Blue plaque honours memory of slave who came to Wolverhampton aged three and became an entrepreneur
A Blue Plaque has been unveiled to honour the life of one the UK's first black entrepreneurs.
Members of the Creative Collective, a group of diverse people seeking to bring art, culture and progress together for all of the community in Wolverhampton, presented the plaque in honour of George Africanus to the mayor of Wolverhampton, Councillor Sandra Samuels, on Tuesday at Wolverhampton Art Gallery.
The plaque pays tribute to George, who was trafficked to England from Sierra Leone in 1766, aged just three and given as a gift to Benjamin Molineux, part of the family who owned a three-storey mansion in Wolverhampton at the time.
George lived with the family in Molineux House, now the Wolverhampton Archive building, with records showing that he was baptised at St Peters Church and taught to read and write.
He served an apprenticeship as a brass founder and later became a successful entrepreneur, settling in Nottinghamshire and living until his early 70s, dying in 1834.
The plaque will be placed on the Wolverhampton Archive Building and the Collective said it was pleased to be able to honour both the past and the present and how far the council has come.
A spokesman for the Collective said: "It was very important to the Creative Collective to get the plaque launched by the city of Wolverhampton’s first black mayor.
"We are extremely thankful to the mayor for her support.
"It was vital that the plaque also had the mayor of Wolverhampton and her name as the plaque is not just a record of the past but the present: recognising George Africanus and Councillor Sandra Samuels and how far Britain and Wolverhampton has progressed."
