The freedom fighter

With an hour to kill in Galway city, I head towards Spanish Arch, vegetating the only thing on my mind. Walking down Quay Street, drops start falling; undoubtedly refuge will need to be sought.

A large tourist group walks through the arch and, without much real thought as to why, I follow them. Behind is Galway City Museum, an amenity I have heard much about. Surely this will pass the time sufficiently. Inside, I discover it’s free. Win-win.

However, a further trip will have to be paid to the museum, as I don’t get past the foyer. I decide to give the temporary exhibition inside the door a quick glance before perusing the main event, and it captures my attention entirely.

A number of panels across the wall document the story of Tom Molineaux, an African-American slave who fought his way to freedom. He went on to contest the first world heavyweight boxing title and is buried in an unmarked grave in Mervue on the outskirts of Galway city.

His story is both captivating and tragic in equal measure, and although it’s not exceptionally well known in the main, Tom’s significance has not been lost in the world of boxing. He has been referenced by Mike Tyson and a book was written about the fighter by Bill Calogero.

Brendan McGowan, education and outreach officer at Galway City Museum, is the exhibition’s curator. It was decided to run the display in 2018 to mark the 200-year anniversary of Tom’s death, and it has received very positive feedback all round, remarks Brendan.

“Often times you work on exhibitions at the museum here and people just glance as they go by. This one is interesting to watch people on: they follow the story from beginning to end, right around panels.”

Tom’s death and burial have been recorded in local history books around Galway and a plaque commemorating the fighter was erected in St Patrick’s Boys School, which was once the army barracks in which he died. However, the boxer’s death was much more high-profile in England.

“It was a bigger deal in England than it was here, because England was the centre of the boxing world [at the time], and he twice fought their champion,” explains Brendan. “Within a fortnight of him dying, every regional newspaper in England had a one-line snippet to say he was dead in Galway.”

At present, Brendan is trying to arrange for a headstone to mark Tom’s grave and says there is a possibility it may happen by the end of the year. Hopefully his efforts will be successful, to keep Tom’s sporting and cultural significance to the forefront of public consciousness.

The exhibition will run at Galway City Museum until Saturday 24 November.