{{Short description|Dominican editor and anti-racist activist (c.1858–1894)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Celestine Edwards | image = File:500 S J Celestine Edwards (registered- 1894).jpg | birth_name = Samuel Jules Celestine Edwards | birth_date = {{circa|1858}} | birth_place = Dominica | death_date = {{Death year and age|1894|1858}} | death_place = Dominica | education = Theology, King's College, London, 1891 | known_for = Christian, socialist, anti-imperialist and anti-racist views, lecturing and editorial career. }} '''Samuel Jules Celestine Edwards''' ({{circa|1858}} – 1894) was a Dominican editor, public speaker, author, and anti-racist activist.
==Background== Celestine Edwards was born in Dominica. While scholars tend to agree that his birthday fell on 28 December, there is some disagreement about the exact year of his birth. One historian of Black British history, Peter Fryer, provides 1858 and possibly even 1859 as Edwards' birth date,<ref>{{Cite book|title=Staying Power: The History of Black People in Britain|last=Fryer|first=Peter|publisher=Pluto Press|edition= 2nd |year=2010|isbn=978-0745330723|location=London and New York|pages=277–278}}</ref> while another, Jonathan Schneer, cites 1857.<ref>{{Cite book|title=London 1900: The Imperial Metropolis|last=Schneer|first=Jonathan|publisher=Yale University Press|year=2001|isbn=0300089031|location=New Haven, Connecticut|pages=210}}</ref>
==International adventures== According to Edwards' autobiographical essays, published in the journals ''Lux'' and ''Fraternity'', he left his native Dominica in 1870 and worked odd jobs on ships for a few years. He also spent some time in the United States. He then settled down in Scotland, where he joined the Primitive Methodist Church. After his stay in Scotland, he moved to London to study theology at King's College London. A rare 1888 photograph of Edwards, pictured among fellow theology students and before he became famous, was discovered at King's College London Archives by archivist Frances Pattman.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Pattman|first=Frances|date=3 June 2021|title=King's Students: Historic Photos 1861 and 1888 Andrew Weinstein and Samuel Jules Celestine Edwards|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mj7F-k6zM0s&t=1s|time=2:18|access-date=10 March 2025|website=YouTube}}</ref> Edwards was never ordained into the Church of England and remained a Methodist after his time at King's.<ref name=":0" /> He went on to study medicine at the Royal London Hospital.
==Public speeches and publications== During this time, Edwards became a well-known speaker for the Christian Evidence Movement. One of his most famous speeches, "Political Atheism", was published in 1889 by John Kensit.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Political Atheism: A Lecture|last=Edwards|first=Celestine|publisher=John Kensit|year=1889|location=London}}</ref> 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.
According to Peter Fryer, Edwards is the first known Black British editor.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Staying Power: The History of Black People in Britain|last=Peter|first=Fryer|publisher=Pluto Press|edition= 2nd|year=2010|isbn=978-0745330723|location=London and New York}}</ref> Edwards' work with ''Fraternity'' led him to a successful collaboration with Ida B. Wells during her first anti-lynching tour of the British Isles.
== References == {{reflist}} thumb|Historical blue plaque created by Sunderland City Council commemorating the life of editor and anti-slavery campaigner Celestine Edwards.
== External links == '''British Library'''
* [http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/dlDisplay.do?vid=BLVU1&search_scope=LSCOP-ALL&docId=BLL01013930125&fn=permalink ''Lux'' (London, England : 1892)]{{Dead link|date=February 2026 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }} * [http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/dlDisplay.do?vid=BLVU1&search_scope=LSCOP-ALL&docId=BLL01013925248&fn=permalink ''Fraternity'' (London, England : 1893)]{{Dead link|date=February 2026 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Celestine}} Category:19th-century British writers Category:1850s births Category:1894 deaths Category:Alumni of King's College London Category:Antigua and Barbuda writers Category:Dominica activists Category:Dominica writers