FOR some years now, various projects have led to Scotland confronting its past as a nation involved in and enriched by slavery.
Even national bard Robert Burns was tainted by the fact that he was about to sail to Jamaica to help run a slave plantation when the overnight success of his Kilmarnock Edition of poems led to him abandoning it.
Now Burns Cottage at Alloway and many properties in the care of the National Trust for Scotland (NTS) are to be part of a project called Facing Our History, which plans to highlight the links to slavery for the millions of visitors who go to their properties each year, as part of their historical interpretation.
NTS said in a statement: “We now know that many National Trust for Scotland properties, including the birthplaces of Robert Burns and Hugh Miller, have a link to slavery.”
The properties include Culzean Castle in Ayrshire, Pollok House in Glasgow and the Glenfinnan Monument, erected in tribute to the Jacobites who died in the 1745 uprising. The monument sits on Glenaladale estate, once owned by Alexander Macdonald, who made his fortune in plantations worked by enslaved people in Jamaica.
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NTS explained: “This is part of a wider black history in Scotland and the charity is committed to expanding knowledge and supporting staff and volunteers to address Scotland’s role in enslavement where this is associated with its properties. With our very large and varied portfolio – of museums, like Culloden and Bannockburn, grand historic houses and humble cottages, gardens and landed estates, the Trust has a unique opportunity to realise this ambition across Scotland.”
The two-year research and public engagement project will be led by Dr Jennifer Melville, who explained: “Curators across the world are very aware that they must look honestly at collections, properties and estates and reveal all the narratives relating to them. It is more than 10 years since our first project on slavery but we are keen to increase this work and embed a thoroughly researched understanding of it into the visitor experience.
“We know that audiences have a thirst for knowledge, which is based in truth and thorough research. Slavery is part of our shared past, our audiences are demanding to know more about this, and the Trust is in a unique position to address this complex history as owners of estates, gardens, buildings and collections that have been created, improved or funded through the suffering of others, we can bring these truths to life.”
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