Lisa Williams on Black History Walking Tours
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Lisa Williams, founder of the Edinburgh Caribbean Association, has been running Black history walking tours of Edinburgh for a number of years, using the city's built heritage to highlight its deep links with Africa and the Caribbean over the past 500 years. Here, Williams spotlights seven locations in the city which have connections to Black people with heritage across the globe, who visited and lived in Edinburgh and have fascinating legacies.
Photo by Lauren Hunter
Parliament House
Three important legal cases were brought by Black men previously enslaved in the Americas during the 18th century when advertisements for the return of "runaway slaves" in Scotland were commonplace. They insisted that being held against their will or forced abroad was illegal under Scots law. Joseph Knight, a young man formerly enslaved in Jamaica, won the landmark case of Knight v Wedderburn in 1778 that led to his freedom and that of others in Scotland.
Adelphi Theatre, Little King Street
African American Shakespearean actor Ira Aldridge played the role of Aaron the Moor in Titus Andronicus here in 1845. Born free in 1807 in New York, Ira had been the first Black man to play Othello at the age of 17. He starred in abolitionist dramas, created heroic roles for Black men and directly addressed his audiences on abolition. One review of his Edinburgh performance stated that it was "exceedingly clever and effective, tempered by dignity and discretion".
Photo by Lauren Hunter
Old Medical School, Teviot Place
The first of several medical students at the University of Edinburgh from the Caribbean and Africa in the 19th century was Scottish Jamaican William Ferguson who went on to become the governor of Sierra Leone. James ‘Africanus’ Beale Horton graduated in medicine in 1859, wrote several books and became one of the wealthiest men in Africa. Clara Christian from Dominica, the first Black woman to enrol in 1915, was a member of the pan-African Afro West Indian Association.
York Place
British Honduras House on York Place was a hostel for the 900 lumberjacks who came from British Honduras (now Belize) to provide the timber needed during World War Two. They were stationed in camps across rural Scotland, and the hostel was their base when visiting Edinburgh. One of the men, Sam Martinez, worked as a cook here after the war. Sam remained in Edinburgh until his death aged 106 surrounded by a large and loving family.
Photo by Lauren Hunter
Carubbers Close Mission (65 High St)
African American journalist and civil rights advocate Ida B. Wells spoke here in 1893 as part of a UK tour to denounce the practice of lynching at home. Working alongside anti-racists and anti-imperialists, her experience was like being "born into a new world". Ida also fought for women’s suffrage and co-founded the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People in the U.S. in 1909.
Assembly Rooms, George Street
On 1 May 1846, while living in Edinburgh, African American abolitionist and statesman Frederick Douglass made an impassioned speech for the abolition of enslavement with the tale of Madison Washington’s dramatic takeover of a slave ship. The many speeches Frederick made across Scotland demanded that the breakaway Free Church of Scotland send back the "bloodstained money" they had received from American enslavers. The Quaker women of the Edinburgh Ladies Emancipation Society took up the cause.
Photo by Lauren Hunter
Boteco do Brasil, Lothian Street
During the 1820s, this was the location of the taxidermy studio of John Edmonstone from Demerara (now Guyana). Previously enslaved on a timber plantation by a Scottish family, John had learned taxidermy from naturalist John Waterton. Using these skills on arrival in Scotland in 1817, he sold exotic animal specimens to museums. John taught taxidermy to Edinburgh University students for a guinea an hour, including an appreciative Charles Darwin in 1826.
Follow Lisa Williams on social media:
facebook.com/blackhistoryedinburgh
Lisa Williams chairs the following Edinburgh International Book Festival events:
Show: Alford Dalrymple Gardner, Howard Gardner & Colin Grant: Beyond Windrush
Venue: Baillie Gifford West Court
Time: 12:30pm - 1:30pm, 15 Aug
Show: Alex Wheatle: Catch a Fire
Venue: Spark Theatre
Time: 7pm - 8pm, 22 Aug