Glasgow has internalised it’s role in the slave trade. A thread.
Glassford street is named after John Glassford. He was a Tabacco baron that owned plantations in Virgina and Maryland. His family portrait is exhibited in the people’s palace. There is a black slave that has been tried to be painted out.
On Queen Street the Gallery Museum of Modern Art use to be the home of William Cunninghame. He paid £10,000 (value of the property at the time) for the mansion off if the backs of the plantations he owned in Jamaica. He owned 300 slaves
Buchanan street is named after Andrew Buchanan who was one of the first Scots to have Tobacco Plantations in the New World, with major holdings in Virginia.
Andrew Buchanan also created Virginia Street and named it after the state Virginia as a lot of plantation owners tobacco barons owned land and slaves there.
Despite the fact black people make up less than 1% of the overall Scottish population, Glasgow being a major city should rise and re-name these streets. It should not forever internalise such a disgusting time in history.
Also, Jamaica and Tobago street are right next to these streets.💀
Please forgive the spelling mistakes. I don’t double check what I’ve written when I’m so emotionally invested.
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