"I do hereby declare the said Jemmy Darrell to be exonerated and released from all and all manner of Slavery or Servitude whatsoever, and I do earnestly request all Persons to treat him, as a Man actually and bona fide Free."

With these powerful words that now form the centrepiece of an exhibition dedicated to ship pilot James Darrell at the Bermuda Archives, Governor James Craufurd released him from his enslavement on March 1, 1796. He was also made a Kings Pilot on May 23, 1796.

Pilot Darrell's life, however, as a free man was not much different than during enslavement because of legislation consistently introduced to limit rights of the freed slave. He, however, fought these regulations which sought to limit his hard-earned rights.

Now, Pilot Darrell's struggle to be recognised as an equal is the basis of The Bermuda Archives exhibit, "A Very Manifest Alteration, The life and times of Pilot James Darrell, 1793-1816."

Last week family members, Acting Premier Paula Cox, PLP MP Dame Jennifer Smith and PLP MP Alex Scott all turned out for the opening of Pilot Darrell's exhibit.

Ms Cox, who had visited the display earlier, said: "I don't know how to say this. Prior to four o'clock (when she visited the exhibition), I had in my mind some trite comments to say.

"The exhibit moved me. It's very pivotal to our history as a country. Pilot Darrell stood up on principle and stood up for what he believed. He's a modern day freedom fighter."

Pilot Darrell earned his freedom through his abilities and steadiness in navigating the British Rear Admiral George Murray's flagship through the Island's reefs to Murray's Anchorage safely in 1795.

The Admiral recommended that he be freed and commissioned as a Kings Pilot. Pilot Darrell's freedom, however, brought little relief as Bermudian legislators fearing free people of colour to be the primary instigators of slave conspiracies, continued to curtail their rights.

In 1806, an Act to regulate the Emancipation of Slaves, and to disable Free Negroes and persons of Colour from being seized of Real Estate was passed to remain in force for seven years.

The main aims of the Act were to reduce the number of free Negroes and persons of colour living in Bermuda and to prevent those who remained from acquiring real estate.

The Act ordered that if a slave was under the age of 40 when freed, he or she should be transported from the Island within three months of their emancipation.

Pilot Darrell had already petitioned, along with a fellow Kings Pilot, Jacob Pitcairn, against new measures regulating pay and working conditions for pilots.

After the 1806 Act, Pilot Darrell with others petitioned directly to the Commissioners of the British Navy in London.

Romano Ramirez, a descendent of Pilot Darrell who also lives in his former homestead thanks to the change in the law in 1913, said he hoped the collection of documents would help piece Bermuda's history together.

He said: "What he did was instrumental in what came in the future. It needs to be recognised and it is these other things that happened in Bermuda's history that people don't know."

Betty Christopher, also a descendent and a former president of the Bermuda Public Service Union, said she found it heartwarming and said his traits must still run in the family.

She said: "I am very proud of it and it's very heart warming to know being of the first free people of colour that they think in this way to commemorate him.

"He was sort of like part of the union. It must be in the genes."

The select display of original manuscripts will remain up until mid-September at the Bermuda Archives at 30 Parliament Street, Hamilton from Monday to Friday 8.30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Group arrangements can be made by calling Mrs G. Weeks at 294-9196.