Launch of Scotland's first Research Centre for Slavery Studies

Tuesday 27 October 2020
This research centre aims to focus attention on slavery and its legacies in Scotland and globally, through academic research, public events, and engagement with ongoing anti-racist activism and reparative justice.
The date of this launch is significant. The name was chosen for the centre because Beniba was a woman, a mother, who was held in slavery by Robert Cunningham Graham, former Rector of the University of Glasgow (1785-1787). We know very little about the life of Beniba, but her name indicates that she was born on a Tuesday and was perhaps, of Akan origin. For that reason, we chose to launch the centre on a Tuesday - to give respect and remembrance to the innumerable lives of ancestral Africans and their contributions throughout the slavery era.
Speakers included:
Graham Campbell, Glasgow City Councillor and activist,
Zandra Yeaman, human rights activist and museum curator,
Miles Greenwood, curator and historian,
Tara Innis, historian and educator,
Jackie Kay, Makar and playwright.
The Centre Director, Peggy Brunache offered a short introduction, followed by a panel discussion.