THREE ABOLITIONISTS IN AMBLESIDE

The Armitt Museum
Tuesday 24th October 2pm – 4pm

TICKETS: £5

On a cold March morning in 1851, three Americans boarded a stagecoach bound for Ambleside. Lots of Americans were visiting the Lakes by the 1850s, but these three travellers were not your average tourists. They were celebrities. Their names were William Wells Brown, William Craft and Ellen Craft, and they were not headed to Ambleside just to enjoy the scenery. They were campaigning to abolish slavery in the United States. But why were Brown and the Crafts in Cumbria? And what drew them to Ambleside in particular? What light, moreover, does their visit shed on the region’s historical links with the United States? Come along to this talk to find out.

About the speaker:
Chris Donaldson is Senior Lecturer in Cultural History at Lancaster University, where he is also co-director of the Regional Heritage Centre.