Jul 19, 2012

What's in a Name, Wedgwood

Josiah Wedgwood may be remembered today in his eponymous pottery, but his life was far more exciting than that association would lead one to think.

In his day he was a prominent abolitionist, and his pottery company made a medallion with the design of a black slave on his knees with the motto, “Am I not a man and brother?” He produced large quantities of the medallion and distributed them for free through the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade. Fashionable women started wearing them as jewelry and men smoked pipes with the image on the side. It became the most widely recognized image of a black person during the 1700s. Josiah died before slavery was abolished in England.

He also has the distinction of being the grandfather of Charles Darwin
.