Concrete reminder of shameful past

AS PART of Black History Month, Scotland’s links to the Atlantic slave trade have been brought to light.

Glasgow University recently revealed the extent to which our largest city has benefited from the slave trade and how many of the city’s streets – including Buchanan and Ingram streets – have been named after merchants who made their fortune from the tobacco, sugar and cotton trades in the Caribbean.

Iconic buildings, too, have been built by the wealth of these men.

One of Glasgow’s most impressive buildings, the Gallery of Modern Art, was built in 1778 by William Cunninghame, a prominent Glaswegian tobacco baron.

After his death, it became part of the Royal Bank of Scotland. Later it was an exchange for local merchants, then part of the telephone exchange.

In 1996, it became the GOMA and it stands today as a reminder of Glasgow’s links to tobacco cultivated by enslaved people.

Not all Scots supported slavery, and many fought for its abolition. The Old College in Glasgow, for example, were singled out for praise by the leaders of the abolitionist movement for their campaigning role.

While we can be proud of this, our links to the slave trade should be acknowledged.

It’s an uncomfortable part of our history we should not ignore.