Will Paradise Be Found? Mary Anne Rawson, Social Reformer, Educator, Abolitionist - Anita Franklin, Vanitas Arts Associate Artist

I’d never heard of Mary Anne Rawson.  How about you?  But when I heard about her and her life as an abolitionist, a founder of an anti-slavery society in Sheffield I found I wanted to know more.  

For all our Hollywood notions of Regency and Victorian feminine gentility, her spirit feels to me quite formidable - like she longed to be heard now or maybe it’s me, desperately searching backwards for the secret to creating progressive alliances.  That secret feels so terribly necessary for today’s world. I kept wanting to scratch beneath the surface of good deeds and sentimental preening to see what lay beneath sheer faith and good will. It’s puzzling that I remain this curious as we couldn’t be more different.  She was an English upper middle class woman born and raised in South Yorkshire in the 19th century. I’m an African American academic, a New Yorker, a writer and performer, 40 years and thousands of miles away from home. 

And yet, our femaleness, our devotion to education and to the power of organisation, protest and social justice points to the ways in which we are similar and therefore connected.  This blog is about a work in progress, a project to uncover and fortify the memory and public understanding of a remarkable woman, Mary Anne Rawson, of Wincobank Hall Sheffield. It is also a blog about how I go about my business as a writer.  Writing is usually a terribly private affair, and it feels awfully risky to air one’s half formed ideas, thoughts and dreams.  I’m doing this so you too can witness the process and if you’re so inclined – join me through your comments. Constructive feedback is warmly appreciated.

So, as you can see already, my writing in this case and nearly always starts with a keen desire to tell a story, a desire to share that story with others.  Sometimes the story is something that comes with sorrow and delight like with the Gladys Bentley work (produced as part of Persons Of Interest audio drama podcast by Vanitas Arts), or my short stage play The Crossing (produced by Paines Plough) other times it comes with someone asking me a question about myself – as in the case of my piece on Mary MacLeod Bethune (Vanitas Arts) or the BBC radio play This Sweet Bitter Earth.  My work is often historical, the most recent example being All Our Goals, which was devised by Utopia Theatre around the life of Emma Clarke, England’s first Black professional woman footballer.  Therefore, it should come as no surprise that my writing starts with research.  It’s not just that I’m looking for the facts and figures behind someone who was once alive.  It’s that for me my real life characters AND their fictional cousins must have a world to live in.  That need to construct a world leads me to asking about their society. What do I need to know to sketch out the atmosphere, rhythm and rhyme of the world around them?

Mary Anne Read was born 22 November 1801 in Sheffield.
Anita Franklin

Mural above by Katy Sett on Neepsend Lane Sheffield. Created and photographed, 2020. Curated by Street Art Sheffield.

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For full blog on Substack press here