In celebration of African American History Month, the University of Delaware Library will mount the one-case exhibition “Solomon Bayley and Antislavery in Delaware,” curated by Arline Wilson, doctoral candidate in the Department of English and graduate assistant in Special Collections.

The exhibition will run from Jan. 31 to March 3 on the first floor of Morris Library. An online version of the exhibition will be available.

The exhibition will feature documents centered on the life of Solomon Bayley (c.1771-c.1839). Born a slave in Kent County, Delaware, Bayley later gained his freedom and went on to become an author, farmer, and preacher.

Included in the exhibition is his best-known work, A Narrative of Some Remarkable Incidents in the Life of Solomon, Bayley, Formerly a Slave in the State of Delaware, North America. Published in London in 1825, the book describes his escape from slavery, eventual recapture and successful struggle for emancipation, which included taking his enslaver to court.

Bayley emigrated with his wife to Liberia, West Africa, around 1830 to escape escalating racial discrimination and the threat of capture and re-enslavement. From Africa, he corresponded with Joseph Bringhurst Jr. (b.1767-d.1834), who belonged to a Quaker family that exercised a great influence on the social, religious and cultural life of the Wilmington area during the 19th century.

In those letters, several of which are featured in the exhibition, Bayley describes life in Liberia, where he and his wife established a farm and where he was active as a preacher.  

On display also is a first edition of William Lloyd Garrison’s Thoughts on African Colonization (1832). In this book the prominent journalist, editor and abolitionist criticizes the American Colonization Society’s (ACS) project to send African Americans such as the Bayleys to settle in the colony of Liberia, established in 1822 through the organization’s efforts.

Garrison refutes the claim that resettlement of free blacks was the solution to racial problems in the United States, arguing that ACS members condoned American slavery and, consequently, sought to expel free blacks, slavery’s biggest opponents.

Exhibitions are offered in the Special Collections Gallery in the Morris Library, Old College Gallery, Mechanical Hall Gallery and in the Mineralogical Museum in Penny Hall. All exhibitions and accompanying programs are offered to the UD community and general public without charge. Collaborative initiatives and programming with students, faculty and departments across campus foster diversity and enhance interdisciplinary research and teaching.

For information about Special Collections and Museums as well as current and past exhibitions see the Special Collections website and the Museums website.