Scotland’s role in slave trade ‘whitewashed’
Children taught to ‘vilify’ English history despite Glasgow imports being ‘hidden in plain sight’
Scotland’s role in the slave trade has been whitewashed out of exams with pupils taught to “vilify” the English, a leading historian has claimed. The SQA, Scotland’s exam board, refused to include Glasgow in a list of ports deemed crucial to the transatlantic slave trade despite it importing vast quantities of tobacco, rum and sugar from the colonies. Prof Neil Mclennan, a former president of the Scottish Association of Teachers of History, said Glasgow’s past had to be acknowledged.
SCOTLAND’S role in the slave trade has been whitewashed out of exams with pupils taught to “vilify” the English, a leading historian has claimed.
Scotland’s exam board has refused to include Glasgow in a list of ports deemed crucial to Britain’s involvement in the transatlantic slave trade despite importing vast quantities of tobacco, rum and sugar from the colonies.
Only the English ports of Liverpool and Bristol were mentioned in the course description for staff teaching National 5 history, Scotland’s equivalent to GCSES.
Prof Neil Mclennan, a former president of the Scottish Association of Teachers of History, has repeatedly asked the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) and Nicola Sturgeon’s Cabinet for Glasgow to be included “as a city associated with slavery gains”.
He said: “It is part of our reconciliation with a bloody history which England, Scotland and other European countries, we are all guilty of.
“Unless we acknowledge it in our education system we will never cleanse the demons of the past. That is a good example of the vilification of English history without presenting the totality of it, that is a real concern.”
Sir Tom Devine, a Scottish historian, said Scotland had developed a sense of “moral superiority” over England because Glasgow did not directly involve itself in the immediate “immorality of slavery”.
He said: “Glasgow’s role was hidden from plain sight. Everybody knew that cotton, before the end of slavery in the British Empire, tobacco and sugar were coming from the colonies across the Atlantic and the USA. But there was precious little connection at that time with the fact these produces could not have existed in such massive quantities but for chattel black, slave labour.”
By 1762 Glasgow and the towns of Greenock and Glasgow Port were importing more tobacco leaf harvested by slaves in the colonies than London and the English ports combined.
By 1800, 62 per cent of all imports into the country were goods made on Caribbean plantations.
A spokesman for the SQA said: “We fully recognise the importance of learners understanding Scotland’s role in the Atlantic slave trade and teachers have always been free to include this content in their lessons.
“We will work with history teachers to review our curriculum guidance to see if any further changes are needed.”
There is no restriction on Scottish themes being included within British topics and marks are awarded where candidates demonstrate relevant knowledge, and understanding in this respect, they added.
Oliver Mundell, the Scottish Tory spokesman for education, accused the SNP government of overseeing an “insidious attempt to rewrite aspects of our history in a misleadingly partisan fashion”.
Over the past decade historians have frequently criticised the infiltration of pro-independence ideology into Scotland’s classrooms.
Education Scotland was accused in 2020 of pushing “nationalist propaganda” after a historical timeline contained repeated references to Scots being mistreated by the English.
It made mention of the 1995 film Braveheart, stating that William Wallace had been an “inspiration to Scottish nationalists” since his death in 1305, and a reference to a pro-snp magazine.