A GLOBAL appeal has been made for information that will help tell the stories of slaves and the slave trade.
Scotland is one of the countries that benefited from the trade and the general public is being asked to contribute if possible to a global scholarship project that is intended to shed light on the histories of people who were enslaved.
The project has so far uncovered a lot of information but more is still needed, according to researchers.
“That is where we need those who have knowledge of ancestry to contribute to the project. We hope by doing this we can not only learn more but also work toward bringing respect and dignity to those who were enslaved,” said Dean Rehberger, of Michigan State University (MSU) in the US.
Some of Scotland’s most famous streets, buildings and monuments were funded by the slave trade and Scots owned more plantations, slaves and shares of trade in goods such as sugar and tobacco than England and most other European countries.
READ MORE: Black Lives Matter: Every Scottish street linked to slave-trade revealed
The appeal for information forms the second phase of a project that began in 2011 and has resulted in a new website, enslaved.org.
Millions of records from across the world have been linked to reveal insights into the slaves’ lives and circumstances. Baptismal records, sale receipts and adverts for runaway slaves are all included. The free database includes nearly half a million personal records and data on voyages, slave sales and status as a master or slave, age, gender and emancipation.
Developed and maintained by MSU researchers, the site links data collections from multiple universities, archives, museums and family history centres. Users can run analyses of aggregated data about the enslaved and create maps, charts and graphics.
“As the scholars at enslaved.org work to stitch together the life arcs of the enslaved across the globe, we turn to the general public to join us in discovery about families and communities formed from the crime of human bondage and the struggles of human freedom,” said Daryle Williams, associate professor of history from the University of Maryland and project co-investigator.
Project co-investigator and MSU professor of history Walter Hawthorne said he hoped the database would continue to expand.
“While we continue to digitise records, such as those that are handwritten, to preserve them, we know there is more to each person’s story,” he said.
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