Project reveals UK sites where black Americans fought to end slavery

Frederick Douglass, a seminal figure in American civil rights who escaped enslavement, travelled to Britain and Ireland three times. Photograph: AP

Historic England is commemorating the American abolitionist Frederick Douglass’s time in Newcastle in a project that links the legacy of black abolitionists with listed buildings.

The story of how black Americans came to Britain to fight slavery has still not been fully recognised. The Missing Pieces Project aims to shed new light on the struggle by charting the locations on the lecture tours of 19th-century activists.