Funding has been awarded to the independent Edinburgh Slavery and Colonialism Legacy Review (ESCLR) Implementation Group and The City of Edinburgh Council.
This will allow the ESCLR to progress recommendations it made in a report published in 2022 when led by the late Professor Sir Geoff Palmer. The report looked at the way Edinburgh was connected to slavery and colonialism as represented in street names and public spaces as well as monuments in the city. It also investigated how the history continues to shape present-day inequalities.
The report suggested that there should be public engagement, education and a new policy on the way the city approaches heritage, interpretation and commemoration. This will include appointing staff and forming an advisory group as well as holding a conference on Decolonising Edinburgh.
The council has also provided £10,000 to help deliver the project.
The funding has been awarded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Council Leader Jane Meagher said: “Thanks to National Lottery players, this funding marks an important step forward for Edinburgh. If we are to be the inclusive and welcoming city our residents expect, we must continue to confront the uncomfortable parts of our past.
“Whilst we’ve issued a civic apology for Edinburgh’s historic role in sustaining slavery and colonialism, the project allows us to go further and become an example for how a city can face up to its slavery and colonial legacy.
“I’m pleased to see work moving ahead and look forward to the progress it will bring.”
Chair of the Implementation Group, Irene Mosota, said: “On behalf of the Edinburgh Slavery and Colonialism Legacy Review Implementation Group, I thank the National Lottery Heritage Fund for accepting our bid and ideas, and for this funding, and the City of Edinburgh Council for its continued support. Edinburgh is acknowledging the impact of its past and recognising that the legacy of slavery and colonialism continues to shape inequalities today and into the future.
“This funding will enable us to work with communities and institutions across the city in open and honest reflection and dialogue, not to reopen old wounds, but to help us understand our shared responsibility and how we move forward together with compassion, equality, and justice. We recognise the trust placed in us to carry forward the work begun by Sir Geoff Palmer, and we hope this work will offer a meaningful example of how cities across the UK can address historic legacies with care and integrity.”
Caroline Clark The National Lottery Heritage Fund Director for Scotland said: “Thanks to National Lottery players our funding will support the City of Edinburgh Council, in partnership with the independent Edinburgh Slavery and Colonialism Legacy Review Implementation Group, to take a considered and collaborative approach to this important work.
“Edinburgh’s historic links to the transatlantic slave trade and colonialism are engrained in the city’s heritage. This project will develop ways for the city to engage thoughtfully with its past, contextualising and acknowledging these parts of the city’s story.”
Key planned activities include:
- Recruiting a full-time Project Officer and forming an Advisory Group
- Hosting a Decolonising Edinburgh Conference and an open symposium
- Developing digital platforms to support engagement and transparency
- Creating a small touring exhibition on diversity in Edinburgh’s cultural and heritage activity
- Delivering a community research project and a series of consultation workshops on built heritage
- Piloting learning resources for schools and anti-racist educators
- Coordinating annual stakeholder meetings and a digital campaign around UNESCO’s Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition
