Plaque recalls Famine-era visit by former slave

A plaque commemorating the visit to Ireland of a former slave and influential anti-slavery campaigner during the Famine was unveiled yesterday.

Frederick Douglass came to Ireland in the 1840s to drum up backing for the abolitionist cause, and wrote about how his visit here was the first time he felt treated “as a human being and not as a colour”.

Among his public appearances was a speech given at City Hall in Waterford on Oct 9, 1845, and 168 years later that occasion has been permanently marked with a plaque at that location.