended the World Anti-Slavery Convention in London. After the convention, Remond conducted a lecture tour of Britain and Ireland. During his Irish travels he spoke in the upstairs hall in the Assembly Rooms in Belfast in October 1841, exactly fifty years after Olaudah Equiano had boarded in a house opposite during his time in Belfast.
Remond also spoke in other venues in the town, and his last appearance was at the Presbyterian church of Henry Cooke which still stands on May Street. Before he left Ireland, Remond was presented with a petition signed by over 60,000 Irish people, asking Irish Americans to do all that they can to abolish slavery in the US.
To learn more, book the ANTI SLAVERY BELFAST TOUR!