Mary Thomas (b. 1848, Antigua, Antigua-and-Barbuda – d. 1905 , Christiansted, Virgin Islands) was a black slave who, along with two other women, led an uprising called the “Fireburn” in the Danish colonies (St Croix) in 1878. Because of her leading role in the riot, she was nicknamed Queen Mary. In 1882, Mary Thomas was transferred to Copenhagen and placed in the Women’s Prison, Christianshavn. However, in 1887 she was sent back to Christiansted, St. Croix, where she served the rest of her sentence. In 2018, the artist team La Vaughn Belle and Jeannette Ehlers created the 7-meters high sculpture monument called “I am Queen Mary” as a commemoration of the resistance of the Danish colonial impact in the Caribbean. It is also Denmark’s first public monument dedicated to a black woman.
More on the I am Queen Mary exhibition website, and on the Virgin Island History website.
Address: Larsens Pl., 1253 Copenhagen, Denmark