The slave who made Oldham his home...

THE extraordinary life story of an escaped American slave who settled in Oldham is highlighted in the borough’s commemoration of Black History Month and the first-ever national Anti-Slavery Day next week.

The inaugural event is being marked by a public talk at Gallery Oldham on Monday at 1pm plus two small displays on show at Oldham Local Studies and Archives from Monday to October 23.

The talk will see Gallery Oldham collections co-ordinator Sean Baggaley and Roger Ivens, from Oldham Local Studies Library, use the famous 1876 Oldham Panorama, a panoramic photo housed in the gallery, to illustrate how our town was closely linked with slavery on American cotton plantations.

They will discuss how the cotton famine caused by the US Civil War affected Oldham — ranging from soup kitchens and assisted emigration for the unemployed to the creation of Alexandra Park.

They will also tell the remarkable tale of James Johnson — an escaped slave who settled in Oldham in 1866 — and about whom Oldham Local Studies and Archives are seeking further information.

Dinah Winch will also discuss contemporary artwork currently on display in the Fired Up: Ceramics and Meaning exhibition at Gallery Oldham which explores the persistence of people trafficking in the 21st.

The Cockle Picker’s Tea Service was made in 2007 by Paul Scott, an internationally renowned ceramicist, and marks the deaths of the Chinese cockle pickers in Morecambe Bay in 2004.

Born in Smithfield, North Carolina, on March 20, 1947, Johnson was initially “owned” by a boatbuilder, then a planter, and was finally sold to a George Washington, under whom he worked as a coachman and on the plantations.

He escaped during the American Civil War by swimming out to a warship anchored off the coast.

From there he made his way to New York and then worked his passage to Liverpool, arriving in December, 1862 and settling in Oldham in September, 1866.

After working for Platt Bros & Co, he joined Oldham Free Church and became a respected evangelist. He married twice and had a daughter named Alice Johnson.

Following her father’s death in 1914, Alice — who was living at 5 Greenacres Road — published a pamphlet entitled “The Life of James Johnson…An Escaped Slave from the Southern States of America. 40 years resident in Oldham, England.”

The pamphlet will be on display in the Oldham Local Studies and Archives during the exhibition.

Staff would like to hear from any descendants of Alice Johnson, or anyone who can add further information to the story.

Anyone who can help should contact Roger Ivens on 0161-770 4655.