October is ‘Black History month’ allowing a focus on resources related to Black History – see the Black History Month Scotland site for information relating to Scotland, the UK Black History Month website and have a look at this clip on ‘The Social ‘ from BBC Scotland, introducing ‘Black History month’.
Online University of Dundee events for October 2021 are listed on this page – including Dr. Susan Mains on ‘ Scotland’s colonial geographies and the country’s role in the slave trade’, as well as more recent UK-Caribbean connections, and Matthew Jarron (Curator, University of Dundee Museums) on ‘Black Hollywood’.
Other online events are bookable via the downloadable programme on the Black History month Scotland website – Thursday 7th October 2021 ‘Emancipated African Children in Scotland’, some Scottish events are also listed via the National Listings page ( filter by location) on the Black History month website. On 31st October, there’s a ticketed webinar ‘Black History of the British isles: Scotland, Ireland, Wales, hosted by Black History Studies.
Other Scottish Pages
The Scottish History Society has a page ‘Scotland and Black slavery to 1833‘ with links to further reading on the slave trade and abolition, and the National Library of Scotland (NLS) has a page on their resources – including manuscripts- relating to Scotland and the Slave Trade. To quote from the section ‘Slavery in Scotland’ on this page “It did not become illegal to own a slave in Scotland until 1788”. “Scottish newspapers such as the ‘Edinburgh Evening Courant‘ and the ‘Caledonian Mercury‘ from the 1740’s to the 1770’s carried adverts offering ‘slaves for sale’, or rewards for the capture of escaped slaves”. They show an advert from the Edinburgh Advertiser, 20 January 1769 headed “To be DISPOSED OF, A handsome Black-Boy, about 13 years of age” on the page Slave advert‘ (NLS)
University of Dundee
So, where does the University of Dundee fit in, in terms of Black History sources? The University of Dundee was founded as ‘University College Dundee’ in 1881, then affiliated with the University of St. Andrews in the 1890’s. In 1954 it became Queen College Dundee, in 1967, became independent of St. Andrews as the University of Dundee. University of Dundee Archive Services hold the archives of University College Dundee (1882-1954) , as well as material from 1967- . Other records (1871-1953, also 1953-67) are held at the University of St. Andrews. If you’re interested in the University of Dundee Archives, contact details are on the Archive Services page.
University of Dundee Library Resources
The History Subject Guide will give you an overview of history sources for your research, including journals and indexes. Below are some media resources we have which can be used as sources of evidence for Black History in Scotland/the UK – find them on the A-Z of Library resources , or in the History Subject Guide
Media Resources
Box of Broadcasts (BoB) – a chance to look at TV & radio programmes on Black History, but also to record contemporary material from drama, (e.g. Small Axe, 2020) news, science & cultural programmes, on TV and radio, creating playlists and clips that can be used in presentations or assignments. See this playlist Black & British/Scottish– (UoD Login required )
Newspaper Archives
UK (and NI) national and local newspapers (and international newspapers) – search the Mail online, Independent, Guardian, Times Telegraph, Scottish Mail on Sunday, Scotsman, The Herald for e.g. ‘Black Lives matter’. It also includes smaller local papers.
Times & Scotsman Digital archives
The Times Digital Archive (1785-2012), and the Scotsman Digital archive (1817-1950) allow you to search and browse amongst contemporary news reports. The results are presented as a facsimile of the original newspaper page. Both the Times and the Scotsman will cover the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act (1807) and the Abolition of Slavery Act (1833), issues to do with the British Empire, trade.