Celestine Edwards
*Celestine Edwards was born on this date in 1857. He was an Afro Dominican editor, public speaker, author, and anti-racist activist.
Samuel Jules Celestine Edwards was born in Dominica. According to Edwards' essays, published in Lux and Fraternity journals, he left Dominica in 1870 and worked odd jobs on ships. He also lived in America before settling in Scotland and joined the Primitive Methodist Church. After his stay in Scotland, he moved to London to study theology at King's College London. He went on to study medicine at the Royal London Hospital. Edwards became a well-known speaker for the Christian Evidence Movement.
One of his most famous speeches, "Political Atheism," was published in 1889. According to Peter Fryer, Edwards is the first known Black British editor. Edwards also founded two magazines: "Weekly Christian Evidence Journal" paper Lux in 1892 and the anti-racist Fraternity, "Official organ of the Society for the Recognition of the Universal Brotherhood of Man," in 1893. Edwards' work with Fraternity led him to successfully collaborate with Ida B. Wells during her first anti-lynching tour of the British Isles. Celestine Edwards died in 1894.
