George Africanus is thought to have been born in Sierra Leone in 1763, then given as a present to the Molineux family in Wolverhampton in 1766.

The family educated him and he moved to Nottingham as an adult in 1784.

Belong Nottingham, a community development charity, wants to increase awareness of him.

Rosanna Ottewell from the charity said: "At the end of the 18th Century there were 14,000 black people in Britain and we hear very little about them....