Slavery and Scotland (1)
I was speaking about sugar cane last week. Sugar cane. Sugar cane. Many
a Scot got land under the auspices of the Empire and grew sugar cane on
it. That was particularly true in the West Indies.
And that brings me to slavery. Many a beautiful building in Scotland
was built with money from slavery. Many a black person, with ancestry
in the West Indies, carries a Scottish surname.
In Inverness, the Royal Academy was built at the end of the eighteenth
century. A third of the capital to build it came from the West Indies.
Some of it was from estates where sugar cane was growing. And where
slaves were working.
The academy was on a new street – [called] New Street – near where
Inverness Railway Station is today. The school received a royal charter
from King George III. It was on that site for a hundred years. A new
name was given to the street – Academy Street. That’s still the
street’s name. Since then, the school has moved to different sites.
It’s the high school in Inverness where subjects are taught through the
medium of Gaelic.
The historian David Alston did research on black children in Highland
schools in the nineteenth century. He found out that there were black
pupils at Inverness Royal Academy. They were children of men from the
Highlands. The men had married black women when they were running or
working on sugar estates in the West Indies. Some of the women were
slaves.
David Alston reckons that the people of Scotland were pretty open about
black people at that time. They were somewhat free from racial prejudice,
although that was going to change. Next week I’ll look at a famous journey
an American slave made to Scotland and how he criticized the Free Church
for taking money from slavery.
Tràilleachd agus Alba (1)
Bha mi a’ bruidhinn mu chuilc an t-siùcair an t-seachdain sa chaidh. Sugar cane. Cuilc an t-siùcair. ʼS iomadh Albannach a fhuair
fearann fo sgèith na h-Ìmpireachd agus a dh’fhàs cuilc an t-siùcair air.
Bha sin gu h-àraidh fìor anns na h-Innseachan an Iar.
Agus tha sin gam thoirt gu tràilleachd. ʼS iomadh togalach brèagha ann an
Alba a chaidh a thogail le airgead à tràilleachd. ʼS iomadh duine dubh, le
sinnsireachd anns na h-Innseachan an Iar, air a bheil ainm-cinnidh
Albannach.
Ann an Inbhir Nis, chaidh an Acadamaidh Rìoghail a thogail aig deireadh an
ochdamh linn deug. Thàinig an treas cuid dhen chalpa airson a togail às na
h-Innseachan an Iar. Bha cuid dheth às oighreachdan far an robh cuilc an
t-siùcair a’ fàs. Agus far an robh tràillean ag obair.
Bha an acadamaidh air sràid ùr – New Street – faisg air far a
bheil Stèisean-rèile Inbhir Nis an-diugh. Fhuair an sgoil cùmhnant rìoghail
bho Rìgh Deòrsa III. Bha i air an làraich sin airson ceud bliadhna. Chaidh
ainm ùr a thoirt air an t-sràid – Sràid na h-Acadamaidh. ʼS e sin ainm na
sràide fhathast. On uair sin, tha an sgoil air gluasad gu diofar làraichean
ùra. ʼS i an àrd-sgoil ann an Inbhir Nis far a bheil cuspairean air an
teagasg tro mheadhan na Gàidhlig.
Rinn an t-eòlaiche-eachdraidh, Daibhidh Alston, rannsachadh air clann dubha
ann an sgoiltean na Gàidhealtachd anns an naoidheamh linn deug. Fhuair e
a-mach gun robh sgoilearan dubha ann an Acadamaidh Rìoghail Inbhir Nis. ʼS
e a bh’ annta ach clann aig fir às a’ Ghàidhealtachd. Bha na fir air
boireannaich dhubha a phòsadh nuair a bha iad a’ ruith no ag obair air
tuathanasan siùcair anns na h-Innseachan an Iar. Bha cuid de na
boireannaich nan tràillean.
Tha Daibhidh Alston dhen bheachd gun robh muinntir na h-Alba gu math
fosgailte mu dhaoine dubha aig an àm sin. Bha iad car saor de
ghràin-chinnidh, ged a bha sin a’ dol a dh’atharrachadh. An-ath-sheachdain
bheir mi sùil air turas ainmeil a rinn tràill Ameireaganach a dh’Alba agus
mar a thug e slaic air an Eaglais Shaoir airson airgead a ghabhail à
tràilleachd.
