Hull Journal: 04 / 04 / 2007; 1412BST

Just finished dinner and have saved a great deal many photographs to Paul's drive. Wilberforce House was nothing I expected. Its function as a home has been entirely disposed with -- only the shell remains. The only homely room is Wilberforce's personal library, but even this is presented in glass cabinets cursed by modernity. Coincidentally this is what I was most exited about seeing. To see so many open spaces disappointed me. If it was that room which was designated as a library by the Wilberforce family, then I am of the opinion that it would have been absolutely full during the lifetime of Mr. Wilberforce. I was nevertheless warmed to see a book entitled 'Browne's Travels': it brought a smile to my face. he had numerous other books detailing other individuals travels; I can only assume Mr. Wilberforce would have therefore greatly enjoyed 'How I Found Livingstone' had he lived long enough to witness it's publication.

The rest of the building told me a great many things I was already aware of. But it did no harm to learn them again. The first floor had very little direct connection to the gentleman who once lived there. I picked up a good leaflet entitled 'Slavery: Past, Present & Future'.

Wilberforce House is serving as a good starting point for learning about the slave trade, slavery, and Mr. William Wilberforce. But I am far beyond the starting point. i have read the works of Frederick Douglass, Harriet Jacobs, Booker Taliaferro Washington, Sojourner Truth, Olaudah Equiano, James Weldon Johnson, Richard Wright, James Baldwin, John Howard Griffin, William Edward Burghardt Du Bois, Malcolm X, Harriet Beecher Stowe . . . but I was not isolated form all the other persons observing the displays. We were all still chained together by the unspoken understanding that what happened was wrong. Yes, it really is that simple: what happened was wrong.

In retrospect today has been a most successful day. My pilgrimage to Hull (and the refurbished Wilberforce House) serves as my own celebration of of the bicentenary of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act 1807. But you and I know that the country is celebrating two hundred years of freedom two hundred years too soon. Thanks Jim.

Yours, wherever you may be,
Daniel C. Wright