Calls grow for Scotland to reckon with its slave-owning past – NBC News

GLASGOW, Scotland In Scotland, a history of slave trading hides in plain sight. Its in the striking Georgian facades of Edinburgh and Glasgow, paid for by plantation profits, and on the monuments and street names that venerate men who were enriched by human suffering.

Generations of Scots have walked down Glassford Street and Ingram Street in Glasgow, for example, perhaps without realizing that the names honor two of the city's most prosperous plantation owners, John Glassford and Archibald Ingram.

For a growing number of Scots, this must change.

Almost 25,000 people have signed a petition calling on Glasgow to rename streets linked to slave owners.

Edinburgh, the Scottish capital, has seen similar activism, with a focus on monuments commemorating the trades beneficiaries, such as one that pays tribute to Henry Dundas, a politician who delayed the abolition of slavery in the British Empire by 15 years.

Emboldened by the explosion of protests in America following the death of George Floyd in police custody, there are renewed calls for Scotland to confront its slave-owning past and in doing so, fight the scourge of modern-day racism.

Ivan McKee, Scotlands trade minister, has called for greater discussion around the countrys slave heritage. Theres a lot of people who dont know much about it, and this is an opportunity to raise awareness, he told NBC News.

Scotlands pivotal role in transatlantic slavery has at times been discussed less than that of England and the United States. But from running slave forts on the West African coast, captaining ships ladened with human cargo, and owning cotton, tobacco, coffee and sugar plantations in the West Indies, Scots played a key role at every level of the industry.

Sales of these sought-after goods fired Scotlands industrial revolution and brought immeasurable wealth to the nations merchants. The combined annual value of trade between Scotland and the West Indies and Scotland in 1790 was equivalent to at least 50 million pounds ($46 million) in todays valuations, according to the National Trust for Scotland.

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And when, in 1833, Britain abolished slavery, millions of pounds were paid into Scottish pockets to compensate for financial losses.

This money trickled down through Scottish society, bringing prosperity to places such as Glasgows Merchant City and Edinburghs New Town, areas that owe their architectural grandeur to the proceeds of slavery.

But not all agree that street names should be amended and statues toppled, as they have in Bristol and London in the past week.

If you remove the evidence, you remove the deed," Sir Geoff Palmer, professor emeritus at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, told NBC News in a phone interview. "If were going to talk about honest history by removing them, youre altering history."

Palmer said emphasis must instead be put on education and a shakeup of the Scottish school curriculum to better reflect the country's slave history. He has campaigned for explanatory plaques to be installed at slavery-linked monuments, also.

The past has consequences. Racism is a consequence of the past. Therefore we have to deal with those consequences, he said.

For some, the arts can play an important role in reckoning with the past. "Enough of Him," a new play from Edinburgh-born writer May Sumbwanyambe, looks to address the dearth of dramatic work on Scotlands colonial history. It tells the remarkable story of Joseph Knight, a slave who successfully sued his master, establishing the principle that slavery could not be upheld in Scotland.

Putting on plays like this that allow audiences in Scotland and beyond Scotland to go: Black people have been part of this country and shaping the culture and social development of this country for a very, very long time,' Sumbwanyambe said.

If we dont know that Black people have lived side-by-side with white people for hundreds of years, as opposed to just 70 years, its easier for racism to foment.

Last year, Glasgow University became the first academic institution in the U.K. to commit to slavery reparations, acknowledging that it had been the recipient of slave-linked funds. Over the next two decades, the school plans to raise 20 million pounds ($25 million) in partnership with the University of the West Indies, to confront the debilitating legacies of slavery and colonization through research and policy development.

At the local government level, the Glasgow City Council is currently investigating the citys ties to transatlantic slavery and has committed to holding a public consultation on how to respond to its findings. Similar discussions are taking place in Edinburgh.

As for reparations on a national level however, there is little progress. For decades, Caribbean nations including Jamaica, where one-third of slave plantations were Scots-owned have called for formal financial reparations, but to no avail.

For Eunice Olumide, a Scottish author, art curator and activist, this is unacceptable.

The only conversation we need to have is how reparations are given, she said.

Its really important for Western people and white people to understand that thats a discussion that needs to be had with leaders in the Afro-Caribbean community before they take action.

More needs to be done in Scotland, too, Olumide believes, to recognize the contributions of Black Scots in the public sphere.

Its long overdue that Black creators in this country are enshrined in history and commemorated. Because its quite obvious that theres a serious lack of understanding of the contribution of people of color to the United Kingdom and to Scotland.

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Calls grow for Scotland to reckon with its slave-owning past - NBC News