Black Oot Here: The new book archiving Black Scottish history

Scottish history has been the source of much media, political, and academic discussion. There are degree programmes dedicated to the study of it and institutions that focus on celebrating it. However, “Black Scottish history” are three words seldom said together in Scotland, let alone anywhere else. 

And so, we wrote Black Oot Here: Black Lives in Scotland. When researching and writing we learned about Black Scottish history from intergenerational conversations, revelatory media, and the writing, creative work, and activism of Black people such as Mary Osei-Oppong, Charmaine Blaze, and Kubara Zamani.

Our time spent scouring archives in Scotland and online also saw us poring over papers and press clippings. The material that we came across painted a resonant but incomplete picture of Black Scottish life which left us thinking about how Black Scottish history has been treated by Scotland.

Although there is scarce acknowledgement of it in many public spheres, Black Scottish history is alive and kicking. Founded by Lisa Williams, the Edinburgh Caribbean Association has worked extensively to foreground Scotland’s Black history, particularly through insightful Black History Walks.  

The legacy of individuals such as Sandra George, whose photography and community-oriented work enriched the lives of many people in Scotland, sheds light on Black Scottish history and the artistic practices that are part of it. So too does the contemporary photographic work of Najma Hussein Abukar, which features throughout the book.

Other crucial efforts to understand and document Black history in Scotland include the University of Edinburgh doctoral thesis of June Evans, who in 1995 wrote about African/Caribbeans in Scotland: a socio-geographical study. Such research, writing, art, and action by Black people in Scotland has paved a path that must be acknowledged. That path itself is Black Scottish history, forming one of its many parts.

Even though Black people’s presence in Scotland spans centuries, when growing up in the early 90s public recognition of this was lacking. A lot has changed since then. Still, acknowledgement of Black Scottish history needs to extend much further beyond Black History Month, traumatising media depictions, and tired tropes such as the archetypal 'strong' and 'respectable' Black person.

Whether it takes the form of much-loved family ephemera that is passed on to generations or curated public archives, Black history courses through the veins of Scotland. History is sometimes associated with documents that gather dust and events that are archaic, but history is also being made in this moment. It is found in the experiences of recent memory and forged through carefully cultivated archival practices in the here and now. 

All too often, history is assumed to be old and the presence of Black people in Scotland is assumed to be new or temporary. Even well-meaning statements in support of Black people can reinforce an image of Scottish history as being entirely white, betraying the reality of Scotland and Black people’s experience of it. 

As Black Oot Here addresses, the complicated intersections of racial and national identity  include the different ways that notions of nationhood, Scottishness, and Britishness are implicated in the lives of Black people in Scotland, and how such lives are (or are not) discussed in work on Scottish history and Black British history.

The fullness of Black Scottish history must be acknowledged and archived, and not just via a gawping white gaze. This means that chronicling Black Scottish history, without reinforcing classist and racist respectability politics, entails pushing against the notion of there being a single authority on what it means to be Black in Scotland. 

There is no sole expert whose shoulders, alone, carry the weight or wisdom of Black Scottish history. Stating this does not diminish the work, labour, and expertise of those committed to challenging how Black Scottish history has been sidelined and treated as a spectacle. Rather, we understand Black Scottish history and the archiving of it as collective work that does not, and should not, belong to a single individual or institution. 

An understanding of Black Scottish history that solely focuses on words said by those with power – social, political, economic, or otherwise – is a painfully partial understanding of it. Sure, Black Scottish history includes the history of people praised for how they contributed to the shape of Scotland, but it also includes the history of the everyday lives of people who have not been celebrated by institutions or tokenistically framed as 'role models'. 

Mindful of this, Black Oot Here includes accounts of life in Scotland by many different Black people, and not only public figures or individuals with institutional affiliations. We bring together interviews, survey responses, photography and analysis of media and archived material as part of how we reflect on Black Scottish history, while carefully considering the future that may lie ahead.

The pulse of Black Scottish history is found in the present – from how people are shaping Scotland’s activist and media landscape to the way that Black creativity in Scotland is gaining global attention. Such creativity includes the artwork of Fadzai Mwakutuya, a visual artivist based in the Scottish Highlands, who explores unconventional mark-making techniques. Through work such as this, art and archiving meet in dynamic ways that defy assumptions about both. Many activities like these are led and sustained by grassroots initiatives that rarely receive substantial funding support, and whose work is often overlooked or obstructed by institutions that lay claim to Scotland and its history. 

Put simply, Black Scottish history is not hidden in plain sight. Instead, the making, impact, and archiving of such history occurs in many spaces, and is happening right now. Will Scotland’s future involve more institutions converting their Black Lives Matter (BLM) statements of support into sustainable action? Will we see the day that Black Scottish history is consistently taught across all stages of education in Scotland? That remains to be determined, but what is undeniable is that Black people have been, and are, oot here. 

Scotland still has much work to do if Black Scottish history is to be treated as more than a mere footnote. But make no mistake: regardless of whether such work happens, Black people in and from Scotland will continue to write about, creatively document, and archive Black Scottish history – and for that, we are thankful.

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Black Oot Here: Black Lives in Scotland can be purchased from Bloomsbury here – for 30% off, use the discount code BOHFSLRH22 at checkout

layla-roxanne hill performs at Our Stories Between the Myths and Memories, David Livingstone Birthplace, Sat 22 Oct – free tickets here