UCL alumna Sarah Parker Remond honoured with blue plaque

Sarah Parker Remond - A blue plaque celebrating the life and achievements of transatlantic abolitionist and women's rights activist Sarah Parker Remond has been unveiled in Bloomsbury, London. Produced by the Nubian Jak Community Trust, the plaque is sponsored by Black History Walks and supported by UCL's Sarah Parker Remond Centre. The plaque is situated on Grenville Street, near Brunswick Square Gardens, and was unveiled on Friday 25 March, with several dedicated speeches to Remond's life, work and legacy. Commenting Professor Paul Gilroy, Founding Director of UCL Sarah Parker Remond Centre, said: "It is wonderful that a new generation of students will have the chance to learn about Sarah Parker Remond's amazing achievements. I like the idea of people passing the plaque and scurrying home to find out who she was and why we should remember her." Sarah Parker Remond was a free-born African American radical, suffragist, anti-slavery activist and later, a doctor. She started speaking publicly against slavery in the 1850s and was the first woman to lecture publicly against slavery in the UK. Her lectures took her around America, the UK and Europe, where she became a well-known figure and agent of change in the anti-slavery movement. Her entire family was dedicated to the abolition of slavery and their home was a meeting point for black and white abolitionists.