Scottish Racism in History

Samuel L. Jackson, enslaver John Glassford
‘This was the tartan of my slave master; I now claim his castle and his lands for my own.’ That was the intrepid line from Black American actor Samuel L. Jackson’s character Elmo McElroy, in the final scene of 2001 film 'The 51st State'.[1] Playing golf in the grounds of his newly acquired stately home, his full blown afro and dark brown skin cut a distinct contrast to his Scottish surroundings and trademark kilt (watch the film to see exactly how much dark skin he then exposes!) That he had come into a windfall fortune to purchase the property formerly owned by the enslaver of his family is all part of the comedic caper’s multifaceted plotline, also starring actual Scottish actor Robert Carlyle. Indeed, there was a Scottish theme embedded throughout this British/Canadian film, similar to how racism is embedded throughout Scotland’s history, ranging from ancient times to more recent racial injustices. Many of these will likely be covered in an upcoming October 2020 documentary Samuel L. Jackson will also feature in called 'Enslaved: The Lost History of the Transatlantic Slave Trade'.[2] The four-part series will ‘shine light on 400 years of human trafficking and the millions of Africans who were shipped to the Americas.’ Whilst we can expect the programme to be serious and explicit on the horrors of race-based mass abduction and genocide instigated by the likes of Scottish enslaver John Glassford, as The 51st State’s background plot it was implicit amongst all the action and comic relief. Overcoming Elmo McElroy’s family’s historical racism was as obscure as that very topic is in reality…right up until the end credits where Samuel L. Jackson ‘flashes’ his ultimate truth as he unfurls his kilt! So let’s also pull back the curtains of Scotland’s history with racism…right up until the present day.

 

Historical Racism: BCE Royalty

 

Pharaoh Princess Scota
It might seem odd to think there was racism in Scotland before the common era; however, the issue here is more the racial omission of the pioneering Scots who gave the region its name i.e. ancient Egyptians. Unlike what the white fantasists of Hollywood would have us believe; Egypt, a country on the African continent, was not filled with Europeans with light skin and straight hair. As infinite historical accounts (and indeed common sense) attest to, ancient Egyptians and their pharaohs were dark skinned Africans with afro hair[3], its current Arab inhabitants the result of latter-day colonialism from the east. But the particular Pharaoh of interest here is Ankhesenamun, also known as Scota which inspired the name ‘Scotland’.[4] She married a fellow Pharaoh (or possible Greek king) called Gaythelos, giving us the word ‘Gaelic’; and together they had a son called Hiber, which originated the word ‘Hibernia’, like the Edinburgh football team. Internal struggles made the royal couple leave Egypt, first settling in Spain (where Gaythelos also gave name to the north-western ‘Galicia’ region; and Hiber again inspired the word ‘Iberia’, like the airlines & cured ham), then their descendants moved to Ireland before later relocating to Scotland. Indeed, it could explain why the ancient Egyptian ‘bagpipers of Thebes’[5] instrument of choice as well as tartan kilts with pleated detailing in the back still found in Egyptian tombs & carved into statues are now prominent features in the Celtic communities of each region. Whilst some historians like Ralph Ellis have been meticulous in bringing these facts to the fore, many more like Edinburgh University Scottish history lecturer Steve Boardman have been intent on rubbishing his African roots.[6]

Racist philosopher David Hume
Such lingering aversion to admit Scotland’s ancient African heritage is not surprising considering lingering racist attitudes stemming from the likes of Scottish philosopher David Hume (1711-1776).[7] In his essay "Of National Characters", he said, ‘I am apt to suspect the Negroes to be naturally inferior to the Whites. There scarcely ever was a civilised nation of that complexion, nor even any individual, eminent either in action or in speculation. No ingenious manufacture among them, no arts, no sciences.’ This mindset amongst Scots and other western Europeans was the driving force that led to the mass enslavement of African people underpinning Scotland’s wealth during the Transatlantic Slave Trade. Before we delve into this history, let’s properly clarify the meaning of slavery related vocabulary[8] used throughout: (1) enslaved people = kidnap victims/hostages/captives (2) enslavers = kidnappers/abductors (3) middle passage = genocide (4) slave owners = human traffickers (5) slave catchers = police (6) plantations = death camps (7) mistresses = rape victims (8) discipline = torture/murder (9) overseers = torturers/murderers (10) trading = kidnapping (11) profit = theft.

Historical Racism: CE Colonialism & Transatlantic Slave Trade

 

Human trafficker William of Orange
Moving from BCE ancient Egyptians, there are records of Africans throughout Europe from classical times, some working as Roman soldiers across the UK between 200 and 300 CE. Fast forward to the late 1400s stretching into the 1500s, and there are more definitive records of Africans on Scottish shores. ‘Black Moors’ appeared in King James IV of Scotland’s court[9], some as invited guests or musicians, but others were reportedly enslaved. The actual transatlantic slave trade started in 1526 when the Portuguese enslavers trafficked Africans to current day Brazil. Whilst British mass enslavement of Africans purportedly began down in England with Admiral John Hawkins of Plymouth in 1554[10], come the late 1600s such human trafficking became more definitely linked with Scotland through William of Orange (1650-1702). Arriving on British shores in 1688, the Dutch-born prince also known as ‘King Billy’ was accompanied by 200 extravagantly dressed Black ‘soldiers’ aka kidnap victims[11] most likely from current day Suriname or the Dutch Antilles. The following year, he became king collectively of England, Ireland and Scotland as well as purchased Bristol human trafficker Edward Colston’s extensive shares of the Royal African Company[12], which barbarically branded their kidnap victims’ chests with the initials RAC. (For such ‘venerable’ behaviour, James Macrae of Orangfield in Ayrshire presented the city of Glasgow with a statue of King Billy, currently situated in Cathedral Square.[13]) 

British slave ship, people packed in inhumane conditions
Come the 1700s, Scotland’s direct involvement in the mass human trafficking accelerated in the wake of the 1707 Act of Union with England forming the British Empire.[14] The expansion in sovereignty/jurisdiction also meant an expansion of business opportunities with ‘Scottish merchants and doctors often staffing Africa-bound British slave ships that took enslaved African people and transported them to colonies in the Americas.’ There, the region was soon to become entrenched in the sugar, tobacco and cotton trades. The resulting profit aka theft from Scotland’s participation in this evil may well have produced more wealth per capita than even England’s for every financier, plantation owners (death camp human traffickers), shippers and traders (kidnappers/abductors). Indeed, many Scottish human traffickers were ‘considered among the most brutal, with life expectancy on their plantations averaging a mere four years.’[15]

Human trafficker Andrew Buchanan
One such human rights violator was Andrew Buchanan (1690-1759)[16] who made a fortune in the tobacco industry through torturing Africans in his Virginia, USA death camps, so called it was cheaper to forcibly work the captives to death then replace them with another kidnap victim from the African continent than to treat them 'humanely’. (For such financial propensity, a Glasgow street holds his name). There was also Archibald Ingram (1699-1770)[17] who again made a killing from brutalising Africans on plantations in Virginia and Maryland, then opening tobacco stores across the ‘new world’. (For such shrewd commerce, a Glasgow street is named after him too.) He went on to open the trading company Ingram & Glassford with his younger brother-in law John Glassford (1715-1783)[18] who continued in the family tobacco business reaping the benefits of African bondage. (For such business acumen, another Glasgow street bears his name, and his family portrait hangs in the People’s Palace, the city’s homage to its industrial legacy.) Following on their heels was Richard Oswald (1705-1784)[19] who in addition to harbouring African captives to harvest tobacco in Jamaica, he joined a consortium to buy Bunce Island near current day Sierra Leone from where kidnap victims were bought and sold with impunity. The Royal African Company built a slave fort aka human trafficking detention centre there, and Oswald et al. constructed a golf course on the island, dressed the African hostages in tartan from Glasgow & Bannockburn, then forced them to be caddies as the Scots played their fun wee game. (For such prudent purchasing, his name too appears on a Glasgow street, as well as Oswald Hall in Ayrshire.) 

Human trafficker William Cunninghame
Yet another human trafficker was Colin Dunlop (1706-1777)[20] whose tobacco death camps helped establish the firm Colin Dunlop & Sons, one of the ‘great Virginia houses’. He then started ‘The Ship’, the first bank formed in Glasgow, bypassing the need to store his ill-gotten gains through the Edinburgh-based Royal Bank of Scotland, etc. (For such monetary aptitude, his name also adorns a Glasgow street.) Then there’s James Gillespie (1726-1797)[21] who amassed capital from tobacco and snuff death camps where many African lives were snuffed out. (For such savvy investing and his ‘philanthropic’ work, an Edinburgh high school is named after him.) Next, we have tobacco and sugar merchant William Cunninghame (1731-1799)[22] whose Jamaican estate is said to have detained and brutalised approx. 300 African hostages. With such maverick trading aka kidnapping, in central Glasgow’s ‘Merchant City’ district he was able to build an opulent family home, now the Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA). Not to be outdone was Robert Cunninghame Graham (1735-1796)[23] whose sugar riches came from systematically torturing and raping his kidnap victims in Jamaica. An alumnus of Glasgow University, he then returned to Scotland and became rector of the institution which he also donated money aka stolen profits to. Similarly, James Wedderburn (1739-1807)[24] was a notorious human trafficker/brutaliser who bought the exquisite Inveresk Lodge in Edinburgh with his inhumane income. 

Human trafficker Robert Milligan
Yes, upon understanding the rewards of instigating African genocide, the Scots were hungry for even more. Even when Scotland tried to withdraw from the 1707 Act of Union with England in 1745, it persisted in its fervent lust for market expansion through the mass human trafficking of Africans.[25] Beyond the merchants, Scottish people also benefited tangentially (technically every Scot at the time and indeed now), including James Watt (1736-1819).[26] The renowned engineer and inventor of the stream engine was said to be a ‘catalyst in the Industrial Revolution’ and key figure in the ‘Scottish Enlightenment’. However, his father, James Watt senior, was an enslaver and colonial merchant aka human lives thief who funded his son’s endeavours. (For such celebrated innovation, a Glasgow street is named for James Watt junior, and his statue stands in George Square before the City Chambers.) Then there was Scot Robert Milligan (1746-1809)[27] whose African thievery in Kingston, Jamaica included the 'Dick and Milligan' enterprise ‘involved in the bulk buying of kidnap victims, to be sold on the island.’ Other enterprises included 'Milligan and Mitchell' which detained and brutalised approx. 526 African hostages in its sugar death camps. He also built London’s West India Docks, which had a monopoly on importing West Indian products like sugar, rum and coffee. (For such fiscal foresight, a London street was named after him, and a statue erected in West India Quay). Let’s not forget Lieutenant-General John Moore (1761-1809)[28] whose army crusades helped to prop up the British Empire aka mass global exploitation. One such undertaking was to crush a 1796 rebellion by Africans who’d fought to regain their human rights in St Lucia, meaning his fellow whites could get back to genocide, torture, rape and theft as usual. (For such valiant endeavours, his statue was the first to be installed in Glasgow’s George Square.) 

Human trafficker Abram Lyle
Come the 1800s, the Scottish economy was booming as its ‘Tobacco Lords’ and human traffickers specialising in other trades aka mass theft was at a fever pitch, making Glasgow in particular the ‘2nd city of Empire’ after London. Throughout that period, at any given time only about 70 or 80 African kidnap victims were actually on Scottish shores[29], but the region mainly grew from the exploits of Africans hostages in the colonies. As current Glasgow Council leader Susan Aitken said, ‘[Scotland] went from one of the poorest nations to the workshop of the world in little over a century and streams of capital from the Caribbean…were driving that.’[30] So by the turn of the century, an astounding 30% of Jamaica death camps were Scottish owned, and by 1817, they had 32% of the African captives there.[31] It’s said that even Scots Bard Rabbie Burns (1759-1796) was contemplating a job as a plantation book-keeper when financially hard up before poetry rejuvenated his income. Indeed, perhaps the death camp he would had headed for was one owned by Abram Lyle (1820-1891).[32] He was one half of sugar magnate 'Tate & Lyle' who also produced golden syrup. Even ‘holy’ institutions benefited from the evil trade, particularly the Wee Free Church in its break from the Church of Scotland.[33] Requiring funds to establish itself, it accepted stolen profits from pro-slavery aka African exploitation churches in the USA. 

Great tyrant Henry Dundas
Morality was therefore not a driving force for Scottish people in relation to the mass human trafficking of Africans; however, the economy certainly was. That was the basis on which Scottish economist Adam Smith (1723-1790) proposed that the Transatlantic slave trade ultimately impeded economic growth by ‘hampering freedom of enterprise’ rather than augmenting it.[34] This eventually paved the way for politician William Wilberforce to sponsor a 1791 parliamentary motion to abolish mass enslavement of Africans. The motion fell, and the following year in 1792 it finally passed, but only after a forced amendment by Home Secretary Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville (1742-1811).[35] The Scottish politician also known as ‘the Great Tyrant’ insisted the wording be changed to say that ‘slavery should be gradually abolished’. This meant another 15 years passed where over half a million more African captives were forced to endure the genocidal middle passage across the Atlantic. (For such sound politicking, an Edinburgh street bears his name, and his stature atop a 150ft monument has pride of place in St Andrew’s Square.) Only in 1807 were British ships no longer used for this purpose when the ‘Slave Trade Act’ was passed. Though actual ownership of African kidnap victims continued to be legal throughout almost all the British Empire until 1833 when the ‘Slavery Abolition Act’ was passed, and still did not fully cease until 1838. 

Human trafficker James Duff
The fact that the abolition of slavery was not rooted in morality (i.e. valuing/respecting African humanity and recognising Black lives matter) but economics was made clear in the aftermath. Rather than compensating Africans for their kidnap, torture, rape and all-around brutalisation, the British government only compensated the former human traffickers who had done the kidnapping, torturing, raping in the first place(!) This included army General James Duff MP (1752-1839)[36] who was awarded £4,101 (over £3m today) for freeing his 202 captives from Jamaica’s Grange Sugar Estate. Other Scots were not so compliant with the new law, including James Lumsden (1778-1856).[37] The stationery businessman and Clydesdale Bank cofounder ‘invested in blockade running companies which illegally supplied the Confederacy fighting for the continuation of slavery during the 1861-1865 American Civil war. (For such law-abiding diligence, his statue is currently situated in Cathedral Square, Glasgow.) All these just a small snippet of the sheer extent of Scots who benefited from human misery and mass murder. 


Jamaican & Scottish flags, similar designs
The legacy of Scottish human trafficking can still be seen throughout the region.[38] Leith Port in Edinburgh and others in Glasgow were popular for determined Scots to sail from and find fortunes in brutalising Africans. Down the road, Glasgow’s Kingston docks bore the name of the Jamaican capital from where goods and stolen profits produced in the death camps would arrive. What’s more, roads around Glasgow were also named for places where torture-generated wealth was siphoned[39] e.g. Virginia Street, Tobago Street, Antigua Street, and of course Jamaica Street with many towns across Scotland as far flung as Peterhead named as such (hence the Caribbean is sometimes referred to as ‘the deep south of Great Britain’ [40]). The legacy too can be seen over in the Caribbean, with the Jamaican flag design mirroring that of the Scottish flag i.e. St Andrew’s Cross. Furthermore, to this day surnames like Campbell, Douglas, Reid, Grant, Gordon, McFarlane, McKenzie and MacDonald proliferate across the West Indies.[41] (As such, ‘McElroy’ was a fitting surname for Samuel L. Jackson’s 51st State character, as was his adamance after acquiring his own riches to possess the property of those who had once possessed his family as ‘property’.)

 

Historical Racism: 1800s-1900s, Minstrels, Ku Klux Klan

 

Black & White minstrelsy in Scotland
Yet another indicator that the abolition of mass African enslavement was not on moral but economic grounds was their continued demeaning ridicule through the ‘Black and White Minstrel Shows’.[42] These were theatrical extravaganzas at venues such as the Edinburgh Adelphi where white actors like Thomas “Daddy” Rice in 1839 portrayed ignorant derogatory caricatures of Black people’s appearance and behaviours on stage. The shows were rooted in persistent racist ideas of African ‘inferiority’ which spread with European migration to the Americas and in part instigated/justified the Transatlantic Slave Trade. After slavery, those same racist ideas led secret society 'horse whisperer' Scots to form race-hate group the Ku Klux Klan in the USA, terrorising and lynching (savagely killing) Black people, a more brutal form of ‘entertainment’ than the ridiculing minstrel shows. Such warped ignorance and twisted perceptions were then rerouted to British Isles by performers like Horatio Lloyd and S Cowell enacting their popular “N***** Duet” for enthused Scottish audiences. Come the mid-1840s, Black American abolitionist Fredrick Douglass (1818-1895) would be appalled by yet another “new n***** extravaganza” at the Edinburgh Adelphi, leading him to describe the actors and audience alike as “filthy scum of white society, who have stolen from us a complexion denied to them by nature”. Fredrick’s denouncement carried deep weight considering Scottish newspaper ads for his informative anti-slavery talks would be next to ads for debasing minstrel shows, essentially categorising any Black presence on stage as universally synonymous with entertaining mockery.[43]

Actor Ira Aldridge
Such dehumanising minstrel portrayals also meant real Black actors like talented Glasgow University graduate Ira Aldridge (1807-1867) were equally side-lined[44], with some unduly rubbishing his English pronunciation citing the “thickness of his lips” and objecting to him playing the titular Black character in Shakespeare’s Othello in tours across Scotland. Towards the 1900s, Black and White Minstrel Shows continued across Britain in local music halls as well as local amateur productions across Scotland, even reaching remote locales like Stornoway in Lewis; Lerwick in the Shetlands; and Maybole in Ayrshire. With the advent of television, more universal coverage of “George Mitchell’s Black and White Minstrel Show” was beamed across the region, pulling in a 21 million strong viewership across the UK all the way up to 1978. Beyond that, it returned to its theatrical roots, touring the country until 1987. From mid-Victorian times in Scottish drinking houses all the way up to the late 1980s art houses, whites enjoyed deriding Black people as a form of entertainment.

 

Historical Racism: 1900s, Race Riots, Land Clearances

 

Racist trade unionist Emanuel Shinwell
Beyond minstrelsy, another phenomenon that characterised Scottish racism in the 1900s was the Glasgow ‘Harbour Riot’, also referred to as the ‘Broomielaw Race Riot’.[45] This occurred in the lead up to the ‘Battle of George Square’ on the 31st of January 1919 where 60,000 workers went on strike leading to army tanks being called in to disperse the crowds and prevent a Scottish revolution. The strikers were discontent after fighting for the British Empire in WWI (1914-1918) and returning to find they also had to fight for jobs. It brought about an era of political radicalism called ‘Red Clydeside’, during which many merchant navy sailors joined the British Seafarers' trade union (BSU). Rather than channelling the discontent towards their shipyard employers/institutional oppressors, these white Glaswegians instead directed their anger at fellow veterans i.e. Black British colonial sailors, many of which had previously fought alongside them during WWI.[46] Their vitriol was whipped up by Emanuel ‘Manny’ Shinwell (1884-1986), local secretary of the BSU, which explicitly banned Black members who ‘kept whites out of jobs’ and ‘lowered wages’ as ‘foreign workers were cheaper to hire’. Alongside Communist MP Willie Gallacher (1881-1965), Shinwell also actively campaigned to prevent Black sailors from being employed in the merchant fleet. Contrary to the philosophy that ‘the fight for work is a product of capitalism: under socialism race rivalry disappears’, Shinwell’s further incendiary talk to 600 sailors led a few hours later to the riot on the 23rd of January 1919.[47]

1919 British sailors from across the empire
Sailors of both races gathered at James Watt Street’s merchant marine office waiting to be hired when tensions inflamed. About 30 Black sailors were chased down the street by hundreds of incensed whites, with even local men joining the fray. The Black sailors made it to their boarding house in Broomielaw Street also near the River Clyde (incidentally linked to slave trade history) and locked themselves in. But the growing mob were intent on doing harm, put the building under siege and gathered weapons including remnant WWI guns, knives, batons as well as stones and bricks from the ground. The mob smashed every boarding house window to force their way inside, and the Black sailors were pushed into the street. As they were attacked, some fought back with their own guns, with one of the mob, Duncan Cowan, getting shot whilst another, Thomas Carlin, was stabbed. One Black sailor from Sierra Leone, Tom Johnson, was also stabbed, leaving a ‘gaping wound on his back’. After a time, 50 police officers arrived to restore the peace…by arresting all 30 Black attack victims for 'riot and weapons offences', and not one of the hundreds of white attackers who had started the disturbance in the first place. Whilst both injured white men were taken straight to hospital, the injured Sierra Leonean was taken straight to magistrate court before getting any medical attention. 

Red Clydeside crowds in Glasgow
Later during the trial, the Black sailors’ defence lawyer Mr Cook argued ‘it was “peculiar” that no white person had been arrested for playing a part in the rioting’ and then revealed the ‘fragility of police evidence’ during the trial. The Glasgow press expressed contempt for Tom, with one newspaper describing him as ‘a darkie from Sierra Leone, who speaks little English’ even though, as a citizen of the British Empire, he was as British as anyone from Glasgow. The incident spurred by the clashing concept of ‘Britishness’ exposed the ‘dark, racist underbelly’ of the Red Clydeside movement and triggered debate on how Black seamen were being treated, much to Glasgow’s discredit. Regardless, following the 1919 race riots which also spread to other major UK ports[48], many Black British sailors were forcibly repatriated to British colonies in Africa and the Caribbean. There is a duplicitous historical irony here in that in the previous century Africans were being forced to Scotland, and then they were being forced out! 

Nigerian civil engineers UK-bound on the MV Aureol
Of the few who chose to stay in Glasgow, we can surmise they continued to experience a great deal of racism. Though perhaps this bigotry ebbed slightly in the wake of WWII (1939-1945) when the Allied Forces brought Black American troops to Scottish shores.[49] Though just like the realigned racist attitudes during and after WWI, the same was to happen after WWII with Scottish racism as usual.[50] Come the 1948 arrival of the MV Empire Windrush from Jamaica, followed later in 1951 with the MV Aureol from Nigeria, many Black British colonial subjects were being called upon to help rebuild the war devastated ‘mother country’. Of these new arrivals, many academics including nurses came to Glasgow to do their medical training. Upon completion, many then returned to England to find employment but some stayed and filled various job positions in nursing, engineering and on the railways. Between the 1950s-1970s, job opportunities began drying up, and even more moved to England, coinciding with a particular mass exodus of the local Caribbean community after land was cleared for development of the railways in the late 1960’s.[51] (This parallels to successful Black British homeowners in London being cleared out of Brixton. Their houses were then bulldozed to make way for Southwyck House/Barrier Block council flats where they were ‘more acceptably’ rehoused. Equally, a successful Black American community in New York were cleared out and their houses bulldozed to make way for Central Park.) 

…and that brings us up to the present day, helping to contextualise the sheer extent of Scottish racism that continuingly exists. For many, a lot of these past events will be new as Scotland so often prefers to focus on more ‘pleasant histories’ linked to trade unionism fighting for the rights of workers, albeit the white ones. Many also prefer to fight for social struggles further afield like apartheid in South Africa, civil rights in the USA, or flying the Palestinian flag rather than tackling deep rooted institutional racism at home[52], as noted by Aamer Anwar, human rights lawyer for the family of Sheku Bayoh who in 2015 was unlawfully killed by Scottish police with no repercussions. But ultimately, that highlights a populace not prone to critical thinking regarding white privilege and racism[53], as stated by the Coalition for Racial Equality and Rights (CRER)’s Zandra Yeaman and Lou Dear. As a result, ‘competition for jobs and housing used to fuel the 1919 race riots and divide society by scapegoating individuals caught up in structural economic injustice has been repeated throughout the century’, right up to 2020. This being the case, many on the receiving end of such injustice might indeed wish Samuel L. Jackson would enact his Pulp Fiction reworking of Ezekiel 25:17 and ‘strike down with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers (& sisters).’

 

Course of Action

 

So now we know of the often unacknowledged racism permeating throughout Scottish history, what can be done about it? Let’s break it down step by step. 

Professor Geoff Palmer
Corrective Action = Making Amends: One way to rectify the insurmountable injustice of centuries of mass human trafficking and genocide is to give reparations to the victims’ descendants who continue to be socially and psychologically affected by it today. This recourse was adopted by the University of Glasgow in 2018[54] who made a £20 million reparative justice commitment to atone for its ‘self-serving and exploitative’ involvement in enslaving Africans by ‘increasing diversity, reducing the degree attainment gap, offering exchange programmes and scholarships to students of Caribbean descent, creating a centre for the study of historical and present-day slavery and its legacies, and installing a plaque meant to memorialise the enslaved on campus.’ In addition, it allocated a rotating professorship and a signed a ‘memorandum of understanding’ with the University of the West Indies as part of a greater partnership being cultivated over time. It is a drop in the ocean for Glasgow University receiving the equivalent of up to £200 million in stolen profits from the tobacco, sugar and cotton trades of the 1700s and 1800s. But many like Jamaican Professor Emeritus of Life Sciences at Heriot-Watt University Sir Geoff Palmer and Jamaican SNP Glasgow city councillor Graham Campbell praised it as a step in the right direction, and were ‘fully expectant of other academic institutions to follow Glasgow’s lead’. Conversely, others are against making amends like academic Joanna Williams who questioned the university’s repentant gestures,[55] saying ‘to suggest that people alive today are responsible for the sins of their ancestors is a step too far.’ Sharing her sentiment is Scotland’s leading historian Tom Devine who doesn’t even want the government to issue an apology for the Transatlantic Slave Trade[56], apparently weary of the level of stolen profit reparations the region would then have to give back. Graham Campbell took the opposite view, but also pointed out an official apology would be ‘meaningless if there isn’t also a proper educational programme with the citizens that involves them in the process of recovering their own history.’[57]

Cllr Graham Campbell
Corrective Action = Education: Such attitudes can more often than not be cured through learning, and there are so many mediums where this can take place. This includes commissioning TV programmes like documentary mini-series ‘Slavery: Scotland’s Hidden Shame’[58] and ‘Scotland & the Klan’, or radio programmes like the 7-part series ‘Scotland's Black History’.[59] More immediate forums to learn this important history would be at local exhibitions[60] similar to the 2014 ‘Emancipation Acts’ co-produced by Graham Campbell, or the 2017 ‘Blockade Runners’ at the Riverside Museum which spotlighted how ships built on the River Clyde illegally prolonged the American Civil War and slavery by extension. Even more effective would be a permanent museum dedicated to the history of slavery alongside empire, colonialism and migration[61], similar to the ones in Liverpool or Bristol. Unlike those cities, Glasgow currently has ‘no permanent reminder of its foundational wealth source nor any memorial to the victims who remain flickering figures at the edge of their collective consciousness.’ In Nov 2018, Council leader Susan Aitken announced discussions about possible sites for this, with one fitting possibility being the Gallery of Modern Art (GoMA), itself a former human trafficker’s residence built on the backs of African stolen profits. Renewed June 2020 debate saw MSPs back the creation of such a facility asap. 

Researcher Marenka Thompson-Odlum
Beyond these elective educational pursuits, there has been calls for Afro-Scots history to be a more permanent fixture in the core curriculum.[62] Edinburgh-born Nigerian model Eunice Olúmidé in particular wants us to ‘look at slavery in the same way we look at the Holocaust’. She added, ‘For some reason when we talk about this period in history it isn’t met with the same response, which is utter disgust, utter disdain. It’s not really taught, even though it’s the basis on which modern capitalism was built. There’s a wilful amnesia about the subject. Part of it is guilt and the other part of it is vested interests,’ suggesting there are some companies who don’t want to be landed with a reparation bill like Glasgow University is volunteering to pay. Regardless of this pushback, Eunice submitted a petition to the Scottish Parliament to update the curriculum, suggesting topics like artefacts of African diaspora, cultural and economic contributions. Scientific contributions would also be welcomed, such as that of John Edmonstone (1793-18++)[63] who was born enslaved, but once freed studied taxidermy which he eventually started teaching at the University of Edinburgh with Charles Darwin amongst his students. Eunice's petition also suggests coverage of British Empire’s role in shaping world inequalities, and the benefits to Scotland from colonies of the Caribbean and Africa. This is partially already in effect as ‘history books and other literature is being rewritten while historical figures previously called “heroes” are now being subjected to new critiques.’[64] Other useful tools to facilitate this would be the Scottish Slavery Map[65] launched online in 2016 showing where human traffickers lived in Scotland when applying for compensation of ‘lost property’ after the 1833 ‘Slavery Abolition Act’. All this is very important for St Lucian University of Glasgow PhD researcher Marenka Thompson-Odlum[66] who said, ‘I just think it’s good to acknowledge your history, because once you acknowledge it you begin to understand ideas of whiteness and white privilege; you see the discrepancies between people and you see how the idea of racism was born. Once you understand the roots of all that, you start to see where people are coming from and it is possible to move forward together.’ 

The University of Edinburgh has also tried to follow this ethos, with their law school running a ‘Slavery in 18th Century Scotland’ course[67], and participating in the ‘International Network of Scholars and Activists for Afrikan Reparations’ with the University of Boston, USA. What’s more, Edinburgh University Press published the book ‘Recovering Scotland’s Slavery Past: The Caribbean Connection’ detailing the region’s unsavoury history in relation to African people. It joins a flurry of relatively recent publications on the topic[68] including: 
- Douglas Hamilton’s Scotland, the Caribbean and the Atlantic World, 1750-1820 (2005) 
- Iain Whyte’s Scotland and the Abolition of Slavery, 1756-1838 (2006) 
- Stephen Mullen’s It Wisnae Us: The Truth About Glasgow and Slavery (2009) 
- Iain Whyte’s Send Back the Money! The Free Church of Scotland and American Slavery (2012) 
- Michael Morris’s Scotland and the Caribbean, c. 1740-1833 (2015) 
- Alasdair Pettinger’s Frederick Douglass and Scotland, 1846: Living an Antislavery Life (2019) 

Books looking at other areas of Afro-Scots history mentioned in this article include: 
- Ishamakusa Barashango’s Afrikan People and European Holidays, Vol.1/2: A Mental Genocide (1979/1983)
- Lorraine Evans’ Kingdom of the Ark: That Startling Story of How the Ancient British Race is Descended from the Pharaohs (2000) 
- Ralph Ellis’ Scota, Egyptian Queen of the Scots (2006) 
- Russell Lyon’s The Quest for the Original Horse Whisperers (2003)
- Jacqueline Jenkinson’s Black 1919: Riots, Racism and Resistance in Imperial Britain (2009) 

Journalist Tọ̀míwá Fọ́lọ́runsọ́
More creative ways to educate on Afro-Scots history is a related graphic novel[69] written by Warren Pleece to ‘capture the stakes of Africans fighting to regain their human rights, whilst making that drama relevant to today's teenagers’. The work called Freedom Bound[70] was commissioned by Glasgow University history professor Simon Newman for the ‘Runaway Slaves’ project (similar to Asina and the Important Men[71] by Trevor R. Getz.) Chronicling the story of 3 runaway slaves, Freedom Bound will be disseminated in Scottish secondary schools. All these initiatives will mean that wider learning of Afro-Scots history can go beyond the UK Black History Month (BHM) every October and be a more permanent fixture in the Scottish consciousness. This is particularly important for Edinburgh-born Nigerian journalist Tọ̀míwá Fọ́lọ́runsọ́ who takes issue with some organisations disingenuously using BHM for exploitative commercialisation.[72] ‘Companies, businesses and brands use this month as an opportunity to cash in, with the hope that, by hosting a panel discussion with a combination of prominent black Brits, it will tick their diversity box and result in a consumer loyalty that they will not have to consider for another twelve months. Perhaps instead they should look internally and understand the complicity in the structures they uphold.’ Tọ̀míwá would also like to see a nuanced change in BHM’s focus where we are not just acknowledging Scottish racism in history as well as spotlighting historical Black accomplishments and contributions, but also celebrating contemporary Black figures fighting against white supremacy and systemic racism. I’d certainly second that! 

Fredrick Douglass statue vs plaque
Corrective Action = Idolatry/Icongraphy: One method of making way to celebrate notable Black Scots or indeed anyone fighting for social justice is to use their names to replace the street/place names of racist human traffickers that currently adorn many roads throughout Scotland.[73] This was the thinking of Green Party Glasgow councillor Nina Baker, who in 2017 suggested the ‘symbolic renaming of selected streets’ should fall on UK Anti-Slavery Day. She noted that Spain had replaced street names of key people in Franco’s fascist regime, and that street names in France have signs underneath giving background of the people they are named for. Graham Campbell leans more towards the latter, keeping the names but with plaques close beside explaining the atrocities they were party to. Along the same vein, Geoff Palmer said ‘removing the evidence [does] not remove the crime’. In the wake of these suggestions, in 2019 Glasgow Council commissioned a study on the city’s mass human trafficking past.[74] The investigation to be conducted by Glasgow University historian Stephen Mullen is a UK first by a local authority. Its finding will then be used in a public consultation to decide on how to tackle the iconography of past enslavers i.e. torturers, rapists, murderers who helped the city to flourish. The move was again welcomed by Geoff Palmer who commented, ‘we cannot change the past, but we can change the consequences of the past and we can change the future’. One possible change might be to remove statues also idolising many of those human rights violators. This was the case with Robert Milligan’s statue removed from West India Quay in London this year.[75] That such Scotland-based effigies suffer a similar fate is the hope of the ‘Topple the Racists’ project[76] (run by the Stop Trump Coalition), or at the very least have plaques detailing the depraved actions of the subject, like Edinburgh council with Henry Dundas.[77] Then more attention and focus can be given to more reputable historic figures like Fredrick Douglass who in 2018 was included in Historic Environment Scotland’s Commemorative Plaque Scheme[78] (…but could do with his own statue being commissioned too).

 

Empowering Black Communities

 

ECA director Lisa Williams
Whilst these steps will certainly help to shine light on Scotland’s murky racist past and thus help us better deal with its legacy today, there are worries that certain people have now jumped on the ‘woke’ bandwagon counterproductively. As it is now ‘popular’ for whites to speak up on these issues of racial oppression and injustices, many then SPEAK OVER Black people, the very ones who have been ‘brutalized, murdered and fighting against it for centuries’[79] contends ‘Fringe of Colour’ founder Jessica Brough. Her point is salient as, rather than letting Black voices fade into the background, whites should acknowledge and lift them up vs hijack the debate/struggle. (Think of the cancelled June 2020 ‘Black Lives Matter’ march in Leeds organised by 2 white students who didn’t actually contact BLM or a single Black person beforehand = ‘protest tourists’) This egregious seizure of the narrative occurs regularly and serves to further propagate racial bias & systemic discrimination rather than counter it. One such established voice is Edinburgh Caribbean Association (ECA) director Lisa William from Grenada who is eagerly taking the conversation forward in her own way by running the well-received Black History Walking Tour of Edinburgh exploring the city’s slavery links and racist legacy.[80]

'1745' by sisters Moyọ̀ and Moráyọ̀ Àkàndé
Other exemplary projects along these lines have been the short film ‘1745’ by Glasgow-born Nigerian actresses & sisters Moyọ̀ and Moráyọ̀ Àkàndé.[81] The film title is the same year Scotland tried to withdraw from the 1707 Act of Union with England whilst its economy was flourishing on the backs of African misery. Released in 2018, the BAFTA Scotland nominated film tells the story of two young African kidnap victims escaping from their human trafficker’s stately home into the Scottish wilderness. Whilst some African captives suffering from Stockholm Syndrome would stay with their captors ‘under fear of bogus threats of how bad they’d have it if they returned to Africa’[82], these sisters defiantly gathered the courage and strength to flee, then must stay united to survive and remain free[83], (incidentally dressed in tartan similar to that forcibly worn by African captives on Bunce Island). The plot was inspired by Moráyọ̀ Àkàndé reading advertisements in archive Scottish newspapers for runaway African hostages (similar subject matter to the ‘Freedom Bound’ graphic novel). The resulting lauded short premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival and was later shown during BHM at a Glasgow City Chambers civic reception. ‘1745’ is now being developed into a full-length feature film. 

Professor Jeanette Davidson
Another greatly anticipated project is one by Glasgow-born Nigerian-Scottish Professor of African and African American Studies, Jeanette Davidson.[84] Based at the University of Oklahoma in the USA, she is currently writing a book called 'Black Lives in Scotland: Telling Our Stories'.[85] It will be about the recent histories of ‘Black people living in Scotland today and the racism they’ve had to overcome in their lives’, including her own. She hopes to debunk the assumption that racist attitudes in Scotland are minimal because little has been exposed on the topic, highlighting that this is not due to absence of racial bigotry, but silencing by the wider white population who ‘don’t want to know’ or ‘want others to know’. Due to be published by Edinburgh University Press, she says the book will be a ‘stepping-off point to what’s happened in history and what’s happening now. Some things have changed drastically, and some things really haven’t changed at all. How do people cope with this sort of hateful treatment? How do they interact with schools, hospitals, churches, communities through it all? Perhaps most importantly, how do they identify themselves and how do outsiders identify them? Hopefully telling their stories can bring readers new understandings and change some of the more hurtful identifications.’ 

Yes, Scotland has a long way to go before resolving its issues with racism in its history be it ancient, recent or in between, and only with a concerted effort will progress be made. 


~ by Abiọ́dún Ọlátòkunbọ̀ Abdul


[1] The 51st State Location - Cholmondeley Castle, Malpas, Cheshire, SY14 8AH

   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y3uf5chuT0

[2] Enslaved: The Lost History of the Transatlantic Slave Trade (21st August 2020)

  https://www.radiotimes.com/news/tv/2020-08-21/enslaved-samuel-l-jackson-documentary/

[3] Akala 21 min Black History Lecture on Ancient Egypt at Oxford

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4Sf6_-HGqg

  Combs from Kemet: further thoughts on ancient Egyptian hair combs

  http://kemetexpert.com/combs-from-kemet-further-thoughts-on-ancient-egyptian-hair-combs/

[6]  The pharaoh's daughter who was the mother of all Scots (13th Sept 2006)

    https://www.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/pharaohs-daughter-who-was-mother-all-scots-2507668

[7]  Africa before Transatlantic Enslavement (9th Oct 2019)

    https://www.blackhistorymonth.org.uk/article/section/history-of-slavery/africa-before-transatlantic-enslavement/

    Hume's Revised Racism, Journal of the History of Ideas, 1992 https://www.jstor.org/stable/2709889?seq=1

[8]  Clear Language on Slavery  https://www.instagram.com/absurdistwords

[12] Cops guard William of Orange statue in Glasgow as patrols stepped up to protect monuments linked to slave trade (11th June 2020)

    https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/cops-guard-william-orange-statue-22177319

[13] Should we tear down Scotland's statues to British Empire builders and slavers? (9th Sept 2017)

    https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/15525309.should-we-tear-down-scotlands-statues-to-british-empire-builders-and-slavers/

[16] Andrew Buchanan of Drumpellier, wiki page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Buchanan_of_Drumpellier

[18] Dani Garavelli: Facing up to slavery in second city of empire (27 Sept 2017)

    https://www.scotsman.com/news/dani-garavelli-facing-slavery-second-city-empire-1439061

    Early Glasgow Sugar Plantations in the Caribbean, Scottish Archaeological Journal, 2009 https://www.jstor.org/stable/27917631

[19] Scotland's Black History https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/NfFNrJjvlhC4WXL783LHcY/scotlands-black-history

    1707 Scotland and the Jamaican Slave Trade #Lestweforget (3rd Oct 2019) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VaUMS5wPmg

[20] Colin Dunlop, of Carmyle, Provost of Glasgow

    https://www.clanmacfarlanegenealogy.info/genealogy/TNGWebsite/getperson.php?personID=I35193&tree=CC

    Every Glasgow street name linked directly to slavery (11th Sept 2020)

    https://www.glasgowlive.co.uk/news/history/glasgow-history-slavery-street-names-18369259

[22] Should Glasgow's 'slavery streets' be renamed? (20th Feb 2017)

    https://www.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/should-glasgows-slavery-streets-be-renamed-603545

    The Cunninghame Mansion (14th Aug 2018)

    https://glasgowmuseumsslavery.co.uk/2018/08/14/the-cunninghame-mansion/

[25] Black in Scotland: Guest Professor Sheds Light on an Obscured History (28 Sept 2018)

   https://liberalarts.temple.edu/news/black-scotland-guest-professor-sheds-light-obscured-history

[26] How the Second City of the Empire was built on the backs of slaves: Civic leaders reveal investigation (11 Nov 2019)

    https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/how-the-secondcity-of-the-empire-was-built-on-the-backs-of-slaves-civic-leaders-reveal-investigation/

    Devine: 'Scotland apologising for slavery could cause problems' (21 July 2019)

   https://www.thenational.scot/news/17784165.devine-39-scotland-apologising-slavery-cause-problems-39/

[27] Cops guard William of Orange statue in Glasgow as patrols stepped up to protect monuments linked to slave trade (11th June 2020)

    https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/cops-guard-william-orange-statue-22177319

[28] Should we tear down Scotland's statues to British Empire builders and slavers? (9th Sept 2017)

    https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/15525309.should-we-tear-down-scotlands-statues-to-british-empire-builders-and-slavers/

    John Moore (British Army officer) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Moore_(British_Army_officer)

[30] How the Second City of the Empire was built on the backs of slaves: Civic leaders reveal investigation (11 Nov 2019)

    https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/how-the-secondcity-of-the-empire-was-built-on-the-backs-of-slaves-civic-leaders-reveal-investigation/

[35] Should we tear down Scotland's statues to British Empire builders and slavers? (9th Sept 2017)

    https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/15525309.should-we-tear-down-scotlands-statues-to-british-empire-builders-and-slavers/

    Scotland's Secret Slavery (21st Feb 2019) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iiqo5FZTzNw

    New signs appear around Edinburgh's Melville Monument outlining Henry Dundas' involvement in the slave trade (13 July 2020)

    https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/politics/new-signs-appear-around-edinburghs-melville-monument-outlining-henry-dundas-involvement-slave-trade-2912433

[36] Pride and prejudice: Scotland's complicated black history (8 Oct 2013)

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-24347632

[37] Should we tear down Scotland's statues to British Empire builders and slavers? (9th Sept 2017)

    https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/15525309.should-we-tear-down-scotlands-statues-to-british-empire-builders-and-slavers/

[39] Should Glasgow's 'slavery streets' be renamed? (20th Feb 2017)

    https://www.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/should-glasgows-slavery-streets-be-renamed-603545

    Every Glasgow street name linked directly to slavery (11th Sept 2020)

    https://www.glasgowlive.co.uk/news/history/glasgow-history-slavery-street-names-18369259

    Scotland and Slavery (19 Aug 2015) https://www.blackhistorymonth.org.uk/article/section/history-of-slavery/scotland-and-slavery/

[40] The University of Glasgow’s move to abolish its historical connections to the slave trade (14 Oct 2018)

    https://studentnewspaper.org/the-university-of-glasgows-move-to-abolish-its-historical-connections-to-the-slave-trade/

[41] Dani Garavelli: Facing up to slavery in second city of empire (27 Sept 2017)

    https://www.scotsman.com/news/dani-garavelli-facing-slavery-second-city-empire-1439061

    Scots & Caribbean Slavery: Ae Fond Kiss, And Then We Sever! (2009)

    https://glasgowwestindies.wordpress.com/the-scottish-involvement-with-caribbean-slavery/

[42] Scotland's racist role: How minstrel shows spread stereotypes through country's theatres (7th Oct 2017)

    https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/big-read-how-minstrel-shows-11300746

    The Black Minstrelsy in Scotland - Scottish Local History Forum

    https://www.slhf.org/sites/default/files/documents/TheBlackMinstrelsyScotland.pdf

[44] Scotland's racist role: How minstrel shows spread stereotypes through country's theatres (7th Oct 2017)

   https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/big-read-how-minstrel-shows-11300746

[45] Aamer Anwar: How racism and police brutality shaped my life (7th June 2020)

    www.thenational.scot/news/18501332.aamer-anwar

[46] Hero Shinwell 'incited racist Clydeside mob' (3rd Oct 2009)

    https://www.scotsman.com/news/hero-shinwell-incited-racist-clydeside-mob-2443339

    Racists, Reds and the Revolt on the Clyde, 1919 (23rd Jan 2019)

    https://libcom.org/history/racists-reds-revolt-clyde-1919

[48] Scotland is not this anti-racist utopia that we pretend it is (28th Oct 2019)

    https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/17997473.scotland-not-anti-racist-utopia-pretend/

    1919 race riots in Britain—a legacy of empire (15 Oct 2019)

    https://socialistworker.co.uk/art/49076/1919+race+riots+in+Britain+a+legacy+of+empire

[50] Phillips, Mike & Phillips, Trevor: Windrush: The Irresistible Rise of Multi-Racial Britain (1998) HarperCollins Publishers, London

[52] Aamer Anwar: How racism and police brutality shaped my life (7th June 2020)

    www.thenational.scot/news/18501332.aamer-anwar

[53] Lessons from the Glasgow Race Riots: 1919-2019 (23rd Jan 2019)

    https://www.crer.scot/post/2019/01/22/lessons-from-the-glasgow-race-riots-1919-2019

[54] Black in Scotland: Guest Professor Sheds Light on an Obscured History (28 Sept 2018)

    https://liberalarts.temple.edu/news/black-scotland-guest-professor-sheds-light-obscured-history

    The University of Glasgow’s move to abolish its historical connections to the slave trade (14 Oct 2018)

    https://studentnewspaper.org/the-university-of-glasgows-move-to-abolish-its-historical-connections-to-the-slave-trade/

[55] University of Glasgow’s £20m apology for slavery is branded self-serving (24 Aug 2019)

    https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/university-of-glasgows-20m-apology-for-slavery-is-branded-self-serving-gd50nwt6k

    Academic: University wrong to make Scots pay for slave crimes (23rd August 2019)

    https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/17856344.academic-university-wrong-make-scots-pay-slave-crimes/

[56] Devine: 'Scotland apologising for slavery could cause problems' (21 July 2019)

    https://www.thenational.scot/news/17784165.devine-39-scotland-apologising-slavery-cause-problems-39/

[57] Dani Garavelli: Facing up to slavery in second city of empire (27th Sept 2017)

    https://www.scotsman.com/news/dani-garavelli-facing-slavery-second-city-empire-1439061

[58] Scotland’s Slavery Past Exposed In New Programme (29th October 2018)

   https://www.scottishfield.co.uk/culture/film-tv/scotlands-slavery-past-exposed-in-new-programme/

[59] Scotland's Black History. Episode 7, It Wisnae Us (9th October 2016)

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00n3mh8

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLtXi4lOoGo

[60] Dani Garavelli: Facing up to slavery in second city of empire (27th Sept 2017)

    https://www.scotsman.com/news/dani-garavelli-facing-slavery-second-city-empire-1439061   

[61] Slavery museum to be set up in Glasgow (4 Nov 2018)

    https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/17200039.slavery-museum-to-be-set-up-in-glasgow/

    ‘Let us be judged by our deeds’: MSPs back creation of Scottish racism museum following emotional debate (10th June 2020)

    https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/politics/scottish-politics/1365956/let-us-be-judged-by-our-deeds-msps-back-creation-of-scottish-racism-museum-following-emotional-debate

[62] Reform the national curriculum to include all African Scottish history (5th August 2020)

    http://www.parliament.scot/GettingInvolved/Petitions/afroscotshistorycurriculum

[63] John Edmonstone – The Man Who Taught Darwin

    https://www.history.co.uk/shows/not-what-you-thought-you-knew/articles/john-edmonstone-%E2%80%93-the-man-who-taught-darwin

    The amazing tale of John Edmonstone: the freed slave who taught Charles Darwin in Edinburgh (14th Oct 2019)

    https://www.edinburghlive.co.uk/news/edinburgh-news/amazing-tale-john-edmonstone-freed-17053960

[64] Black in Scotland: Guest Professor Sheds Light on an Obscured History (28 Sept 2018)

    https://liberalarts.temple.edu/news/black-scotland-guest-professor-sheds-light-obscured-history

[65] The University of Glasgow’s move to abolish its historical connections to the slave trade (14 Oct 2018)

    https://studentnewspaper.org/the-university-of-glasgows-move-to-abolish-its-historical-connections-to-the-slave-trade/

[66] Dani Garavelli: Facing up to slavery in second city of empire (27th Sept 2017)

    https://www.scotsman.com/news/dani-garavelli-facing-slavery-second-city-empire-1439061

[67] The University of Glasgow’s move to abolish its historical connections to the slave trade (14 Oct 2018)

    https://studentnewspaper.org/the-university-of-glasgows-move-to-abolish-its-historical-connections-to-the-slave-trade/

[68] Scotland, Slavery and Abolitionism: A Timeline of Public Engagement

    https://www.bulldozia.com/douglass-in-scotland/scotland-slavery-and-abolitionism-a-timeline-of-public-engagement/

[69] Dani Garavelli: Facing up to slavery in second city of empire (27 Sept 2017)

    https://www.scotsman.com/news/dani-garavelli-facing-slavery-second-city-empire-1439061

[72] Scotland is not this anti-racist utopia that we pretend it is (28th Oct 2019)

    https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/17997473.scotland-not-anti-racist-utopia-pretend/

[74] Sign of the times: Glasgow's slavery profits in the spotlight (11 Nov 2019)

    https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/11/sign-times-glasgow-slavery-profits-spotlight-191111184431789.html

    How the Second City of the Empire was built on the backs of slaves: Civic leaders reveal investigation (11 Nov 2019)

    https://www.sundaypost.com/fp/how-the-secondcity-of-the-empire-was-built-on-the-backs-of-slaves-civic-leaders-reveal-investigation/

[75] Cops guard William of Orange statue in Glasgow as patrols stepped up to protect monuments linked to slave trade (11th June 2020)

    https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/cops-guard-william-orange-statue-22177319

[76] Scottish statues Black Lives Matter protesters want torn down with 60 linked to slave trade across UK listed (10th Jun 2020)

    https://www.thescottishsun.co.uk/news/5688365/scottish-statues-black-lives-matter-protesters-slave-trade-uk/

    https://www.toppletheracists.org/

[77] Edinburgh's Dundas statue to be dedicated to slavery victims (11th June 2020)

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-52997858

[78] Anti-slavery freedom fighter Frederick Douglass to be commemorated in Edinburgh (11 October 2018)

    https://sourcenews.scot/anti-slavery-freedom-fighter-frederick-douglass-to-be-commemorated-in-edinburgh/

    Commemorative plaque recognises African American author and anti-slavery activist’s links to Scotland (11 October 2018)

    https://www.historicenvironment.scot/about-us/news/commemorative-plaque-recognises-african-american-author-and-anti-slavery-activist-s-links-to-scotland/

     https://www.entornointeligente.com/when-scotland-hosted-an-abolitionist-after-profiting-from-slavery/

[81] Dani Garavelli: Facing up to slavery in second city of empire (27 Sept 2017)

    https://www.scotsman.com/news/dani-garavelli-facing-slavery-second-city-empire-1439061

[83] 1745 BAFTA Scotland nominated film

    https://www.1745film.com/synopsis

[84] Professor Jeanette Davidson, University of Oklahoma

     https://www.ou.edu/cas/cls/faculty/dr-jeanette-davidson

[85] Black in Scotland: Guest Professor Sheds Light on an Obscured History (28 Sept 2018)

    https://liberalarts.temple.edu/news/black-scotland-guest-professor-sheds-light-obscured-history

   

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