I have only ‘met’ Eugene briefly through Twitter and #TheGreatTeaTowelSharing. He was ‘persuaded’ to share his favourite tea towel by @KellyMae36. “What about your #Dwarfism tea towel for the Museum? A bit of education, and dwarf history awareness”. He has certainly chosen a great tea towel, a classic from @radicalteatowel.
“Benjamin Lay is one of my heroes. He has been called ‘A living stick of dynamite’. I wish more people knew about him”. There is an article in new statesman.com with a headline “Abolitionist, activist, dwarf – we all need role models like Benjamin Lay” by @MrEugeneGrant. It is a fascinating article with the recommendation of books to read for more information. “Benjamin Lay was one of the first white radical abolitionists. He ferociously protested against slavery. He was a feminist and anti-capitalist. He was a vegetarian and was a #dwarf person. We all need role models like Benjamin Lay. I didn’t find out about him until I was 31“
@MrEugeneGrant writes ” Benjamin Lay was born in England in 1682… Lay was a sailor, glove-maker and bookseller. He was fearless, compassionate and principled. And he had dwarfism. Lay was one of the very first to call for the abolition of slavery. He was a Quaker but many Quakers at that time opposed Lay’s abolitionist views. Lay campaigned against the Quaker views and called for the Church to cast out slave owners. Lay died in 1759. Two hundred and fifty years later, he is beginning to get the recognition he deserves…….My parents raised me to know my value and be proud of who I am. When I have children I’m going to tell them stories about Benjamin Lay. And they will know of his deeds long before media and television tell them the names of those who propagate stereotypes of us and sustain the spectacle of our beautiful dwarf bodies“
If you are interested in Eugene’s Tea Towel Story then I would definitely read the article in the New Statesman. There are all sorts of tea towels: tourist, artistic, plain, souvenir, promotional and then there are the POLITICAL ones. We should all have at least one political tea towel in our collection.
Thank you to @MrEugeneGrant for sharing your Tea Towel Story.
Virtual Tea Towel Museum 